Politics

Here's a very "touchy" topic, especially now that the 2008 presidential elections are upon us in only a couple of months, and I'm sure this blog will piss some people off.
I was keeping up with the candidates, their agendas, the debates, and so forth, but I've just become so sick and tired of the same old "status quo" of our politicians, that this may be the first time since I've been legally able to vote that I may not. I've never really been extremely excited who I have to choose from, but this time around, I'm so disgusted with the two primary candidates and politics in general, that, at this point, I think I'd rather move to another country than to vote.
First of all, personally, I think Bush has been the worst president of all time, at least in my 33 years of lifetime (doesn't say much for those who's been around twice as long or longer than I've been). Bush has left the worst taste in my mouth for the Republican Party, I don't care who they ever have running, I can never see my myself ever voting Republican again (I think I may have once or twice back when I was barely legal to vote). Ever since he's been in office, I've been voting Democratically. Before then, I mostly voted Libertarian, but always known that hell would freeze over before any of my chosen candidates would ever see any sort of office. So, that leaves the Democratic Party…
Since the last election, most the Democrats have been "Bush dogs", not doing much to stand in his way of any whim he wanted to do. I wonder how they can even walk upright without a spine! I once was a strong supporter for Obama, but with all of the political garbage I've seen lately, I'm not sure what to think of him anymore.
So, I decided to take about half-a-dozen political polls to see exactly what "party" I fit into, and there's so many of them out there (both polls and political parties)! I've always been a Libertarian at heart, but wanted something to validate that. So, after taking these polls, some of them with about half-a-dozen questions to some quizzes with half-a-dozen pages, they all placed me as almost completely moderate, with very slight liberal (left-wing) and very slight libertarian/anarchy tendencies. If you can picture in your mind a diamond-shape drawing, with the top point being totalitarian/communism and the bottom point being anarchist/libertarian (complete opposites), along with the right point being extremely conservative and the left point is extreme liberal (again, complete opposites), I'm almost in the middle, but slightly "south-west", meaning I'm a little neo-liberal and a little neo-libertarian. Of the world leaders that were also "graded", the closest one to me on the scale was the Dalai Lama (there's my sugary Buddhism again!).
I also took another quiz of what candidate I should vote for, and Ralph Nader (Independent) came in first and Bob Barr (Libertarian) came in second. I've seen Ralph do a few interviews and debates, and he usually tears-up the other candidates into shreds, both Republican and Democrats alike. I've always liked what little I knew about him.
So, this should give you an idea of what I believe-in and stand for politically. I suppose I'm looking for a "true moderate", one who's willing to work with both sides equally, and based upon what both parties support and what their advisers support, make moderate and wise decisions that hopefully benefits everyone alike. I realize that many issues require a "far-left" or "far-right" point-of-view (such as war, maybe), but most issues can be handled "somewhere in the middle", which is where I usually stand. I think this country could use a "true moderate" for once, and it would be nice, for once, for this politician to have come from a "humble background", unlike most of the silver-spoon fed infants we have now that has no clue of what it's like to live in poverty or lower-middle class. I doubt most of them could survive raising a family on my wages! If they ever made a reality show of where a group of high-ranking politicians had to survive on the "average lower-middle class income" for a few months, I'd be all over it! OMFG!!! LMOA (I hate reality shows, btw)

After taking another online quiz, once again, Ralph Nader scored high up there on my list, along with Hilary Clinton (she scares me). This, too, placed me as a moderate with slight liberal and libertarian tendencies. In a nutshell, I believe in a much smaller central government and much fewer laws. I'm not an anarchist by any means, because we do need government to help protect and provide for people, primarily it's own citizens first. Once we can provide and protect for our own citizens, then help others throughout the world. We do need government programs for those who truly need it, but too many people abuse and take advantage of the system. And for the love of God, get rid of income taxes and the IRS, or at least a fairer tax system! The income tax system was suppose to end with WW2, and over 60- years later, it's still here. If you have a smaller central government and military, then you require less taxes. Simple as that.

Sorry, but with the past 8 years we've had, I simply can't vote for McCain. I can rant and rave about everything the Bush administrations' done and hasn't done for this country, but I won't. To be honest, unless something extremely drastic changes, I doubt I could ever vote Republican again. I'll probably either vote for Ralph Nader or all-Libertarian ticket, even though hell would freeze over before any of these guys would ever hold any ranking political office. Oh well, what can you do except start a revolution. LOL ;-)

I'm pretty tired of the "same ole' politicians", myself. Most of them have their own agendas financed by special interests groups, and I'm just sick of it all. Who is reading this that's actually supported by one of these special interest groups? Very few, I bet, hence, most of these special interest groups are NOT what makes up the majority of America. As I said with Melissa's reply, I'll probably just vote for who I actually support instead of choosing the "lesser of the two evils", which is Ralph Nader or all-Libertarian. I know I'll feel like I'm just "throwing my vote away", but at least I'll be able to sleep a little easier at night voting for someone who I support, and not just for someone to keep someone else out of office. I don't trust either of the two primary candidates just about as equally, and so I almost don't even really care anymore.