Help! Who should I vote for?
I really, really, really am NOT looking forward to this election. It's my first election and I'm completely and utterly lost. So maybe I can get some recommendations. This is a list of things I believe/my take on issues:
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-I believe both parties need to go.
-I am pro Gun Control but anti Gun Ban. Most criminals get their guns illegally, anyways. Banning guns only hurts the victims. Besides... there are people in this country who make their living hunting... and you won't survive if you try to take their rifles way from them, trust me. So why bother?
-Though I am a guy, I am pro Choice
-I am anti Censorship/PC. I may heavily disagree with what Kramer and Imus said, and I may hope that they accept the consequences they brought upon themselves. But I will give my life for their right to say what they said. I think PC and censorship, quite frankly, is laughable and almost disgusting. And I can't stand people who are PC. "Oh, don't call retards retards." "Oh, don't cuss in public." "Oh, porn is immoral." People like that make me suicidal... because I would NOT want to live in a PC world.
-I am pro Gay Rights and pro Gay Marriage.
-In relation to the above, I am pro Human rights
-I do think we as people have over-polluted the Earth and I do think we have been quite harmful to the Ecosystem of our planet. That said, we are not the soul cause of Global Climate nor the main cause, as it is a natural process (see tropical era of the Dinosaurs, Ice Age, and end of Ice Age... the planet has been globally warming itself since the last Ice Age) that we sped up. And I do not think us stopping pollution completely will slow it down, though it will stop speeding it up, which is more then enough reason to cut down pollution.
-I think the War on drugs is stupid.
-I think Marijuana should be legal. You want to keep Marijuana off the streets? Legalize it, sell it alongside cigarettes, give it a high price, and tax the hell out of it!
-I think the Iraq War is bad, but combating terrorism is something that needs to be done, and we need to find Osama Bin Laden already.
-I am pro Israel
-I agree with the separation of Church and State... in fact, it should be separated further.
-I am anti-big government but I do think that for people who are poor because life dealt then a bad hand, we should have governmental programs that help them out on a temporary basis (that is, a set amount of time to help them until they can get a job to help themselves).
-If you are poor because you dropped out of school and decided to be lazy, sucks to be you. The American Dream isn't handed to you on a silver platter. You have to work for it. So get up off your lazy ass, get a degree, and get a job. Or quit complaining.
-I think the poor-level margin should be raised.
-I think the minimum wage should be raised a little more.
-I do think that we should be kinder to animals, and endangered species should be protected. However, if a shark (that is part of an endangered species of shark) attacks someone I love or myself, I should be allowed to kill that shark in defense of that person I love and/or myself without getting sued by PETA or going to jail.
-Racism is bad. But everybody is a tad biased towards their own race and against all other races. Nobody on this planet is completely tolerant of an "outside race," and anyone who says they are is lying.
-Serial Killers, Rapists, Pedophiles, and any combination of the three deserve the death penalty, period. I don't give a shit about their mental health. I don't give a shit about how they were brought up. If they fall into any of those four categories, they die, because my tax money will not go to providing them a roof over their head, a place to sleep, and three meals a day. But I have no problem paying for their death.
-We are sue happy. There should be restrictions in place as far as what people can sue for. Anybody should not be allowed to sue anyone for anything.
-Gas prices are too high. And quite frankly, I don't care if we have the cheapest gas prices in the world. I pay for gas in the USA. I drive in the USA. So I only care about gas prices in the USA. And they are too high.
-I don't have a problem with drilling in Anwar and off-shore. It may not be a long-term fix, but it should hold us over long enough to find a reliable, workable, (and hopefully) renewable alternative energy source.
-Technology is moving a little too fast. I got my cell phone when it was brand new. It didn't take 6 months before it was all but obsolete. That is too fast. I should've at least had a year with it before it went obsolete.
-The Free Market really isn't a bad thing, when used correctly.
-Why the hell are jobs leaving our country for other countries? Come back! There are Americans who need jobs to, ya' know.
