Replies

Regretably, the Kerry campaign is doing fine, polling slightly ahead of Pres. Bush (but within the margin of error in most cases). There are lots of people would vote for anyone over Pres. Bush.
For example, I got a letter from an old army friend urging me to vote for Kerry. The letter didn't give a single reason to vote for Kerry, just reasons to vote for Bush. Refuted the letter line by line to no effect. Just for fun, the letter is reproduced below.

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Each and every election year, I receive dozens of missives from friends, family and strangers urging me to vote for a certain candidate. Unfortunately, most of these messages are partisan in nature and, frankly, emotionally based appeals lacking logical coherence. Here, then, is my attempt to bring order to chaos...

First, all me to state that I've been a registered Republican since I was 19 years old, and at that time, I really cannot say I knew the meaning of the term "Republican" or any of the Republican party's beliefs. I'm now 41.

I've had a diverse professional background. I've had all the minimal wage jobs that many of us have had in high school (Burger King, Wendy's, McDonalds), and a few beyond that time in my life. I signed up for the US Army when I was merely 17, and exited at the rank of sergeant when I was 21. I've also been a cop for 10 years, a college professor for several years, and I now work in Corporate America.

One might think that I'm a Bush-supporter. I am not. I will not vote for him. I'll break my reasons into three areas, those being militarily, economically, and lastly, personally as to why I cannot vote for George W.

Militarily

Unlike many people who paste flags to their cars and shout they "love America,," I've actually been in the Armed Forces. I have nothing bad to say about the Army, but unless you've served your country and crawled through mud for it, you are uninformed about the realities of military service. Most often, it's the poor of this country who are protecting us. Few others have a reason to join the Armed Forces. One lesson I learned as an Army sergeant is this: Never fight a guerrilla-style war with conventional forces. The guerrillas always win. We taught that lesson to the British during the Revolutionary War, and North Vietnam taught it to us. When you don't know the enemy's identity, you're nothing but a target. Unfortunately, this is exactly the situation our troops face in Iraq.
I don't believe that we "aren't supporting our troops" if we question why they are fighting in a foreign land against an undefined enemy. Nor do I believe it's "unpatriotic" if we question the President's actions. This is a man we (possibly) elected. In any event, he reports to us as a nation. The First Amendment was placed at the top of the list for a very specific reason: To prevent tyranny. The Second Amendment serves much the same purpose...
When I'm told of a reason to go to war, I expect it to be justifiable. Military intelligence must always be two things: Timely and verifiable. The information used to justify our entry into Iraq was neither. Some of it was years old, and none of it was based upon verifiable facts. Saddam possessed neither the capability or will to attack us. We have no evidence linking him or his country to the 9/11 attacks. We never found any weapons of mass destruction, but what if we had? Newsflash, my friends: The USA has more weapons of mass destruction than anyone else. Using George W's "logic," NATO could decide we're a threat to world peace and invade us. After all, we've invaded more countries since 9/11 than Saddam ever did. Unless another country uses their WMD's against us or a friend, then let them have their "toys." Granted, Saddam was a bad guy, but at the end of the day, we've put more dictators in place than we've dethroned. Oh,, yeah, not only did we support Saddan against Iran in the 1980s, but we gave him a lot of those "toys" that dictators love to collect.
Economically

Bill Clinton's War Room slogan said it best: "It's the economy, stupid."
Our economy has been in a tailspin. I'm luckier than many people. I've got a stable job and I'm doing well. But I'm not blind. I've seen the increase in the homeless population in my city (Orlando) and I know many people who are one paycheck away from that sorry state of existence. The economic indicators are not good, and they haven't been good since George W took office -- long before 9/11. This is especially damning when one remembers that Bush came into office with a tremendous budget surplus.
When the economy goes down, crime goes up. I was a cop during the Bush Sr years, and it was not a fun time. Later, in the Clinton years, homicides, burglaries and robberies went down. It wasn't until I received my master's degree that I learned of the correlation between the economy and violent crime. Need I mention the increasing crime rates -- particularly violent crime -- since George W took office? Last week, six people in Deltona, FL, were killed over an X-Box. They had their heads caved in with aluminum baseball bats.
Healthcare is provided free in every civilized country in the world – except in the United States. If you have go out on disability due to a catastrophic illness (heart attack, diabetes, cancer, etc), you will usually lose your healthcare coverage after your short-term disability ends. It’s a method employers use to get people back to work sooner. It doesn’t matter if you have long-term disability; in the end, you’ll have to pay for your own healthcare using COBRA, which is extraordinarily expensive (approximately $1500 a month). Bush is against nationalized healthcare, yet we’re putting hospitals in foreign countries…

Personally

Abortion. I couldn't care less whether you're for or against it. However, don't try to ram your beliefs down my throat. If a woman feels she needs one, let her have it. I don't have or want kids, and I certainly don't want to support yours. My President has no business telling me that my wife has to carry a child to term if we make a decision to have an abortion.
Religion. There is a firm separation between church and state in this county. My beliefs are none of your business, and yours are none of mine. There is no Constitutional rationale or legality in using religion for trying to pass Bills into law banning stem cell research, gay marriage, or any other pseudo-religious-oriented cause. I could not care less if gays want to marry, and if little Tommy can walk again after receiving the benefits of stem-cell research, then that's great. I see no evil in either case. Two gays trading rings in a legal ceremony aren’t going to (a) make me gay or (b) endanger my marriage. Moreover, I don't care if you read from the Book of Mormon or if Allah is your Savior. As one comic so aptly put it, "arguing about religion is like arguing that my imaginary friend can beat up your imaginary friend." The Founding Fathers expressly forbid our government from mucking about in the great morass of religious debate. At last count (circa 2000), there were over 10,000 organized religions, and every one of them thinks they are the single embodiment of truth. Worship who or what you want, but keep it to yourself and out of our political structure.
In closing, I'm in favor of many of the Republican ideals. I support (responsible) gun ownership, and I believe that if a crack addict breaks into our homes, we have the right to defend ourselves. I think big business is great and that capitalism drives our country; in fact, if you want to win the war in Iraq, send Ronald McDonald over there with a fleet of freighters full of Big Macs and Cokes!

Enough, however, is enough. I'm tired of hearing that people who question the government are unpatriotic. Other than a "tax refund" that did nothing for my 401(k), George W has done absolutely nothing for me. Nor can I think of anything positive that he's done for our country. Photo-ops and banners announcing "Mission Accomplished" don’t put bread on our tables and our children through school.

I don't expect you to take my opinions as the reason to vote for Kerry. What I would hope you do is review your life and the lives of your fellow Americans, and ask yourself, "What has Bush done for us?"

For the guys: I'm not saying that Kerry has all the answers, but at this stage in the game, we need a new quarterback. The plays we're running aren't working.

For the gals: I'm not a big fan of Dr. Phil, however my wife is one, and I've seen his show upon occasion. He does, however, make several good points in regard to relationships. One such point is "if you're in a bad relationship for four years, why would you stay with it for another four and hope it'll get better? Are you really that stupid?" Or even better: "How’s that working for ya?"
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As you can see, most of it actually based on false information! But refuting it doesn't have any effect. Even when I refuted it, they just said "it depend on who you beleive." Their primary sources seem to be Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com and Noam Chomsky!

I don't know how Bush / Cheney 2004 is going to beat this wave or irrational hatred, and, if they do, I have to wonder how these people will respond!

Sorry for the length of the post. I am just not all that optimistic about Nov 2004.