?

I know it's a stereotype that Americans are ignorant about other countries but come on, it's one of your closest neighbours!

In order to win the nomination, a candidate has to tack stupidly far to the right on social issues in order to appease the GOP's extremely conservative base. However espousing those sorts of policies means that democrats (even those with fiscally conservative leanings), moderates and even moderate republicans (those who are fiscally conservative but socially more liberal) as much as they are exasperated with the Democrats hold their noses and vote Democrat rather than see a extreme right winger in thrall to Religious Right and Tea Party get in?

For anyone living under a rock, if bill 1602 becomes law it will allow any business owner to legally discriminate against LGBTetc persons based on a "sincerely held religious belief"

Arizona voters - is this bill an accurate reflection of your wishes?

I'll start off with a couple.

Communism - great in theory, lousy in practice

Democracy - worst government, except for all others

Can you come up with one?

Scenario. You have a teenage son or daughter who's getting pretty serious with their girlfriend or boyfriend. You're pretty sure that sooner or later they are going to have sex. A lot of parents have the "not under my roof" rule - but wouldn't it be better for it to happen in a safe environment rather than somewhere like a party, or the back of a car, or a seedy motel?

The UK's National Health System is a system where 99% of healthcare is free at the point of use - it's paid out of general taxation.

Wouldn't you prefer a system where you know you'll get treated regardless of your financial or insurance status? Why are Americans so wedded to their profit-motive led healthcare system?

The USA spends more on healthcare as a percentage of it's GDP than any other country, but ranks 38 in WHO rankings. The UK ranks twenty places above the USA but is only 26th in the spending leagues.

Why not change the game?

It seems ludicrous from a UK perspective. A lot of time it seems that Republicans & Conservatives seriously believe Democrats & Liberals are "commie traitors trying to destroy america and create a socialist state" and conversely Democrats & Liberals think Republicans & Conservatives are "ignorant racists trying to turn america into a evangelical christian theocracy"

Is this really how the opposite sides of the political spectrum and their supporters actually percieve each other?

The Republican party has many policies that are attractive to the American public.

Smaller government

Lower taxation

Less regulation & red tape

Fiscal conservatism

Free market economics

Welfare reform

etc. Regardless of your political leanings any intelligent person can see that this is the sort of thing that the Republicans can put to the American people and get a reasonable hearing - they are all reasonable policies that a lot of people would support.

But there's a big elephant in the room - and it's not the one on their logo...

The problem is that to get the former policies enacted, you have to support a party that also has the following policies

Anti-LGBT (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Trans) positions - opposing gay marriage & gay adoption. Opposing anti-discrimination legislation for LGBT people.

Anti-abortion and contraception policies and interference with women's reproductive choices - trying to overturn Roe vs Wade. Forcing mandatory waiting periods and anti-abortion counseling on women seeking abortions. Advocating outright abortion bans, even in the case of incest or rape (which is especially horrific - pregnancy is not risk free - women DIE due to complications of pregnancy or childbirth every year even in the USA - "Well you got raped and got pregnant, now we're going to force you to carry the child to term and if you die in childbirth, tough ****" - how screwed up is THAT?)

Anti-enviromentalism - most people agree that protecting the environment is important, especially for future generations but the Republicans want to drill/mine/rape everything in the name of economic prosperity - a lot of people consider this very short sighted.

Anti-immigration - the extreme rhetoric and borderline racism that comes across from Republicans in this political area turns many people off, and as hispanics are the fastest growing voting demographic it's insanely counter-productive.

I could go own but you get the point. When is the republican party going to understand that if they want the American people to embrace their policies and economic position, they are going to have to jettison their out of date social policies?

It actually varies from State to State, from 16 to 18.

There's a big debate going on as to whether religious institutions should be obligated to cover contraception on their health plans as they currently are.

However it's sheer folly to allow an employers religious exemptions to the items covered under a health plan they provide for employees as the cartoon below shows :-

http://blueollie.files.wordpress.com/201%E2%80%A6

For those who can't access the file a paraphrased summary

Panel One - We can't cover your contraception, your employer is Catholic

Panel Two - We can't cover your blood transfusion, your employer is a Jehovah's Witness

Panel Three - We can't cover your psychiatric drugs, your employers are Scientologists

Panel Four - We can only pray for you, not give you any medical treatment as your employers are Christian Scientists.

Even contraception is a very shaky example - a lot of contraceptive pill prescriptions are not primarily for contraception, they are to treat other problems.

There's a big debate going on as to whether religious institutions should be obligated to cover contraception on their health plans as they currently are.

However it's sheer folly to allow an employers religious exemptions to the items covered under a health plan they provide for employees as the cartoon below shows :-

http://blueollie.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/conce...

For those who can't access the file a paraphrased summary

Panel One - We can't cover your contraception, your employer is Catholic

Panel Two - We can't conver your blood transfusion, your employer is a Jehovah's Witness

Panel Three - We can't cover your psychiatric drugs, your employers are Scientologists

Panel Four - We can only pray for you, not give you any medical treatment as your employers are Christian Scientists.

Food for thought?

Your prices are some of the lowest in the Western world - for comparison the UK is around $8 a gallon over twice your price. You don't know when you've got it good!

I mean - open your hand and rapidly open and close it so your fingers strike your palm firmly. There you are - that's the sound. What's so special about that?

I mean, chopping a babies foreskin off with no legitimate medical reason? How can you justify this, especially as sometimes things can go wrong leading to serious long term problems?