Okay, I thought so.
Kerbang responded and respond he did:
well, Steve's argument is based on basically 2 premises:
1) That the Bush tax cuts are good for the economy.
2) That the war in Iraq is making us safer from terrorism.
Basically I disagree with both. The U.S. is already running budget
deficits, because Bush hasn't balanced his budget. On top of that he's
running up more deficits with the tax cuts. Tax cuts decrease government
revenue (since the government gets all its money from taxes) and so
unless spending is decreased as well, you end up running a deficit, like we
are now. Recent Republican Presidents have never had a balanced budget.
They always run a deficit, which bascially passes the cost of the
present on to the future. It's a very shortsighted way to run a Government.
I personally believe (as do most Democrats) that having fully-funded
social programs (like Health Care, Education, Roads, Police, Fire
Departments, etc) create a much better environment for business than whatever
tax money would be saved by half-assing them (like Bush's Leave No
Child Behind program, or his Homeland Defense initiatives do). I mean,
would we gain anything by shutting down the United States Postal Service
and giving the money we would have spent on that out as a tax cut? That'd
cause a lot more problems that it would solve. I think the same goes
for Public Education, Public Roads, and yes, even a Public Health
Insurance System. For the record, Dean's Health Insurance plan is fairly
conservative. It's just designed to make sure that everyone can get health
insurance, not to pay for every person's insurance.
As for the war in Iraq, there wasn't any link between Iraq and global
terrorism until we invaded it and made it a lovely place for terrorists
from all over to come and kill Americans. What we should have done is
finish the job in Afghanistan, where there actually were terrorists, who
actually did attack Americans, and who the Bush administration has let
slip away because they wanted to fight an easy, politically expedient
war in Iraq, a country with far more natural resources than Afghanistan.
Howard Dean supported the invasion of Afghanistan because there was a
reason for it. That's where Al Qaeda was, it was Al Qaeda that attacked
the United States. There's no reason for Iraq.
It's a bit absurd to claim that Dean "is not committed to the
eradication of global terrorism". Is that to say he's in favor of global
terrorism? I mean, come on now. Thinking it was a bad idea to invade a country
that had nothing to do with terrorism (and instead focusing on the
country where all the terrorists were hiding) is not really what I'd call
"ignoring the problem". I think the message we are sending to terrorists
by invading Iraq is: "We're confused and we don't know who to attack."
Anyway, as for the rest of it, I think you can judge for yourself if
Howard Dean is treasonous, power-mad, incompetent or misguided. Or if
maybe he actually knows what he's talking about and has intelligent,
well-thought out positions on issues that he thinks are important to the
well-being, safety, and prosperity of America.
so anyway, if you think the Bush Tax cuts somehow saved us from a
(more) terrible recession, and that ousting Saddam Hussein is going to stop
Osama Bin Laden from organizing more attacks on the United States and
its allies, well, then yeah don't vote for Dean. In fact, don't vote in
the democratic primary at all, just vote for Bush in 2004. I won't
though.
I feel sort of like a diaryland cheater since the bulk of the past two entries were made by people who are not me.
I will admit something. I am not intelligent as these people. But here is what I will do for the people who are affiliated with either party:
I am going to...yes...do my research and do it extensively.
I will outline my findings.
I will point out either fallacy or fact of both parties
I will point out, with past experiences with Steve and Kerbang, why I think their argument are convincing or otherwise.
It's like I'm doing homework. But it is sort of exciting. I'm at work. I can't believe I posted so much today.
So for one more later on this evening.
