2010 U.S. Mid-Terms: Did you Vote?

[AndyH]

First off, thank you for your service.

Thank you. It was an honor to serve this country and her people.

Does your defending of the Constitution include the Tenth Amendment or just the First?? If you like the Tenth Amendment then Obamacare should be anathema to your being. Um, but I think if I recall correctly it was actually "the progressives" (FDR Administration) that led us into the last world war to get us out of the last depression. I am not a Republican, I am a conservative, so I wouldn't defend the practices you quote in your first paragraph. As far as the "stimulus" "keeping us alive", you mean the one that when they passed they said that if they DIDN'T pass it unemployment would go as high as 8%?? I wouldn't think you served so that the federal gov't could dictate that YOU MUST have health care. From what you've said, that sounds like something you shouldn't agree with, yet it seems like something you are in favor of. I sense some contradictions in your philosophy.

I'm not going to respond line by line as I don't expect it do any good. However, please recall that FDR apparently desired to keep us out of WWII. I'm not old enough to speak of this from personal experience, but I was under the impression that WWII was brought to our shores, not entered into in order to either rebuild our economy or posture for control of raw materials. I don't believe the folks that got us involved in the Middle East were as eager to keep us out of war first and foremost - especially when it could support our need for oil and provide the 'stimulus' to our economy that met their political goals at the same time. I find it sad that a stimulus plan that does not require bloodshed can be seen as bad - especially when it's working.

I'm not surprised that you would 'go there' with regard to stimulus or health care. Fear not - as far as I'm concerned the entire Constitution is in play. Though, as with any document or idea put into place by folks apparently wiser than many 21st century Americans, there's room for various interpretations and thus corruptions of the original intent - especially by any group hell-bent on power over all else.

This is the same situation that allows any extremist of any persuasion to 'prove' the superiority of their cause in order to gain followers that would otherwise not agree had they made themselves aware of the source documents FIRST before receiving the 'preferred interpretation' message.

Unfortunately, we're in an age of short attention spans, sound bites, and people that don't take the time to understand the entire picture before joining a 'movement' that fills their need for belonging.

I see the current fear-mongering extremist side of our political system in the same light as cold war propaganda and the corruptions of core philosophy that allowed such classics as the Inquisition and the Crusades. In other words, people that have to scream that they are the 'true' Patriots usually are not.

But hey - I'm human and could be wrong.

Have a great weekend.

[gogo]

In the United States, we are a capitalistic Democratic Republic

That is what we have effectively become, its true. I would like us to get closer to our original definition as a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The genius of our system over others has been the individual liberty recognized in the Constitution. I would argue that to the extent that peoples enjoy individual liberty, they prosper.

I really don't see much difference between our political parties. They have become self serving by seizing power through the promotion of the idea that we are a democracy that can vote away individual rights. Our government, instead of primarily protecting individual rights, is increasingly becoming the agent of their violation.