Since I know of at least one die-hard Republican who reads this journal (hi, Don!), I am making an effort to be as non-partisan as possible in explaining why I have a Kerry/Edwards sign in my yard.

• I am frustrated that we invaded Iraq before we finished the job in Afghanistan.
  
  
  
• I am frustrated that Donald Rumsfeld was allowed to overrule those members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who said from the beginning that, in order to do the job right, we needed to send far more troops to Iraq than we did.
  
  
  
• I am embarrassed that, even though Bill Clinton and even George Sr. were able to build international consensus for military action, George W. was not only unable to create this consensus after receiving unprecedented support and sympathy in the wake of the attack of 9/11, but actually damaged our standing in the international community even farther by pulling the US out of at least two international treaties (the International Criminal Court and the Kyoto Accords.)
   
  Here's the deal: the world is too interconnected both politically and economically for the U.S. to exist in a vacuum. Therefore, I see only two choices: either we work with other nations in attempting to create a better world, or the U.S. needs to take on the role as global policeman. Personally, I don't think that it's our job to regulate the entire world and attempting to do so is an unecessary drain on our resources as a nation.
   
  To add some credibility to my lay perspective, several career diplomats and officials resigned over the affair (see summary of various resignations over the course of this Administration.)




• I am appalled that evidence suggests that the torture of Iraqi citizens at Abu Ghraib was more than just the actions of a few rogue soldiers.




• I am cynical about the $67 million that Halliburton kind of overcharged the government or was overcharged by others or whatever their story is. It was blatant mismanagement by a company with close ties to the Administration, regardless of the excuse.




• I am heartbroken at the short-sightedness that promotes oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness when the fuel gained from the source will buy us, what, another decade of gasoline? What then? We'll still have to find alternative means of fueling our vehicles, and the fragile ecology of the region will be forever destroyed. Totally pointless.




• Although I approve of the creation of such programs as No Child Left Behind, I find that requiring states to uphold these standards without providing a funding source to fulfill the requirements to be fiscally irresponsible.
   
  But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
   
  I am angry that our current tax-cut and spend President has increased our national debt to the point that Hunter will be paying it off for the rest of his life, affecting everything from the quality of education and healthcare available to him to how much he will have to earn just to make ends meet. How dare a man born to wealth make my child pay for his extravagance?!?




• I am concerned at the powers that have been given to John Ashcroft and Homeland Security, especially as we've already seen evidence that these powers have been misused. (Sorry, can't find the additional citation for the incident where Homeland Security laws designed to protect us from terrorists were used to close down a strip joint.)




• I am disgusted at a President who seeks to codify discrimination by strongly backing a constitutional amendment defining marriage as only ever being able to exist between a man and a woman. What's next? People who fall in love with someone who happens to be of the same gender will only have 3/5 of a vote?

I think it is the last two that concern me the most, because the next President will essentially choose the path of the Supreme Court for the rest of my lifetime, and I am deeply afraid that the values and policies of the current Administration will create an America I have no wish to be a part of.


Please vote tomorrow. Our future depends upon it.

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QotD

Vote your hopes, not your fears.
-- sign on church down the street from us