-All illegal immigrants should be deported. Then, we should go through our naturalization process and figure out why so many immigrants don't want to go through. We should fix whatever problems we find (make the process more immigrant-friendly), then offer all those deported immigrants the chance to come back to US legally.
-English should be the official language of the US. Why? When I'm at Burger King ordering my food, I don't want to have to spend 20 minutes trying to get Raoul, who doesn't even know that English is a real language, to understand my order. I don't go to Spain and expect to be able to get by without knowing Spanish. I don't go to Germany and expect to be able to get by without knowing German. I don't go to France and expect to get by without knowing French. I don't go to Israel and expect to get by without knowing Hebrew. So don't come to the USA and expect to get by without knowing English. Period.
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So who should I vote for?
I really, really, really am NOT looking forward to this election. It's my first election and I'm completely and utterly lost. So maybe I can get some recommendations. This is a list of things I believe/my take on issues:
-----------------------------------
-I believe both parties need to go.
-I am pro Gun Control but anti Gun Ban. Most criminals get their guns illegally, anyways. Banning guns only hurts the victims. Besides... there are people in this country who make their living hunting... and you won't survive if you try to take their rifles way from them, trust me. So why bother?
-Though I am a guy, I am pro Choice
-I am anti Censorship/PC. I may heavily disagree with what Kramer and Imus said, and I may hope that they accept the consequences they brought upon themselves. But I will give my life for their right to say what they said. I think PC and censorship, quite frankly, is laughable and almost disgusting. And I can't stand people who are PC. "Oh, don't call retards retards." "Oh, don't cuss in public." "Oh, porn is immoral." People like that make me suicidal... because I would NOT want to live in a PC world.
-I am pro Gay Rights and pro Gay Marriage.
-In relation to the above, I am pro Human rights
-I do think we as people have over-polluted the Earth and I do think we have been quite harmful to the Ecosystem of our planet. That said, we are not the soul cause of Global Climate nor the main cause, as it is a natural process (see tropical era of the Dinosaurs, Ice Age, and end of Ice Age... the planet has been globally warming itself since the last Ice Age) that we sped up. And I do not think us stopping pollution completely will slow it down, though it will stop speeding it up, which is more then enough reason to cut down pollution.
-I think the War on drugs is stupid.
-I think Marijuana should be legal. You want to keep Marijuana off the streets? Legalize it, sell it alongside cigarettes, give it a high price, and tax the hell out of it!
-I think the Iraq War is bad, but combating terrorism is something that needs to be done, and we need to find Osama Bin Laden already.
-I am pro Israel
-I agree with the separation of Church and State... in fact, it should be separated further.
-I am anti-big government but I do think that for people who are poor because life dealt then a bad hand, we should have governmental programs that help them out on a temporary basis (that is, a set amount of time to help them until they can get a job to help themselves).
-If you are poor because you dropped out of school and decided to be lazy, sucks to be you. The American Dream isn't handed to you on a silver platter. You have to work for it. So get up off your lazy ass, get a degree, and get a job. Or quit complaining.
-I think the poor-level margin should be raised.
-I think the minimum wage should be raised a little more.
-I do think that we should be kinder to animals, and endangered species should be protected. However, if a shark (that is part of an endangered species of shark) attacks someone I love or myself, I should be allowed to kill that shark in defense of that person I love and/or myself without getting sued by PETA or going to jail.
-Racism is bad. But everybody is a tad biased towards their own race and against all other races. Nobody on this planet is completely tolerant of an "outside race," and anyone who says they are is lying.
-Serial Killers, Rapists, Pedophiles, and any combination of the three deserve the death penalty, period. I don't give a shit about their mental health. I don't give a shit about how they were brought up. If they fall into any of those four categories, they die, because my tax money will not go to providing them a roof over their head, a place to sleep, and three meals a day. But I have no problem paying for their death.
-We are sue happy. There should be restrictions in place as far as what people can sue for. Anybody should not be allowed to sue anyone for anything.
-Gas prices are too high. And quite frankly, I don't care if we have the cheapest gas prices in the world. I pay for gas in the USA. I drive in the USA. So I only care about gas prices in the USA. And they are too high.
