I have never been a member of a political party, but over the years I have tended to favor more democrat candidates than republicans. As a child I liked Ike. He was a war hero and my dad believed in him. As a first year college student I would have voted for Nixon, not because what he stood for but because dad wanted to honor Ike by voting for his right hand man. It was not until after the 1960 election when I listened to JFK's inaugural address that I really started to understand the importance of the people we send to run our government.

I don't know if it's my Libra tendencies are more in tune with democrats, but I tend to agree more often than not with their goals than with republicans. As an individual trained in social studies and history it seems to me that every great accomplishment made for citizens in the 1900's came from democrat presidents. It was Wilson who gave us the League of Nations which led to the United Nations. He also was a president that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize not for what he accomplished but what he strived for. The United States did not sign the peace treaty or join the League. It was FDR that brought the New Deal, JFK the New Frontier, and LBJ the Great Society. Every year Truman's statue rises. It seems to me that most of the building of this great nation has occurred during democratic presidents and most of the tearing down has been done during republican terms. Regan Economics is being shown to be a sham, the problems the last republican handed the nation will take generations to recover from, if ever.

The American people have always been able to pick the right leader in it's time of need and I think they have done it again. If given the time, I believe the current president has the ability and skill to provide the leadership required to take the United States into the 21st Century and regain the honor and trust it has lost with the rest of the world. I also think that he is America's best chance to rekindle the hopes and dreams of ALL Americans.

The founders of this nation took measures to insure that religious factions did not tear apart the government. They took great measures to prevent that from happening. By ensuring religious freedom they believed it would allow people to go about their lives without worrying about being persecuted. But, in the 1990's the christian right joined forces with the ultra conservatives of the republican party. They drove and continue to drive moderate conservatives out of the party. Their policies are simple, take free choice away from Americans and put us all on the path of salvation! To control our right to decide for ourselves what is right for us and our family. To reduce government and at the same time reduce our choices, after all there is only one way to salvation, their way!

They have been able to join forces with the groups that want to keep things the way they are. Lets not change health care, lets not make industry adopt cleaner methods, lets make sure the only real industry left, the making of weapons, keeps its strangle hold on the government. The way to do it is to use FEAR, the fear of change, the fear that we have never done it this new way, and lets deceive the American public by saying, "we think we need to change, but not the way the other side says." Translation, if you buy that we will take our sweet time to make sure the same self interest groups stay in control and no real change occurs.

H-ll the United States has been debating the NEED for health care reform for FIFTY years and while this has been going on the REST of the world has moved ahead and adopted universal health care and their economies have all improved! Meanwhile the US sits around debating the evils of socialism....

When the economy was going great guns and unemployment sat around 5% that meant that 95% of the population was contributing to the country's economy, even today with rates nearing 10% means that 90% of America is still employed. We all agree that unemployment insurance is a good thing. I remember when the government decided to include teachers and began to deduct my paycheck. At first I said why should they make me contribute to a fund that I will never use? Thirty years later I came within two days for applying and I was thankful I could. Well the same thing in health insurance. I think everyone should be contributing to a fund that provides health coverage and when I am not working there should be a fund that assists me in making that payment.

We pay taxes to pay for the nation's defense, to build the inter-structure, to preserve the nation's heritage, for social insurance and unemployment, and for the medical needs of the elderly. So why do we not have a program for health care for every citizen???

Yes I know some will say the current programs of entitlement are running out of money, but that is because the past administrations failed to get Congress to address those issues until they became a crisis. When I was young the average life span for a male was 63. I use to laugh at social security because I thought I would be dead two years before I could tap the benefits. As I grew older the age keep moving higher. Now the life span is 80 for males and we have just recently adjusted the age to 67. We are moving into a time when industry will be keeping their older workers longer because there are fewer and fewer replacement workers. I know of many people who have retired and then were hired back by their company on a contract bases. It's cheaper for the company and the retired worker can pick and choose when he/she wants to work. It works really well in Canada as the health care costs are covered by the government program and the company's bottom line is reduced.

Times are coming where some tough decisions will have to be made. America' economy is headed for troubled waters. The huge debt the US has had to take on to prevent a major economic disaster brought on by thirty years of republican mismanagement of the economy will result in the government, no matter who is at the head, having to seriously considered a VAT or GST type of tax and one of the them will be in effect within five years. The dollar will continue to fall and in the short term it will help the US economy by making US goods cheaper on the world market and keep Americans from traveling too far beyond their borders. Gold will continue to rise until the world decides what the new world currency will be. The markets will begin to shake after passing the 10,300 mark and if it can stay above it we may have a true recovery underway, if not watch out!

A Vat tax has allowed most industrialized countries to dig themselves out of deficits and stabilize their economies. It probably is the only way the US will get out from under it's trillion dollar deficits.

But let's not worry about that after all the Bubble Boy story is continuing to evolve and that is much more interesting!