What issue are you most passionate about?

[begin_within]

Which issue is most important to you personally, and that you have the most "fire" about?

Either pick one from this list, or add your own if it's not listed here.

Impeachment - Balance Of Power - Economy - Inflation - Recession - Jobs - Unemployment - Outsourcing - Privatization - Minimum Wage - Unionization - Free Trade Agreements - Trade Deficits - Social Security - Medicare - Universal Health Care - Public Health - Budget Deficits - National Debt - Tax Rates - Class Warfare - Poverty - Race Relations - Immigration - Amnesty - Coroporate Power - Lobbying - Corruption - Campaign Finance - Soft Money - Electronic Voting - Election Reform - Monetary Policy - Hedge Funds - Stock Market - Energy Policy - Peak Oil - Energy Costs - Gasoline - Alternative Fuels - Renewable Energy - Climate Change/Global Warming - Science - Toxic Waste - Endangered Species - Biodiversity - Air/Water Quality - Food Safety - Population - Disaster Preparedness - Katrina - Disaster Relief - Infrastructure/Transportation - National Security - 9/11 - Homeland Security - Foreign Policy - Diplomacy - Defense - Terrorism - Al Qaeda - North Korea - Nuclear Proliferation - Rogue States - Israel/Palestine - Iraq Occupation - Afghanistan - Iran - Darfur - War Profiteering - Blackwater - Halliburton/KBR - Guantanamo - Habeus Corpus - Torture - CIA - Surveillance - Civil Liberties - Fraud - White Collar Crime - Street Crime - Prisons - Drugs - Steroids - Abortion - Gun Control - Women's Rights - Same-sex Marriage - Justice - Labor - Disability - Education - Agriculture - Seniors - Veterans - Media Ownership - Net Neutrality - Internet Access - Speech - Ideology - Religion - Animal Rights

[onehandle]

1. Corporate Power. nt

[Jackpine Radical]

6. That's the underlying problem from which all the other problems derive.

[Tyler Durden]

11. Fix that one, you fix Healthcare, Campaign finance, Jobs, etc.

Taaaaaaall order.

I'm banking on my renewed commune ideas: better percentage.

[lisainmilo]

25. Couldn't agree more!

Corporations have dominated our politics for a long time, however during the Bush reign the have increased there dominance and power hundred-fold at least. The record profits of the war profiteers, oil corps. The conglomeration of various corporations (newspapers owned by TV stations owned food corporations who own healthcare products......etc) It is too much...this is the ROOT of the problem.
They have infiltrated the politics of our country owning our politicians, via lobbyist. We must have balance and reform.
John Edwards all the way!

[Tyler Durden]

36. Sad thing is that's why I believe it will NEVER get fixed....

Unless we have another crash which brings them to their knees with everyone else, and WE GET TO OUR FEET FIRST.

Always the most important part.

[Jackpine Radical]

42. Well, as far as getting to our feet first,

we do have less overhead, so to speak. When dinosaurs fall, they do not recover handily.

[The2ndWheel]

19. Be nice if was that easy

Corporate power is just a by-product.

[onehandle]

26. By-product of what?

Corporations write our laws and control our media.

They're the top of the heap.

[The2ndWheel]

28. A by-product of the increasing scale of organization

Of standardization. Corporations only have the power we give them, and we've given them a lot. Why? Because we don't have to do anything for ourselves. We want to live better than the kings of yesterday ever did, and we do. We don't need actual slaves though, because we lucked out and found oil(how many slaves are in a barrel?). Mass production makes everything cheap enough for most everyone to be able to afford it. You're not getting mass production without corporations, or even the state.

Corporation(or kingdoms, or whatever you wish to call a given form or organization) are basically a by-product of civilization. You don't get one without the other. Power, wealth, etc, all naturally centralize. That's why even though Standard(wait a se...) Oil was broken up, along with the rest of them way back in the day, here we are again, with a handful of energy companies, and a handful of media companies, and a handful of drug companies, a handful of banks, etc, and they continue to merge everyday. That's what they do. That's why we have a single government in the United States. If there were more than one, they would go to war so that there would only be one. Organization doesn't like diversity. Corporations are just the economic side of modern civilization. Wal-Mart started out as a small business. America started out as 13 colonies on the Eastern seaboard.