-I don't have a problem with drilling in Anwar and off-shore. It may not be a long-term fix, but it should hold us over long enough to find a reliable, workable, (and hopefully) renewable alternative energy source.
-Technology is moving a little too fast. I got my cell phone when it was brand new. It didn't take 6 months before it was all but obsolete. That is too fast. I should've at least had a year with it before it went obsolete.
-The Free Market really isn't a bad thing, when used correctly.
-Why the hell are jobs leaving our country for other countries? Come back! There are Americans who need jobs to, ya' know.
-All illegal immigrants should be deported. Then, we should go through our naturalization process and figure out why so many immigrants don't want to go through. We should fix whatever problems we find (make the process more immigrant-friendly), then offer all those deported immigrants the chance to come back to US legally.
-English should be the official language of the US. Why? When I'm at Burger King ordering my food, I don't want to have to spend 20 minutes trying to get Raoul, who doesn't even know that English is a real language, to understand my order. I don't go to Spain and expect to be able to get by without knowing Spanish. I don't go to Germany and expect to be able to get by without knowing German. I don't go to France and expect to get by without knowing French. I don't go to Israel and expect to get by without knowing Hebrew. So don't come to the USA and expect to get by without knowing English. Period.
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So who should I vote for?
- America needs a multi-party system, like most other democratic countries. Two parties, as you can see, is not representative of an entire nation.
- Guns and gun control. In that respect, vote Democrats. They're not all anti-guns, they're pro-control. I agree with you that criminals get them illegally anyway but the state of gun control in America is absolutely shocking and it has one of the highest gun crime rates in the world. Criminals in Europe still get their hands on guns, of course, but not as much because they're not so widely available.
- Pro-choice, vote Republican. I disagree on this issue, I think abortion should only be allowed in cases of rape/sexual abuse, or where the mother's life is in danger. Having open abortion so any rich kid who gets knocked up can walk into a clinic and take care of the problem is morally wrong. You make the choice to have sex, then deal with the consequences. Anyone old enough for sexual relationships with men is old enough to look after a baby.
- Well I don't think either party is anti-Human Rights, so this one we'll just put as neutral.
- You are absolutely right in saying Global Warming is a natural environmental process, and I can vouch for that as a qualified archaeologist who has studied the development of the earth's climate. However, pollution is a very serious issue and I am COMPLETELY against things like Sarah Palin being in favour of drilling for oil in protected environmental areas in the North Pole. There is NO excuse for killing animals at a rate like that and destroying the environment when it is solely powered by greed for more oil and money. Because you are anti-pollution and pro-environmental protection, I would file this under voting Democrats.
- I don't really understand what you mean by the war on drugs being stupid. Stupid in what way?
- Legalizing marijuana; whether or not it's likely to happen, it would only be under a Democratic govt that this would be considered. Vote Democrat.
- Everybody agrees that terrorism is bad and should be fought against. Whether or not it's the sole responsibility of America to march around the world combatting it is a very hot button at the moment in global politics. The Iraq War was a huge mistake and mistakes like that cost you billions in tax dollars, and cost many innocent people and good soldiers their lives. I would say vote Democrat on this because of your stance on the Iraq War and the fact that democrats are not as gung-ho as Republicans about fighting terrorism without global support/consideration.
- Pro-Israel... hmm. Party wise, that could probably be filed under neutral too just to be on the safe side.
- Seperation of church and state is more Democratic than Republican thinking.
- Pro governmental programs to a degree, democratic.
- Well, nobody likes a slacker.
- The poverty margin being raised is more Democratic, I believe.
- Minimum wage... I don't know. I agree it should be raised but I don't know the party standpoints on that.
- The chances of you being attacked by an endangered species are slim to none, but I'm pretty sure if you are and you manage to survive it and kill the animal in question, nobody's gonna toss you in the slammer for it. Of course, if a grizzly charges you as you're walking through his territory and you escape but come back the next day with a shotgun to kick his ass, well then... jailtime is what you get.
