Presidents

This election campaign coming up is confusing the heck out of me. I think people agree on many goals: everyone should have good health care, good education, and America needs to be protected from terrorism. And, I confess--I'm a Republican. Why? Before I talk about that--let me write a little bit on my views.

Couple of things...

1. I'm fiscally conservative on most issues--except really education. I think everyone should have health care--but not a government run universal health care system. Perhaps the government can offer the health care plan they offer to government employees on a sliding scale premium scale to folks who cannot otherwise afford private health care plans? Other things where I'm Republican. I believe poverty is one of the biggest problems in America--but government welfare is hardly the solution. Private entities are far better at giving out aid than the government.

2. Socially, I'm fairly moderate to liberal. I'm pro-life, but against government legislation of marriage, drugs, prostitution, etc. Government: stay out of my private life! But, on some other things...such as affirmative action, I fall squarely in the left.

3. Immigration: Wow, this one is complicated too. As an immigrant, I hardly think its fair that America closes its doors. We are founded as a nation of immigrants, who came with the promise of freedom and opportunity to all people. Yet, in this day and age of terrorism we can't have an open sieve for a border. Let's secure our borders, but let's also have a open guest-worker program that places all guest workers on the road to citizenship as quickly as possible. And for those who are undocumented there--why are people so against them? Can we just bring them out into the open--let's give them a guest worker pass, and move on!

4. Iraq: We made the right decision to go in. I stand by that--not because Iraq had WMD (to me that was irrelevant). It was the right thing for two reasons. First, Iraq was run by a ruthless dictator who had committed a myriad of human rights violations. Now, one might ask--why don't we go into North Korea? Well, can we actually do anything about NK? Probably not--at least not at the cost assumed at that time. Iraq, had it been fought properly, could have been stabilized quickly and we might have a democratic and peaceful Iraq today. Thus, it was our responsibility to do something--and we could have done something about Iraq. We probably could not have done anything about NK. Second, we have a strong national interest in ensuring a peaceful Middle East. I think we are kidding ourselves if oil isn't critical to our lives. A stable middle east is critical. Now, I think we all agree that Iraq has been fought miserably. And now, at this point, is Iraq winnable? Maybe--but I think most people would agree we need to figure something out.

So--with that being said, I consider myself a Republican. Why? I think it's my heart that goes that way. Generally, small government is the way to go. Big, bloating government is hardly a good thing. It's the fundamental Republican philosophy in the power of the individual to succeed.

Yet, I can't figure out which candidate I'm suporting.

Current Rankings

1. Hillary Clinton
2. Fred Thompson
3. Mike Huckabee
4. John Edwards

I have serious, serious concerns with each candidate:

I'm a fiscally fairly conservative, but a social moderate. Hillary fits that mold, to a certain extent I think she's a power-hungry you-know-what.

Fred...well, I just like him--but I can't figure out what he believes in.

Huckabee...he's a good guy. Fiscal conservative, but socially too strict for me.

John Edwards: I love his progressive views on combating poverty. I don't necessarily like how he approaches it, but at least he's willing...