This is such an interesting thread, I love seeing all the different view points. I find myself agreeing with a lot of you and really thinking about issues I have never thought of before, it's great. I have a hard time voting because I also feel like I am too uninformed, and I think it is sort of irresponsible to just vote for the sake of voting, or to just vote for a certain party wiothout really considering their postions on all issues. I never know where to look to get info on candidates, because the media and everyhting is always so biased. Honestly I am getting more info here than I do on the news


I don't really know where I fall on the political spectrum. I am in strong support of preserving the environment above business interests, animal rights and pro choice. I think gay people should be allowed to do whatever they want.


Like Mitch, I do not believe in Affirmative Action. I believe in equality, so to me any program that gives someone a leg up on everyone else based on nothing but race, gender, etc is racism. I don't think white people in the US "owe a debt" to Native Americans or black people. We have no control over what our forefathers did. We should respect all races today but I don't belive we need to pay them back with reverse racism.


I do believe the US needs help when it comes to our health care system, but I'm not really sure what a good solution would be. Everyone screams and cries about our bad system, but what then is a good solution? Everyone would throw fits if our taxes were raised to pay for health care. I think a good solution is harder than people think.


I like paulina's analogy of Europe as wise old men and US as hot blooded young cocky execs.[img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]


I used to believe the death penalty was a good punishment (eye for an eye), but now I'm not so sure. Like others have said, does it really solve anything? I'm also not convinced it is our place on earth to decide who lives and dies. That should be the job of God, and killing others doesn't necessarily make us better than the murderer. On the OTHER hand, I completely agree with Californiagirl that it is wrong for us to have to pay the taxes to keep people locked up for life too.


I think Crimgoddess's ideas on prison are interesting...I just wonder where we would get the resources to pay for rehabilitation for every prisoner that comes through the system. Seems like it would be awfully expensive. Also, what about the psychos that can't be rehabilitated...what do you do with them?


Let's see, are there any issues I have left off? LOL. Thanks again to everyone who posted here. I really like to have food for thought on political issues, particularly since I am not the most politically savvy person.