- Racism is bad, and the only actual 'race' is the human race. Race is an outdated concept because due to migration, evolution, division of countries, global politics and a whole host of other issues through the centuries, there has been so much inter-culture breeding that you could well be more genetically similar to a black African than to your next door neighbour. Racism is another word for ignorance and bigotry and whether or not you think everyone is 'racist' to some degree, it is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with through education, integration and harsh punishments for crimes against other cultures and minorities. This is a moral question, so again it is neither Democratic or Republican. Nobody is going to come right out and say "I hate blacks, vote for me". However, the fact that the Democratic party have nominated a black man to run for president shows America's willingness to be more open to other cultures and communities, and I think it would be a major step forward for the country to have a black president. Therefore I would tend to vote Democratic on this issue.
- Ah, the death penalty. I think you are more Republican on this issue. However, you're also pro-Human Rights and one could very easily argue that the death penalty in any way, shape, or form is denial of the most basic Human Right; the right to life. But if you have made your choice on this, then pro-Republican is the way to vote on this issue.
- Yes, America is very sue happy. This is not a governmental issue, though, so I don't think it really counts towards the election vote.
- Gas prices are high because of wars on terrorism, global warming and the world market. None of which either government can change too much in the next four years. It's going to get worse. Just because you are American, doesn't mean you can ask for lower prices and get it. Be thankful it's not as high as in countries and just suck it up and deal. I'm not trying to be rude here, but Americans started these frigging wars and now everyone else is paying out of their pockets, at a MUCH higher price than you. Life is hard. Buy a bike.
- Drilling anywhere that is endangering animals or the environment is BAD. Vote pro-Republican if you agree with more drilling and searching for oil.
- Technology always moves in such a way. In a few years time the technology market will stagnate again for a while, until a new revolution comes around. That's just the way inventions work. Buy your phone and stick with it and don't get so worked up that it's out of date within a few months. Who cares? Yes there are some pretty stupid things having money spent on them, but technology is also great in the fields of science and medicine and space exploration and countless other things. And there are worse things that money could be spent on.
- Free Market. Hmmm... not sure, you'd have to look at the individual party views on that, because I'm not sure.
- Because they can exploit people in other countries for cheaper labour, and the world market crisis has a lot of businesses running for the cheaper labour as fast as possible. It's happening everywhere, don't worry.
- Immigration is a very touchy subject, but I think you're probably safer voting Democrat. The process of immigration is extremely costly and time consuming, and many people are denied entry for no real good reason at the moment, which is very unfair when they're just trying to find a better life for themselves or their families. Or, in my case, just trying to move there to be with the people they love. Yes, the illegal immigrant situation needs to be dealt with, for their protection as well because illegals are so exploited in the US. But first the system needs to be looked at and a complete revision done, because it is fucking ridiculous.
- English is the official language, isn't it? All documentation, roadsigns, tv, radio and media comes in English. Yes, there are people who don't speak it very well, as with every country that has immigrants in it, but that isn't a governmental issue either, unless we're talking about setting up easy access, cheap programs to help immigrants learn English when they enter the US so they are more fluent. Many people simply can't afford to take classes in it so they just have to move to whatever country and learn as they go. Tolerance is a very important lesson to learn in today's society. No, you don't go to Germany and expect everyone to speak English, but many Americans do. As a result, a lot of European countries have a high level of English speaking citizens in the public sector. You may not like Raoul not being able to understand you, but I'm sure Raoul isn't very impressed in his own country when people are hollering across the counter at him in English that if he works in a touristy country, he should speak goddamn English.
I think after all that we can see you're slightly more Democratic than Republican on a lot of issues, but the issues you ARE Republican on are quite major ones - abortion, death penalty, etc. Have you been following the candidate's debates in the media? Which candidate do you prefer, as a person? Which VP appeals more to you? After all, this person and the VP are representing your country for at least 4 years. You need to feel like you voted for someone you believe in and someone you are proud to call your president.
I hope that helped a little.