Reply #58: I agree that Bush and his cronys, along with the Religious Right are...

[Crachet2004]

completely beyond the pale, and need to be defeated in the fall. But I also think it is going to happen. The voting machines bother me as well...printers need attached to them and legislation was introduced to do that...today, I believe?

Our corporations and their military bodyguards are similarly out of control and need reigned in. But with outsourcing becoming such an issue, I think people are going to start looking at the whole globalist agenda, already have, in fact. It will not bear scrutiny, and there will be no end to outsourcing without government intervention.

The "hyper-nationalism" after 911 was a natural consequence of the perception of being attacked...it has since faded, as has support for the war in Iraq. Americans do not want to conquer the world, nor can we. Look at Iraq. Were we to invade one more small nation, say Syria, we would be completely bogged down, for the forseeable future. But besides this, how can Bush make the case for further war? His credibility is about shot in this regard, I think.

We spend a lot of money, too much I think, but is the military really that powerful? Evidently not. I think instead, there is a lot of corruption, greed and missing money. And the American People are not going to stand paying for a military much larger...already there is talk of Social Security being cut to pay for the deficit. Do you think it will happen? I don't. The deficit is going to be cut instead.

Liberals were blamed for the loss in Vietnam, and this did power the 'Reagan Revolution', as did various forms of racism and bigotry. That revolution has empowered the conservative movement in the US to this day.

But I think it has now run it's course. We will see. Kerry IS a Liberal, if ever there was one...and I think he is going to win. Bush, with his attack and spend policies, crony capitalism, and internationalist/militaristic foreign policy, has completely dicredited conservative ideology in this country. Real conservatives hate him. How about John McCain, today!

The struggle for equality and civil rights is ongoing and often successful...though there is always more to do. Witness the debate on Gay Marriage today. It has not hurt the left at all. What was supposed to be a redhot issue for the GOP has fallen flat. I think issues of equality and civil rights in America are more difficult than many other nations, as we have so many different groups, some of them quite large. We are not homogenous, and in the past we have been quite parochial. But the overall progress, since the civil war has been FORWARD. With some fits and starts. The fact that we are even talking about gay marriage ought to tell you something. But as I say, there is always more to do. John Kerry will have something to say about all of that. If he is elected, I hope for great strides on this front, for as you indicate, it has been lagging.

As for the fundamentalists and their agenda...remember Prohibition? The people who brought us that are pretty much the 'Dominionists' you speak of. They can win the occassional victory, but America always comes to it's senses. Because America is not Fundamentalist-they are.

The legislation they support is part and parcel of an overall effort to change the Constitution. The effort also includes the Gay Marriage Amentment and the Arnold Amendment. If we would abandon our own attack on the 2nd amendment, the entire thing can be turned on it's head and work against the Right politically, as I have posted before, many times. The case can easily be made that the GOP hates the Constitution. We get to wrap ourselves in the flag and sing our own hosannas.

The tide comes in and the tide goes out with these nuts and their ambitions...always has. America was founded by what might have been called zealots. They have not taken over in 500 years, nor will they.

As far as talk of a 'Master Race' is concerned, they do not have the numbers. Also, Americans were the first nation to throw out the Divine Right of Kings. I don't see us going back anytime soon. These two ideas, not to be insulting, are actually laughable.

We all know the lower levels of our educational system is weak...that is how new Republicans are made, for the most part! lol
But our system of colleges and universities are the largest and probably the finest in the world-and that is where we Democrats come from...and a few republicans.

But I disagree the American people don't understand the Bill of Rights. Some would like it and the Constitution applied more evenly, but I think Left, Right and Center are agreed on the importance of these documents...what would we have without them?