Quote:
Originally Posted by momoffuzzyfaces
I am not sure I understand your reasoning Mom, but I am always willing to listen and consider another point of view.
Could you elaborate on why Clinton was by far your worst choice - minus the obvious tag of philanderer and womanizing? I did quite well under the Clinton administration - personally and with my business. My business took a nose dive under GWB from which we are still trying to recover (I can't really say that GW had any effect on that fact or the overall economy in Pgh - it could have very well merely been a timing/cyclic thing.) People say taxes are a big voters issue - yet, many of them, in fact - let me be frank, pretty much all of them can not "even tell me what they pay in taxes". DON'T HAVE A CLUE!!! It just comes out in their paychecks. Staunch Reublicans tell that they pay less under Republican Administrations and more under Democrats. Dems tell me they pay less under Democrats (because they are supposedly for the working man) and penalized more in the form of a higher pay/tax ratio under the Republicans. Sounds all pretty stereotypical doesn't it?
Fact is the truth lies somewhere in a clouded space in between. If you make less than 100,000.00 a year - then your tax base pretty much hasn't changed much - if at all - in the last 2 decades (that is the percentage of your annual gross paid to Federal income tax ). If you don't believe that, go back and check your income tax returns. It is very simple... just look at what you declared in earnings and see what you paid in FEDERAL income tax. Divide the larger number by the smaller and check it against who was in office. It may be a real eye opener for you.
Your savings as an under 100,000 (even as high as 150,000.00) taxpayer will come in the form of write offs and deductions. One of the biggest losses in deductions to the average working family came under the Reagan administration. It was in the form of the progressive scaling back of declarable personal interest charges (YES... this is your car, your credit cards and any other "personal" loans you may have) and it's eventual elimation. This was done in 4 years - 80%, 60, 40, 20 and GOODBYE. Kinda sneaky, cause most never saw it coming and since most people don't even understand their own tax return, they couldn't figure out why they were declaring more money earned while they did not get a raise and they were spending more on credit (credit cards).
But please check your returns. See if you pay any more or less under Clinton or Bush (by percentage of declared earnings). See if Bush "really" saved you any money or if Clinton was "really" robbing your wallet... and yes, don't forget to add that 300-500.00 dollars that you probably got back last year in the form of a tax break.
You say Clinton was your worst choice. I too voted for him. I say Bush - I also voted for him once. To me, their is no comparison. When you mention those those 50 or so countries who "hate us", why do you think they hate us??? Do you think Bush has done anything to improve those relations or exasperate them? Has he practiced any real diplomacy with any of our longtime allies (excluding England), or has he shown a Cowboylike mentality that suggested to the rest of the world - "WE DON'T NEED YOU"?
Being a strong defender of our country and standing up for our way of life doesn't mean that we need to become a rogue nation bent on forging democratic states in tribal countries. If you don't think that "whoever was in office" at the time of 911 would not have acted as swiftly and aggressively as Bush did to defend and retaliate against our aggressors, then you just aren't thinking it through. America and Americans would have stood for nothing less!!!!!!!!!! The standing President had a open invitation to attack and punish whomever was responsible and "all Americans" were standing right behind him - it was an easy if not solemn decision.
I guess I could ramble on endlessly, but I guess that my final point for now is please don't cast your vote in November with the notion that only one party or one political strategy has a lockhold on national defense - or the best way to implement it.
