Attention Republicans and Democrats!!! Why do you vote for your party?

This enters into the realm of how I would like to get screwed less. As Lewis Black once said; Congress works by a Republican jumping up and yelling, "I have a bad idea." Then this is followed by a Democrat jumping up right after and yelling, "and I'm going to make it sh*ttier."

But the issues as they are most important to me would probably be

Economy--Trickle-down economics is a failure, and has been twice before. I understand the Democrats aren't exactly the best economists we've seen, but they know better than to go with the same bad idea three times in a row (Ronald Reagan, First Bush, then Second Bush).

Immigration--I understand also that Bush is looking for a scapegoat to cover for his economic foolishness, but he is seriously about to destroy the one thing saving this economy by making things affordable (which is desperately needed, because wages have stagnated but prices have shot through the roof). To his credit though, he is trying to rectify that mistake by pulling back on the "get them out" rhetoric. Now if he could only convince his neo-con buddies to let it go too, maybe they might do something right for once.

War--Seriously, it can be kind of tough to always have to wonder who is going to get me first--the terrorists or the President. I believe that is why all the children's of the 60's were always on something; if you have to be paranoid anyway, might as well have some of the drugs do it so they can take the edge off.

Medicare and Social Security--Now I know Bush is willing to screw with these things because he knows that most of us will not be able to use them (if we all die in Iraq there won't be anyone left in 20 years to care). But who knows, maybe someone with some backbone will stand up to him and some of us may survive this war (the Draft is coming, we got to man those escalation-like surges somehow). If that happens, it'd be nice to know we won't starve to death or die of the common cold because we couldn't afford some food or medicine.

Environment--Since it is unlikely that Social Security or Medicare will survive the Bush onslaught; I would like to clean up the air a little bit. Hopefully my lungs will last a couple of extra years on their own without the help of the pharmeceutical companies. No promises though, if we don't get cancer from the air we probably will get it from the steroids in the beef, pork, carrots, etc.

What a time to be alive. I hope with everything in me that God blesses America, this country is going to need all the blessings it can get. I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but for the record I tend to be liberal in my views (though I don't consider myself to be evil enough to be a Democrat--and if I'm not evil enough to be a Democrat then I'm certainly in no danger of being the Sons of Satan that is a Republican).

You would call me a conservative now. When I was 18, I would have been labeled a moderate. I don't think my overall philosophy has changed. Society has simply polarized. The Democrats shifted father left. There used to be a segment called conservative Democrats. They are nowhere to be seen anymore.

Some have written here that conservatives are ignorant and resist change. I will leave the intelligence comparison up to you. Their need to insult opposing views sufficiently support my case. I don't resist all change. I just don't embrace change for the sake of change. Good ideas need to be advanced; Bad ideas rejected. Wisdom and experience need to be factored into decisionmaking. The end result should be continous improvement. If you stand still you get run over. If you jump in the road, you meet the same fate.

I vote Republican because I identify more closely with their culture: Government cannot and should not be expected to solve all problems for all people. The Government should limit its activity to that which can't handled better privately. Most political responses can be sorted by this philosophy. Foreign policy, law enforcement, interstate commerce and infrastructure, environment protection, and education are examples of activities which can performed more efficiently by a central body.

The Republican platform doesn't align perfectly with my views. I have been disappointed with their performance in the past years. However, I seldom agree with positions taken in support of the Democratic platform. We are so polarized that our lawmakers are considering political consequences instead of deciding what is best for the country. We deserve better from both parties.

Repub

1. Foreign Policy & Security

2. Religion/Abortion/Life

3. Focus on Defense and Infrastructure

4. Fiscal Responsibility

5. No 5, see 1-4

Foreign Policy (ie Conflict/War) - The Democrats have no idea about how to win a War, look what they did to Nam.

Anti-Gay

Anti-Abortion

Pro-Capital Punishment

Against Illegal Immigration

(Obviously Republican, the GOP)

Republicans? Smaller Gub'ment

Democrats? Higher Taxes

Duh!

Independent

Republican

Lower Taxes

No Clintons, Kerry's, Kennedy's, Pelosi's, etc, etc............

Strong Military

Personal Freedom

Global Security

Democrat:

1. Anti-War

2. Healthcare

3. Seperation of Church and State

4. Global Warming

5. Closer to middle America, yet still not close enough.

republican

1. lower taxes

2. less government

3. immigration

4. anti gun-control

I'm pro-constitution, pro-america, anti-globalist, anti-treasonous scum!