I suppose...

...it's time for me to come out and say exactly what my beliefs are on various topics.

First and foremost, I don't go for this uber-sensitive garbage. In everything that happens, we have a choice on how we react, including whether or not to choose to be offended. If merely reading, seeing, or hearing something you don't like is enough to cause you to automatically be offended, then you should just go ahead and pop about 20 valium. I'm sure you'll feel much better in about half an hour. Someone once said that "Real power is the ability to pause between stimulus and response, and in that pause, choose."

From this point on, I'm going to itemize my beliefs for easier reading. If you find any of these to be offensive, go see your doctor about some valium.

• Welfare: Welfare was intended, at inception, to be helping hand to those who need it, not the way of life it has become. One of the few (very few) things that Bill Clinton ever did right was to push for welfare reform and turn it back over to the states instead of it being doled out by the federal Mommy State.



• Religion: You're free to worship whomever you choose. You could choose to worship Beppo the Wonder Monkey if you wish, but that doesn't mean the rest of us should have to care. There isn't a religion around today that's not trying to pull the line of "Waaah! Waaah! I'm being persecuted because I'm Christian/Jewish/Muslim/Whatever!" Get over yourselves already. No one is persecuting you, so get off your cross. I will say this, though, Karma is a bitch, ain't it?
  
  Oh, and for the record, I'm not a Christian. I haven't insulted myself with that label for more than twenty years. Come to think of it, I don't endorse any of the so-called "organized" religions at all



• Sexuality: What consenting non-related adults (notice the operative words here) do in the privacy of their own home is their own business and nobody else's. If you're straight, that's fine. If you're gay, that's fine, too
  
  Too many people are working themselves into a tizzy over the fact that somone might be enjoying life in a way that they, personally, do not approve. Religionists (espcially Christians and Muslims) are notorious for this.



• Same-Sex Marriage: This is one topic where I happen to piss everyone off. Marriage is a religious institution in which the State should not be involved. It is my personal belief that the State should have no hand in religious affairs. Whether or not a church wishes to endorse same-sex marriages, that's their business. Nor should the State be forced to subsidize your marriage in the form of tax-breaks, etc. I'm talking about complete separation between the two. At the same time, get your god (whichever one you worship) out of government and put it back in church or your homes where it belongs.



• Taxes: As it stands right now, we pay taxes on what we make, what we spend, and what we don't spend. Pretty soon, the government will find a way to tax us on what we don't make. Oh, wait, they already do that - it's called "property tax."
  
  Our current tax system is unfair in that it treats people differently for various reasons. A more fair system should be implemented, like replacing it with either a flat tax (absolutely no loopholes, shelters, or exmptions PERIOD) or (referably) a national sales tax. The reason I say a national sales tax is a good idea is that it is a tax on consumerism. Rich people buy more, so they pay more in tax. People who aren't rich buy less, and thus pay less in taxes.



• Healthcare: Speaking as someone who used to work in the healthcare field, I can tell you why the cost of good healthcare in this country is so damn expensive: the unholy trinity of insurance companies, ambulance-chasing lawyers, and a gullible public with a belief that they're entitled to something. Doctors weren't able to save the life of your 70 year-old-mother whose been smoking for 60 years, has emphesema, cancer, diabetes, and bad acne? Well, just go get a lawyer and sue! Enter the malpractice insurance agency who will, more often than not, go ahead settle out of court to save costs on a court battle - even in the case of an unwarranted lawsuit. Then you have personal health insurance comapnies who charge you an arm, a leg, and one testicle to provide "affordable" healthcare - at the discretion of some brainless bureaucrat, and, if you should actually happen to use that insurance for its intended purpose, they raise your rates to cover their costs.
  
  If you think the above situation is bad, wait until the Left manages to get government involved in the form of "universal" or "one-payer" healthcare! Historically, any time the government intevenes for "the public good," things got right to hell. Now, not only will we be paying for everyone's healthcare - in the form of higher taxes - we'll also be paying for the bloated bureacracy that will inevitably be needed to run this monstrocity.



• Iraq: I regret that we have to be there now when we could have finished this mess back in 1991. Don't confuse me with some pro-war chickenhawk. Having been in the military, and having served in the first Gulf War, I know what things are like over there, what the people are like, how they are treated, etc. When we pulled out back after the Gulf War, I made the prediction that we'd be back within fifteen years. Also, I can pretty much say that, those who have seen war, never want to see it again, but that does not prevent of from doing what is necessary, no matter how much we may not want to do it.



• Second Amendment Rights: What part of "shall not be infringed" is so difficult to understand?



• Partisan Politics: Give me a friggin break here. George Washington had it right when he said that there should be no political parties in the US. Parties lead to an inherent divisivness, which has never been more apparent that it is today. Issues are far more important than parties; a concept that brainless partisans seem to have difficulty understanding.



• George Bush vs. John Kerry: I have to admit that I'm having a tough time with this one.
  
  On one hand, John Kerry's record speaks for itself: the man is an untrustworthy opportunist who stands for absolutely nothing. So far, he's based his entire campaign on two things: his "service" in Vietnam, and the fact that he's not George Bush. As a vet myself, I have great respect for those who have served honorably. As days pass, more and more evidence mounts that John Kerry did not serve honorably. Some 250 or so vets who served with him have come forth with their tales of his dishonorable - and in some cases cowardly - behavior. I find it difficult to believe that 250 men - many of whom are Democrats - would have come forward to lie about the man-who-would-be-president. If that were not enough, Kerry's activities as the leader of the communist-sponsored Vietnam Vets Against the War, in which he either perjured himself before Congress in the Winter Soldier hearings, or admitted to participating in war crimes. This makes him either a perjurer or a war criminal.
  
  George Bush, on the other hand, has done some things with which I can agree, and some other things at which I have to shake my head in disbelief. I admired his handling of things after 9/11, and I support his decisions to go to Afghanistan and Iraq. However, it looks as if he hasn't learned the lessons of Vietnam, and is trying to lead a "sensitive" or "PC" war. This is the exact kind of pussy-footing that cost us Vietnam. You don't win a war by being a nice guy; you win it by making the other guy wish he never pissed you off in the first place. I support the tax cuts, even though I don't think he went far enough with them. Probably the biggest thing in which I have a disagreement is his support of the Federal Marriage Amendment. Not only is such an Amendment an unprecedented invasion into personal issues, using the Constitution to address a social issue is just plain wrong. The last time this was tried turned out to be an unmitigated disaster - or has everyone forgotten the lessons learned from passing the 18th Amendment?
  
  This is the first time in my life that I'm not voting for a candidate for President, but rather voting against a candidate. I may not feel that George Bush has earned my vote, but there's no way that I can even consider voting for John Kerry, and Bush is the only candidate that has a chance of beating him.