Below is a link to a quiz that will take your political beliefs and match you to the 2008 Presidental Candidate that matches your beliefs best. It shows what percentage of the candidates' issues you match. The quiz takes maybe 3 minutes to complete and is very easy and comprehensive. Enjoy!
Here are my results: 73% - Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) 63% - John Edwards (D-NC) 60% - Hillary Clinton (D-NY) 55% - Barack Obama (D-IL) 18% - Rudy Giuliani (R-NY) 18% - John McCain (R-AZ)
This is the third post of a three-post series talking about the Democratic Party's beliefs, the Republican Party's beliefs, and the Bill of Rights.
The Bill of Rights
The United States Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights came into effect in the year 1791 when it was ratified by three-fourths of the States. The Bill of Rights were drafted by James Madison and were strongly supported by the Democratic-Republican Party, today's Democratic Party.
First Amendment:Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. This amendment was drafted so the government could not establish a church and force its citizens to become a memeber just like it was in England at that time. It also wanted to people to be able to voice out its opinions about the government without fear of imprisonment.
Second Amendment:A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. This amendment was drafted in order for the people to have a direct line of defense against its government. The Militia they are refering to is not our present day armed forces. The Militia is like our national guard in a way. This amendment was also drafted in order to protect its people from its own Militia.
Third Amendment:No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. This amendment was made once again to protect its citizens against is own Militia. This is to stop our soldiers from seizing the homes of citizens and using them as military posts.
Fourth Amendment:The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. This was set up to protect the people from its own police force. This amendment is one in which the present administration is inturpretly very loosely with its warrentless wiretaps.
Fifth Amendment:No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. This amendment gives you a due process, protects you from double jeopardy, self-incrimation and to hold private property. This is another amendment the Bush administration inturprets loosely with the holding of people at Gitmo Prison without a proper and speedy trail.
Sixth Amendment:In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense. This amendment grants the people a trial by jury of their peers. This again, is an amendment that the current administration inturprets very loose.
Seventh Amendment:In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. This amendment sets up a civil trial by jury.
Eighth Amendment:Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. This amendment is to protect you from the system by not being allowed to take all of your wages due to a crime. Also it doesn't allow torture for information (again Bush administration's inturpretation).
Nineth Amendment:The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. This protects people rights not exclusively mentioned in the Bill of Rights.
Tenth Amendment:The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. This gives some power to the states and back to the people. This protects states and its people from the federal government.
This is the second post of a three-post series talking about the Democratic Party's beliefs, the Republican Party's beliefs, and the Bill of Rights.
The Republican Party
The Republican Party is a result of the Federalist movement. This movement was based on the ideas of Alexander Hamilton and his allies. This movement was opposed to the ideas of the Democratic-Republican Party, present day's Democratic Party.
The Republican Party was formed first on the idea that the national government under the Constitution had too much power. They believed in a weak federal government with the power going directly to the States. A basic Republican philosophy is that the strenght of the nation depends on the strength of each individual in the Union.
The second basic idea for the formation of the Republican Party is its idea of the purpose of government. They believe that the purpose of government is to ensure the rights of the people are protected, and at the same time the government must restrict its activities to providing only the services that individuals cannot provide alone. This is the reason why Republicans are against public transportion, public libraries, public schooling, social security, and a universal healthcare program.
The third principle of the Republican Party insists that a strong national defense system is required to keep the nation safe from outside forces even in times of peace. They believe that world peace believes in a strong American army.
The fourth idea is for the freedom of Americans to make their own decisions, and to live their own lives free from governmental interference. This is the main philosophy that today's Republican Party has strayed away from. The Republican Party is against a woman's right to choose. They are against the union between two homosexual adults.
The fifth philosophy is that the idea of helping others or helping the little man only adds to excessive government taxation, government control, and plain coercion. Even this philosophy have the present day Republicans strayed away from.
On contrary to some beliefs, religion was not one of the fundamental principles of the Republican Party. Religion has only been adopted as a so called "principle" of today's Republican Party for political gain. Today this is why they are against abortion, gay rights, and the like.
I was givin the idea by Pastor Dave to make a post about how each political party in America strayed away from it's original basic party philosophy. As I was looking up information about this, I took his idea and ran with it. This here is the first post of a three-post series talking about the Democratic Party's beliefs, the Republican Party's beliefs, and the Bill of Rights.
The Democratic Party
The Democratic Party's roots can be traced back to the year 1792 and founded by a brilliant man by the name of Thomas Jefferson. The party was formed in order to oppose the economic and foreign policies of the Federalist Party.
After the formation of the party, a realization for unity became obvious. What better way to get support than to proclaim their beliefs to the American people and allow them to decide their support. From this formed the first political platform in America.
The first idea that Thomas Jefferson proclaimed was the preservation of our present federal Constitution. Jefferson was a firm believer in the Constitution and in fact, wanted to make it stronger. He believed in a strong federal government. He was opposed to a monarchy type of government that would transition our government to a President and Senate for life. Also, the party was founded in order to helping the little man and helping others.