Of course corporations(if there is any difference between them and the state anymore) write our laws and control our media. We live in a global world. Who else is going to do it? How else are you going to find out what happened half way around the world in .5 seconds? How else could we be "talking" to each other when we're probably at least 50 miles from each other? You're not getting to do that without corporations, or the state, or some other distant authority making sure it happens, without either one of having to do much of anything, other than buying the product.

[goddess40]

35. I agree - fix the corporate power problem and the rest will follow

It goes back to America's politics being replaced with capitalism instead of democracy.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Balance of Power

until things are back in Constitutional balance, we have no hope of really working on the other issues.

[EnviroBat]

3. Right to PRIVACY.

Don't screw around with me on that one. Dont sell my personal information. Don't ask me for my personal information. Don't fucking SPY on me, you FBI fuckheads. Don't even knock on my fucking door unless you're someone I know.

STAY OUT OF MY LIFE FUCKERS!!!

Yeah, I'd say that's a big one for me...

[demnan]

4. Impeachment

It's a matter of the balance of power in our system, it's not necessarily for revenge (although I'd love to have some revenge for what they've done to this country too). But I'm afraid if we don't stop Bush and Cheney now, some other Executive will do far worse things and we will slide completely into facism.

Impeachment requires the investigation of wrongdoings. It uncovers and sheds light on things. It instructs. We need to be more aware in this country. I think impeachment is the remedy.

[TwilightGardener]

5. As a military wife, the Iraq War.

[laureloak]

7. Corporate power & illegal immigration top my list. n/t

[MuseRider]

8. Equality

our society can't move forward without ensuring equality for everyone. Without it all is a sham.

[salin]

9. I can't pick one. There are numerous ones

that are very serious, or "firey", for me.

-The disfunctional economy in which we no longer have the ability to be self-sufficient as a nation.
-The loss of the Constitution as the girding document for our system of government.
-The war and the crazy right that wants endless wars.
-Ridiculous taxation poliicies that give tons back to corporations with no strings attached (as opposed to targeted corporate tax cuts where specific desired behavior geared to benefit the good of the whole are rewarded with tax incentives.)
-Depletion of resources and climate change.
-Skyrocketing health costs with fewer and fewer being able to secure coverage.

and thats just the beginning of the list

[Ellen Forradalom]

10. Universal health care

Followed very closely by women's rights.

[kineneb]

29. second that

I would not have to worry about spending the rest of my life in poverty, if I lived in a country with universal single-payer health care.

As it is, it looks like I will either have to live on SSI or work for no more than $600/month to have coverage for my medicines. I don't want to (and can't) depend on the charity of Big Pharma low-income Patient Assistance Programs.

[lpbk2713]

12. Corruption at the highest levels.

I want to see BushCo held to full accountability for all their criminal acts.

Otherwise history will be allowed to repeat itself.

[marions ghost]

40. DITTO

Corruption in every sector of business, politics, law--you name it.

"I got mine, so FU."

This is the pervasive attitude that is undermining everything we care about in this country.

[malta blue]

13. I can't pick just one, but right now it is

Universal Health Care.

A friend is having a double mastectomy this coming week and had to fight her insurance company to have reconstructive surgery on both breast. They felt she only needed one.
:wtf:

[DCKit]

14. Yep, that's the one, my pet peeve. n/t

[jojo54]

15. These past 7 years have made me truely passionate about

EVERYTHING!!!

I, strike that, WE all have seen such corruption these past years involving every aspect of everyday life, in our own little corner and across the globe, that we don't know what to believe anymore, or who to believe.

That in itself, is lack of confidence in ourselves, our leaders and our role in the world. What a pity.

[redqueen]

16. We have to choose just one?

Impossible.

