A Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican

[Trancelucent One]

here is a simple education lesson ...

being republican equals less government.
being democratic equals more government.

the funny thing ... people do not know that.

I completely agree- not enough people know this!! When I try talking to my "democrat" friends who think that republicans always want to be more in our life, I just laugh and try to explain the reality for them. Unfortunately, they never get it.

[asdf_admin]

it's sick. i am not sure what is wrong with people. they almost believe in what they want to hear.

bah.

[toasty]

being republican equals less government.
being democratic equals more government.

I agree with this -- which is why I have voted Republican every election before this one. With that said, I ask you:

What has Bush done to decrease the size of government over the last three and a half years? Do you feel like the government is more or less in your grill, and exerting more or less influence over the things that you see, hear, and do than before Bush took office?

[Jenks]

Department of Homeland Security...one of the reasons why the government is larger. Would you rather be without this dept?

[toasty]

^^Of course not -- but that's not the point. The point is:

-The Patriot Act
-Spending $1.3B to promote the concept of marriage
-Bush's religion mixed into his politics and, accordingly, your life
-Censorship at the FCC level of things the religious right considers unsavory

Seriously, setting aside the DHS which we can all agree is a good use of government resources (and which Bush initially opposed, BTW), what has Bush done to make government smaller and less intrusive? I can think of some things he has done to help the corporate world in that regard, but how about you and me?

[Jenks]

^yeah, i don't know, but hey...i paid less taxes!

[asdf_admin]

... and i feel safe.

[toasty]

... and i feel safe.

Well that's valid, but it is a totally different argument than "Bush = less government." Seriously, and I'm not trying to antagonize you, any further thought on that? Setting aside that Bush's status as a Republican would suggest that he is in favor of smaller, less intrusive government, I haven't seen anything to indicate that, as a matter of fact, he has or will further that ideology.

[asdf_admin]

sure he has created more gov ... but in this sense it needed to be there. all those great cuts by Clinton and his administration have weakened our defense, intelligence and etc. The type of gov I am referring to is paper-pusher worthless desk jobs. You know the ones democrats love to create.

[Civic_Zen]

Bush had to change everything he wished to accomplish in office because of 9/11.

Yes, I do honestly believe that he would have continued the republican trend of limiting the power government has as a whole.

Because of 9/11, this was not possible. The Patriot Act has its Pro's and Con's, but for the most part it only has a 5 year shelf life anyway. So basically, he has only temporarily made the government bigger and more powerful, and only because he felt it necessary. I tend to agree with him on that and what the Patriot Act means.

[Trancelucent One]

One thing that people still don't realize is that while Clinton was getting BJ's he was allowing the WTC to be bombed the first time and not do anything about it. I would rather have the "bigger" government agencies that Bush created than not doing anything about the 9/11. Could you imagine where this country would be with Gore leading?? It's scary to think about how he would have treated the situation. We might have been attacked a few more times since 9/11 if he had the reins. Overall I feel more secure now than I did when Clinton was in office and that means something to me!!

[asdf_admin]

^^^ much agree Pam. Those dirty Dems ... Just good for paper pushing and making up lies.

[neur0t0xin64]

Asdf_ thank you for clarifying for those that may not have time to educate themselves on this issue. Most people believe in a trend either from friends or mostly from their family(progressive420 I still havent figured out) your lesson 101 is right on point though.

[toasty]

Could you imagine where this country would be with Gore leading?? It's scary to think about how he would have treated the situation. We might have been attacked a few more times since 9/11 if he had the reins. Overall I feel more secure now than I did when Clinton was in office and that means something to me!!

I used to agree with this, but thinking back on 9/11, I don't know that I really and truly feel this way anymore. 9/11 was a wake up call for this country -- not for democrats, or republicans, or greens, or whatever, but for the whole country. Neither Bush nor Clinton fully appreciated the threat that terrorists posed until it was too late.

Now think back to what the sentiment was on 9/12. There was no discussion over whether we ought to go to war, or whether we ought to be trying to go after al Qaeda -- really, the only question was "Do we go in right now, guns a-blazing and just start bombing the hell out of everything we see, or do we take a step back and do some more focused bombing?" The vast majority of the country, republicans and democrats alike, were not going to be happy until some asses were kicked.

With that in mind, I feel fairly confident that we would have gone in and commenced the kicking of asses and the taking of names in Afghanistan post-9/11 whether Gore or Bush was in office.

[Civic_Zen]

With that in mind, I feel fairly confident that we would have gone in and commenced the kicking of asses and the taking of names in Afghanistan post-9/11 whether Gore or Bush was in office.

Perhaps, but would we have gone to Iraq as well? Thats yet another point. Vladimir told Bush that Iraq was planning an attack against the US. And what better time to do so then after 9/11, while we were still cleaning up the mess?

Vladimir would have given Gore the same information, but would Gore have acted on it?? Personally, I say no he wouldn't have. He is a pussy and would have resorted to diplomacy through talks with the UN. Which would have accomplished dick. Perhaps he still would have gone to Afghanastan, that I agree with, but the whole world is against our war with Iraq, not Afghanastan.

Now think what could have happened while Gore is over talking with Haans while he carries out further inspections, and they find nothing. Saddam attacks the US with some biological agent, most likely antrax and hundreds of thousands are infected. 9/11 looks like a joke in comparrison. Think about it, sure Osama hates us, and he has plenty of backing and funding, but not near the extent that Saddam has and could have used against us.

Gore probably would have not taken the same initiative that Bush did, this is just my personal belief. And that could have resulted in further attacks against the US, not by Al Quada but by Saddam and his cohorts. And could have been much, much worse then 9/11. Gore would have been more concerned with Diplomacy and how the world looked at him. Bush knew he would get hated at least in the immediate future for taking such action and did it any way. That shows character to me, regardless of all the other mistakes he made along the way.

It also makes sense to me that Vladirmir would say, "Bush, here is this information, but please don't mention it publicly that I told you." He was worried that it could lead to attacks against his people if Bush just said, "Lets go get Iraq boys, Vladimir just told me such and such." Besides, the 10 years he dodged inspections was enough to get congress to agree that war against Iraq was in order. Including Kerry I might add.

Nobody will ever know, but I personally agree with Pam. Shit would have been a lot different had Gore won. And in my estimation, could have been a lot lot worse.