[GT40FIED]

I think the direction that this country takes is entirely dependant upon the people who live here. Until now we've put up with partisan bickering like it's something we have to live with. We've put up with corruption like it's part of daily life. And we've put up with theocratic ideology like it's a form of law. All of that needs to end here and now.

America needs to wake up. people need to make their voices heard. Far too many people who are of even keel keep their mouths shut assuming that eccentrics will speak for them (this goes for both sides of the political spectrum). For once, republicans and democrats need to come together and decide just what the fuck reality really is. They're both fucking it up for all of us. Bush veto'ed a bill on stemj cell research which could have helped untold amounts of people battling various diseases (and that was his first veto...ever), while democrats stopped a minimum wage increase despite that fact that there are more working poor now than any time in recent history.

Social security is a joke. Why am I paying for something that will be bankrupt long before I can possibly collect it? This goes for so-called "life line" services as well. I've known people who worked their asses off but were still on welfare anyway, but the sad thing is that the majority of social services cases aren't like that. Put "workfare" into effect. If you have a job and can't make ends meet, I'm more than willing to help. However, if you just sit on your ass all day and shit out kids, you can go fuck yourself.

With the U.S.'s current stance in the world as a whole, I don't think we can be too optomistic about what will happen 50 years from now. We currently have the president with the leadership skills of your middle school vice principal. I'm sorry...I don't care if you voted for him or not...he's a joke and the only ones who haven't picked up on it yet is us. We need a president who can unify rather than polarize people. Maybe if we can start to look at the islamic world with understanding rather than fear and contempt we can start gaining allies there. Maybe we can find someone...I don't care which party...who will see the world for what it really is and understand that people who aren't like us REALLY aren't like us. In the last 6 years I don't know of many people who can say their lives have gotten better and that tells me it's time for a change.

The bottom line depends on how much the American people want to make their voices heard. Right now you heard a resounding cry from the extreme right, but I suspect once Bush is out of office that will be ignored as it should be (or as any extremist voice should be). I think if we can find more moderate people to represent us then things will go much more smoothly since compromise will be much easier. That might be unlikely to happen, but it's what we need to move forward rather than this political polarization that's geting no one anywhere right now. If things don't change in the next 5-10 years, god help us all (and I'm moving to Germany).

Finally, we need to remove those in power who would label dissenting opinions as being traitorous or "enemy sympathizers". We need to remember that without dissneting opinions this country would not even be a country. I firmly believe that this is what has kept so many people silent for so long. They're afraid of being labeled as a person in league with our perceived enemy. Well fuck that. The only way anything gets done in this country is by the will of the people, and any person who calls a dissenting opinion anything orther than what it is should be branded a coward and promptly removed from office. They will only hinder progress by squashing legitimate debates.