Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] what majority wants Bush?

[Edward Terry <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Okay, I'll throw my two cents in the ring.  Frankly I don't see how anyone on 
this list can support either Bush or Kerry.  Vote for them, yes; support 
them, no.  They're both corrupt.  They're probably smart enough to stay on 
the right side of the law, but there are plenty of legal ways to accept 
bribes (aka campaign contributions).  Both candidates have a track record of 
doing whatever is in the interest of their contributors. 

I'm a conservative, but I don't like either Bush or the Republican Party.  
(I'm sure I would dislike Kerry just as much if I were a liberal, but since 
I'm a conservative I've been following Bush more closely.)  I started 
watching Bush when he was elected Governor of Texas and people started 
talking about him for the Presidency.  As governor, Bush managed to get all 
legal self-help materials banned in Texas.  Books, software, those 
fill-in-the-blank forms you can buy at Wal-Mart -- all of them were illegal 
in Texas for several years.  Anyone who used them was considered to be 
practicing law without a license.  Even worse, he didn't have the courage do 
it himself; he had some of his supporters do it, and then refused to take a 
position on the issue one way or the other.  He claimed that the issue was up 
to the legislature and he had no authority to intervene.  He blocked action 
to reverse the ban by presenting bureaucratic hurdles to the grassroots 
efforts to get it removed.  He did everything he could to slow down the 
movement without openly opposing it.  (Every day the ban continued meant more 
profits for the legal industry.  The same reason Network Solutions wants to 
keep its monopoly as long as it possibly can, even though it knows it will 
lose it in the end.)  I decided right then that I would never vote for Bush 
for President.  Anyone willing to ban self-help books and software is not a 
conservative; he's just another politician.  And anyone who won't take a 
stand on an issue (any issue) is spineless. 

Something else, however, is much more important.  I believe the critical issue 
of this election is open government.  Bush has done everything he can to move 
the day-to-day operations of government behind closed doors.  This is not a 
reaction to 9/11; he began doing this literally on the first day he took 
office.  Bush is an elitist; he believes government should be run by the 
economic and social elite, and the rest of us should keep our mouths shut and 
do as we're told.  He does not believe in democracy.  There are probably some 
historians on this list; I'm sure they're well aware of the things Bush has 
been doing to remove information from the public view -- whether or not it 
has anything at all to do with national security. 

Please don't take this as an endorsement of Kerry.  He's not as bad as 
Clinton, but he's not a whole lot better.  (Comparing him with Clinton is the 
worst insult I can think of.)

>If you're looking for the candidate with "character", let me know when
>you find them.

John McCain.

I'm hoping Kerry will win in 2004 and then McCain will win in 2008.  We can 
survive four years with a socialist in the White House; we have before. 

Let me clarify one point:  I'm a conservative, not a libertarian.  The 
Republican Party was hijacked by libertarians in 1994.
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