All:
Have been watching this tread for several days and have tried hard not to respond. There are perhaps thousands of blogs and web sites where politics, race, religion, New World Order, socialism, etc. etc. are debated ad nauseam. I avoid them. I hope this forum doesn't become another. I strongly suspect that all of this content of this thread hasn't changed one opinion of any contributor, except, perhaps their personal opinion about the other posters. But for what it is worth, I will weigh in.
Where personal liberty and freedom are concerned, I live in the greatest country on earth. It is my responsibility and every American's responsibility to keep it that way and to never forget those before us who have given their lives to do so. IMO, it is the Supreme Court of the USA and the justices appointed for life that have more ultimate control over us than any President. The framers of the Constitution knew what they were doing, and liberal judges who see a "living document" that can be twisted into a pretzel, with "penumbras" and "due process" and the like, most threaten the American way of life. Appointing judges who interpret the existing laws and who respect the Constitution rather than judges who press political agendas and "legislate from the bench" by declaring "unconstitutional" the law and will of the American people will destroy our country more surely than any one President, competent or incompetent. A president has 8 years to succeed or fail. A Supreme Court decision (for example, about gun control and the 2nd Amendment, tend to be forever in a political sense. And then, it is beyond the power of the American voters to do anything about it. Think very hard about the Presidency in terms of court appointments, because there, more than anywhere else, we get the gif that keeps on giving.
There have been and will continue to be wars. Anyone who thinks otherwise has no grasp of history. Wars are bad. People die. But at least in the current war, I know why it started and know what we are trying to accomplish. America was attacked by terrorists. Thousands of innocent people died. The attack wasn't a single event, but an on-going escalation of increasingly violent attacks by terrorists with political and "religious" agendas. We will not change this by talking with them. If history teaches anything, it is something like "Peace through superior firepower". God bless or military and the job they do and for what they sacrifice to preserve for all of us.
In my limited experience of 55 years, the best President (by far, without even a close second): Ronald Regan. God bless him. The worst (by far without even a close second): Jimmy Carter. God bless him too. Think the economy is bad now? Well, I financed my first home on an 18.5% 1-year balloon note and was lucky to get that. We had the misery index, double digit inflation, lines a mile long to get gas, the worst recession this country has seen in my lifetime, a top marginal income tax rate over 80% and American soldiers and civilians held hostage for over a year by "militant Iranian students". No thanks, don't want to go back there ever again.
There is only one God. He loves us all, and He has no political agenda.
And when you feel the need to post a controversial, divisive, scolding or accusatory comment about something or someone else's opinion, ask yourself what you are really accomplishing by doing so. Then repeat this mantra:
Air gunzzzzzz, air gunzzzzzz, air gunzzzzzzz -- you will feel better.
God bless you all.
