Politicians always hijack terms and ideas. This is nothing new. The Republicans have somehow gotten the reputation of "making America safer". Cheney went as far as guaranteeing that the US would suffer a major attack if Kerry were to be elected. Politicians are for the most part the same. They all tell us what they think we want to hear and then do what they want once they are elected.

On compassion...My comments were TIC. I think that compassion is a personal trait not tied to a political party. My beliefs are that charity should be left to churches and private organizations. Government screws up nearly everything it touches. Other beliefs are as follows:
1. It's not the governments job to educate your child.
2. Consenting adults should be able to have sex in any way they both agree to. If someone gets paid to have sex, good for them.
3. Drugs should be legal. It's my body so I can do what I want to it. If I choose to take drugs and ruin my life, it's not the governments job to take care of me. The FDA is a joke.
4. Income tax should be abolished. I prefer consumer based taxes.
5. If a crime has no victim, there should be no law against the behavour.
6. Free trade.
7. I hate the U.N.
8. Diplomatic immunity need to be abolished.
9. Abolish most or all of our gun laws
10. The Fiat currency system is evil.

Unfortunately, Americans in general love to say they love freedom, but actually love to have others tell them what to do. Both parties couldn't care less about the citizens. So, honestly, I don't think it matters who wins the election. We are going down in flames regardless.

What's that?

It means we aren't on the gold standard any more. Libertarians and John Birchers work themselves up into a lather about the gold standard but gold is itself an arbitrary measure of value. It's tough for the John Bircher nuts to find any well-respected modern economists to agree with them about the gold standard. I generally think their arguments against fiat money are based on uneducated fear-mongering rhetoric.

NOTE: I do agree with Libertarian arguments on certain other subjects - just not on their obsession over the gold standard.

I can't understand why people aren't concerned with printing money that has no real value. It is true precious metals fluctuate in price, but the fluctuation is more of an indication of the strength (or lack thereof) of the dollar. People buy gold when they are lose confidence in the dollar. Since the dollar has no value (except your confidence in the government to honor the note) it has to fall if we lose confidence. Inflation (the weakening of the dollar caused mostly by printing too much money) hurts the poor and middle class much more than the rich. Poor people aren't able to diversify. The purchasing power of their meager income is greatly diminished. Most people worry about a politician's tax policies. I'm much more worried about inflation. Why we allow the government to write bum checks is beyond me.

I hope I'm not being confused with a Bircher. I was raised in a cult, I wouldn't be foolish enough to join another one willingly. :)

BlueHair, I was wondering if you've been watching the Republican debates and what you thought of Ron Paul's presence. Especially in the second debate, the moderators were really harsh with him, implying that he's not a Republican and should not be seeking the nomination. He nearly got shouted off the stage when he suggested that our overly-interventionist policy set the stage for 9/11. It's true that he's extreme, but I think it's unfortunate that his notions of return-to-limited-government are being received this way by the party.

This poll came out the 17th. You can see the entire thing at http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/...elease_web.pdf

It was sponsored by FoxNews but conducted by Opinion dynamics. The poll has all kinds of good questions.

look at this number on Hillary. 55% of Americans (76% of Republicans) think she'll say whatever she has to in order to win the nomination. The other candidates are in the 20s and low 30s.

I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Mr. and Mrs. Clinton discussed those poll results.

I haven't seen any of the debates. My wife and I have 70+ hours of Tivo we've been trying to catch up on the past few months. Paul sounds like an interesting character though. You've sparked my interest. I'm going to read up on him in the next couple of days.

Let the record show that I am a prophet. I predicted Blair's resignation three months before his announcement.