Yes, I voted for Bush. I also gave money to his campaign and did a lot of volunteer work.
But I'm disappointed in Bush. He has caved to the democrats on many issues (vouchers, education spending, CFR, armed pilots, etc....) and has not advanced a conservative, Freedom-oriented agenda. Instead, he is expanding the power and the control of the federal government. Government is growing, not getting smaller. He is more like the Ford, Nixon, Bush Sr. group of establishment Republicans than he is like Reagan.
If the election were held today, I would support a GOP challenger in the primary. I would also vote 3rd party in the general election if Bush prevailed in the primary.
What can Bush do to win my support back? Some or all of the following:
1) Reform and simplify the tax code, such that it results in large tax cuts
2) Cease the enforcement of and work for the legislative repeal of unconstitutional gun laws and other laws which violate the Bill of Rights
3) Either abolish the Federal Dept. of Education, OR institute a voucher program
4) Secure our borders
5) Reduce the size of the federal government
6) Eliminate the redistributionist welfare state.
I'm very pleased to learn you voted for President Bush in 2000. However, I can't begin to tell you how disappointing it is to hear someone who professes to care about the country say:
"I would support a GOP challenger in the primary. I would also vote 3rd party in the general election if Bush prevailed in the primary."Keep thinking that way and come January 20, 2005 you can dance with your keyhole vision and self-righteous smugness at John Edwards or Hillary Clinton's Inagural Ball. Don't be part of the problem like the dems and RINOs in Congress help put an end to their obstructionism. Do you really want it said about you that at a time when the President had an unexpected and awesome burden of war that you added to that burden and in effect harmed the country ? You can't really think 100% of nothing is better than 50% of something. Wake up, Mulder. The country didn't get in this shape overnight nor did it happen without the support of a large percentage of the population. The items on your agenda can't be overturned or reversed in the blink of an eye. Nor, I might add, did the President ever promise to do half of those things. As a responsible citizen, your work didn't end on November 7, 2000. No, that is the day it should have begun in earnest. Since the campaign I've heard President Bush give many moving and powerful speeches but his acceptance speech at the convention remains one of my favorites. That's when he told us exactly who he is and what he believes. Since then he has faced one of the saddest, most terrible challenges in our history with humility and greatness. He has not faltered, he has not failed. Time and again he has earned my respect, my trust and my continued support.
For me, gaining this office is not the ambition of a lifetime, but it IS the opportunity of a lifetime.
And I will make the most of it. I believe great decisions are made with care, made with conviction, not made with polls.
I do not need to take your pulse before I know my own mind. I do not reinvent myself at every turn. I am not running in borrowed clothes. When I act, you will know my reasons ...When I speak, you will know my heart.
I believe in tolerance, not in spite of my faith, but because of it.
I believe in a God who calls us, not to judge our neighbors, but to love them.
I believe in grace, because I have seen it ... In peace, because I have felt it ... In forgiveness, because I have needed it.
I believe true leadership is a process of addition, not an act of division. I will not attack a part of this country, because I want to lead the whole of it.
What about you, Mulder ? Will you lead or divide ?