Besides, many of the things on your list could be consolidated (e.g. Jobs - Unemployment - Outsourcing - Minimum Wage - Unionization).

[begin_within]

34. No

[redqueen]

38. In that case...

Economy
Recession
Jobs
Unemployment
Outsourcing
Privatization
Minimum Wage
Unionization
Free Trade Agreements
Trade Deficits
Universal Health Care
Public Health
National Debt
Tax Rates
Class Warfare
Poverty
Race Relations
Coroporate Power
Lobbying
Corruption
Campaign Finance
Soft Money
Electronic Voting
Election Reform
Monetary Policy
Hedge Funds
Energy Policy
Energy Costs
Alternative Fuels
Renewable Energy
Climate Change/Global Warming
Science
Air/Water Quality
Food Safety
Disaster Relief
Infrastructure/Transportation
Foreign Policy
Diplomacy
War Profiteering
Blackwater
Halliburton/KBR
Guantanamo
Habeus Corpus
Torture
CIA
Surveillance
Civil Liberties
Fraud
White Collar Crime
Prisons
Drugs
Women's Rights
Justice
Labor
Education
Agriculture
Media Ownership
Net Neutrality
Internet Access
Speech
Ideology

[cboy4]

17. Narrowing the selection to sex marriage choice is too

simplistic.

I'm concerned about civil liberties as a whole, which include other important issues such as Don't Ask Don't Tell, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the Defense of Marriage Act, hate crime protection, AIDS research funding, etc., etc.

And it's not just LGBT civil liberties I care about. I care about the civil liberties of all minorities.


on edit...grammar

[The2ndWheel]

18. After reading that, I'll say complexity

Just to simplify it.

You know what's great? All those issues are interlocked. If you increase something over here, something over there will see a decrease. It's like the Kevin Bacon game. You could probably pick any two issues listed there, and find a connection. You could probably take any 3, or any 4 issues and connect them. Like I said, the great part about it...well, more like funny/tragic...is that it really is a zero-sum game.

No wonder we're all psycho. Look what we have to deal with, whether you want to or not, whether you know it or not, whether you care or not. And we're all just getting a bit more nutty everyday.

[ljm2002]

20. Four issues are passionate for me:

Corporate Personhood
The War On (Some) Drugs
Health Care
The Iraq Occupation

[slackmaster]

21. Our ongoing failure to fully adopt and embrace the Metric System

That is my standard reply when I am asked to choose only one.

[NorthernSpy]

24. but that's one of the GOOD things about America...

... our refusal to throw out a system of customary measure that serves us extremely well in most aspects of daily life.

[TZ]

22. Science/environmentalism/food safety

As well as health/ medical issues..which is what I do for a living..so yes I am VERY passionate about these topics (as many here probably know..:)

[Blue_Roses]

23. health care!

[Fire Walk With Me]

27. Truth.

Bring the absolute truth for all to see and the problems based upon untruth should begin unraveling.

If enough people will then support the truth.

[RB TexLa]

30. Free trade and a more integrated world market

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

31. Common human decency.

Which pretty well decides how I select the candidates to vote for.

[in_cog_ni_to]

32. I want the thugs in this administration INVESTIGATED, INDICTED, CONVICTED and IMPRISONED!

While turning our attention to getting out of Iraq, Health Care, Poverty, Jobs, SS, the Environment, Alternative fuels and Education.

[LeftishBrit]

33. The war; anti-racism; anti-poverty; preservation of the health service and social safety net

If I was American, I would probably change the last to 'establishment of a health service and social safety net'

[Initech]

37. The war, rampant consumerism, extreme corruption

[GliderGuider]

39. Peak Oil

[Wizard777]

41. Impeachment n/t

[fascisthunter]

43. Corporate Personhood (nt)

[RedCappedBandit]

44. Environment. nt

[alcibiades_mystery]

45. Our twisted Punishment Culture

It's the one issue for which DU and FR become virtually indistinguishable, so it is clearly a bipartisan depravity.