Well, seems I was wrong about that and I bet you were too. The Bush administration is under the assumption that the American Democracy is on a four year cycle. Every four years we enjoy a short period of democracy when our opinion counts, then its right back to living under an oppressive dictatorship. I don’t know how you all feel about this but it seriously pisses me off.

This administration has spent the past 7 years acting like dictators. They have lied and stolen and cheated and bullied their way through every obstacle between them and whatever it is they want to do. In that time they have shredded the constitution, violated the rights and protections due to every American, and broken domestic and international laws at a level that is completely unheard of. In his prime Nixon wasn’t half as corrupt and dishonest as our current administration which is the worst presidency ever.

Well you know what, they may be right about us not having a say until election time. Impeachment is off the table because our Democratic leaders are spineless cowards. Luckily for us though our four year cycle is right around the corner and we not only have a chance to send the Republicans home, but we can show them the door en mass. We started the clean up in 2006 by getting more and better Democrats in office, I say we keep up the cleansing until we once again have a government to be proud of.

I have no assumptions that this administration will ever be held accountable for the crimes it committed, but we don’t have to forget what Republicans do when in power. If your under the delusion that McCain will be somehow better than Bush your living in a fantasy land. McCain has all the bad qualities of Bush but worse. Even the Republicans are having a hard time supporting McCain because of his temper and spiteful nature. A vote for McCain is a vote for a third term for Bush.

I am not saying that the Democrats are wonderful, we all have our flaws. However I would much prefer a President who will come in and try to clean up the mess the Republicans are leaving for us than one who will be just 4 more years of the same. The current mess that our country is in is a direct result of this dictator mentality that Republicans bring. I don’t know how everyone else feels but I am tired of living in a dictatorship so this Fall I will be voting for the party of hope. I don’t think I could explain anything else to my children.

Who Would Jesus Vote For?
William

We really couldn’t think of any great accomplishments that could be clearly attributed to conservatives. Instead in nearly every great social advancement through American history, it was conservatives fighting on the wrong side against the progressives. Slavery, Womens rights, Segregation, Gay rights, and so forth were all fights where progressive ideals overcame strong conservative opposition. Sadly we are still fighting all of these battles against conservatives who still think we’re living in the dark ages.

Well, we seem to be stuck on 3 accomplishments for conservatives, so I would be interested in knowing if anyone can add to this list. I am already aware that 2 of the 4 accomplishments actually have negative effects, but conservatives still like them so we have decided to add them anyhow. Also, the other one is only a conservative accomplishment if you ignore a lot of history, but again we decided to include them to make conservatives feel better.

Conservative Accomplishment #1: The Fall of the Soviet Union

Conservatives credit Ronald Reagan, singlehandedly, with the fall of the evil empire. While I do give him credit for being president during the fall of the Soviet Union, I’m not sure how much credit he deserves. You also have to give credit to President Truman for the Marshall Plan which allowed the rest of Europe’s economy and quality of life to surpass the Soviet Unions and also kept them from turning to communism. Then there is the effect of JFK’s space program that played a large roll as well. Plus we can’t forget the Beatles whom Artemy Troitsky credits as having “done more for the fall of Communism, than any other western institution”. Plus dozens more factors as well played into the collapse, so Reagan’s policies and military budget played a minimal part at best. Since this post is about Conservative accomplishments I will ignore the humanitarian crisis caused by Reagan’s inaction.

Conservative Accomplishment #2: Prohibition

Prohibition, referred to as the “the noble experiment” by Herbert Hoover, was a policy that was intended to reduce sin, improve health, and improve society as a whole. Of course the actual result was in increase in crime and violence as prohibition created an extremely lucrative black market for alcohol. “Secret” bars and speakeasies were common place and the law was flagrantly violated. Overall a stunningly ineffective attempt to legislate morality, or at least morality as the conservative saw it. Prohibition is now looked upon as one of the dumbest conservative policies of all time, which is quite an accomplishment. Therefore it makes our list.

Conservative Accomplishment #3: The War on Drugs

Otherwise known as Prohibition II. The modern war on drugs was begun by Richard Nixon, then intensified by Ronald Reagan, and still continues today. The war on drugs has had the same effect as Prohibition had on reducing use, none. In addition to that it has predictably created the same lucrative black market, which spawned the inevitable gang wars and violence. So not surprisingly the war on drugs has had the same result as the prior attempt at legislating conservative values onto an unwilling people. On the bright side, if you’re a conservative, America now holds 1 in 100 of its adult population in jails and prisons.

Well, those are the only 3 accomplishments that we could think of for conservatives. I would like to know if anyone can add to that. The rules are simple. The accomplishments must embody and further core conservative values. They cannot be general accomplishments under Republican presidents. For example while Lincoln was a Republican ending slavery was a progressive ideal of the time. We have also decided that while imperialism and warfare appear to be conservative ideals, for the sake of argument we will exclude wars, killing people, and conquest. For the same reason the death penalty is also not allowed as a conservative accomplishment.

At this point it seems that it is merely a partisan fight. They will not vote for something an overwhelming majority of Americans wants because the Republican leadership doesn’t want to go against the Republican president on such a big issue. An issue that is a bi partisan, majority supported bill for our frickin’ children!!!

Representative Tiahrt,

As a Kansan I have called every one of our Representatives, participated in several different vigils and rallies, and worked on my political blog to gain support for the SCHIP expansion. I was very disappointed to see that even after the revisions to the bill that addressed what your concerns were, you still voted against it in the last vote.

I have 5 children, will be working 3 jobs and my husband works 2. We are lucky that his main job offers us good insurance for our family. There was a time last year; however, that wasn’t the case. Now we have thousands of dollars in medical bills that piled up very quickly with the birth of our son and his subsequent illnesses. We made too much money to qualify for Healthwave and we couldn’t afford private insurance.

You are ignoring 81% of the US population that supports the SCHIP expansion, 71% of whom would support it even if it meant a tax increase. You see, even if our children aren’t important to you they are to us. Due to Republican leadership and corruption our health care system is seriously flawed. I had to pay $600 for my baby’s first check up and immunizations, something that is required by law but that we could not get assistance for.

I would like to know what your position is now for not voting for SCHIP. The revisions in the bill would phase out coverage for childless adults (most states don’t have this anyway) within one year, there would not be coverage for anyone making 3 times the federal poverty level, and it would require stricter checking of social security numbers.

Surely 35 billion dollars over 5 years is not too much money when it comes to protecting this nation’s children. After all, you and your party are only too happy throw billions more into the illegal Iraq war. Are the deaths of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis worth more to you than the lives of our children?

The United States is second only to Latvia for the highest infant mortality rate in modern countries. It is time to listen to your constituents and stop blindly following the failed leadership of George Bush and do what is right.

I thank you for your time and look forward to your response.

Summer R. Ludwig