The second idea that Jefferson proclaimed was the belief of State's powers. He believed that each individual state should have power. He strongly opposed a national bank system. He also proclaimed the formation of the party in opposition to elites and aristocrats. He didn't want this country to be ran by the weatlty and did not believe that the government be associated with only the rich.
The third idea that Jefferson based his party is one that has strayed far away from his original belief over the years. He proclaimed that for our internal defence relys solely on our malitia until actual invasion. He also said that a naval force is only to be used to protect our coasts and harbors from intrusions. Jefferson was strongly against a standing army in times of peace on the fear that it may overthrow our government in its entirety.
The fourth idea that Jefferson stated is that he is for free commerce with all nations, a political connection with none, and little or no diplomatic establishment. Jefferson believed that this country should be completely independent of the rest of the world. The Democratic party of today has definately strayed away from this fundamental belief. Diplomacy is one of the party's main concerns of present day. The issue of trade has also moved from what Jefferson believed, free trade, to the now fair trade policy.
The fifth basis the Democratic was founded was to not link the United States by new treaties with any of Europe. This was done to protect the United States from joining with the kings to rage war against the principles of liberty and conquere all of the world.
The sixth principle of the Democratic party was a strict belief in the Bill of Rights. A total belief in the right to free press, freedom of speech and religion.
The last fundamental of the Democratic Party was the progression of science in all its branches. The party believed in science and all the work it has and will bring to us.
These were the basis for the formation of the original Democratic Party. Every other belief was in someway evolved from these basic beliefs.
Let's take a gander into some of the beliefs and fundamentals of the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party believes that one role of government should be to protect. From this, they believe in a fully funded federal social security program for all. This ensures that everyone has money saved for when they reach retirement age. From this, they believe in a fully funded universal health care program. This would make health care free for all citizens regarless of your age or health.
The Democratic Party believes that the government should not play a role in what one can do with their own body. From this, they believe in a woman's right to choose whether or not she wants an abortion.
The Democratic Party believes that marriage should be at the state level. From this, they believe that there should not a federal ban on gay marriage that each state should decide.
The Democratic Party believes that the school system should be federally funded through tax dollars. They believe all children should have the opportunity to attend a public school. They believe in reduced class sizes and the hiring of new teachers to meet the accomodations.
The Democratic Party believes in fair trade. They believe that this establishes restrictions on trade that would only allow it if it benefits our economy.
The Democratic Party believes in gun control. They believe that gun control laws should be stricter in order to protect its citizens. They belive that not every person should be allowed to own a gun. They are for strict background checks before owning a firearm. They also believe that a citizen should prove that he is capable of owning a firearm before placing it in his hands. They believe this will decline the murder rates and gun violence.
The Democratic Party believes that the more money you make, the more you should pay in taxes. From this, they believe in tax cuts for the middle working class not the wealthy 1% of America.
The Democratic Party believes that the formation of unions protects the working middle class. They believe that low income workers must have some form of protection and union do just that.
Let's take a gander into some of the beliefs and fundamentals of the Republican Party.
The Republican Party believes that the role of government should be to protect not provide. From this, they believe in the fully privatized social security program. They believe that it should be up to you the worker to save enough money for you to retire. From this, they believe in a fully privatized health care system with no government "safety net". They believe that you should be pay for your own health coverage, not your employer or the government. This will allow you to pay for the plan that best suits your health needs.
The Republican Party believes that you do not have the right to do whatever you want with your body if it harms other in the process. From this, they believe that a woman does not have the right to choose if she wants and abortion or not. They believe that an unborn fetus has the same constitutional rights as the rest of us.
The Republican Party believes in a fully privatized school system. They believe that you should make the decision of where your children go to school. They believe that the role of government in education should be limited.
The Republican Party believes that every citizen has the right to own whatever and how many guns they choose to own. They don't believe that you should have to prove yourself worthy of owning a gun (unless you are mentally handicapped or a convicted felon).
The Republican Party believes that a business should be not be mandidated by the government. They believe that the owner should be allowed to run his/her business however he/she chooses. From this, they believe that a company should not be forced to give an employee benefits. From this, they believe in no federal minimum wage. From this, they do not believe in union's rights. From this, they believe that if the job you are working is not up to your standards, you should find a better one that suits your needs and evidentually that old job would offer more for its employees.
Let's take a gander into some of the beliefs and fundamentals of the Libertarian Party.
The Libertarian Party believes that the government should have no hand in our lives whatsoever. From this, they have unestablished the need for Social Security. There will be no "safety net" for when you retire. It should be up to you the worker to save enough money so you can retire. From this, they are against any form of universal health care. They believe the government should not play any role in the health care business even for the young or poor. From this, they do not support any form of welfare for the poor or elderly or disabled.
The Libertarian Party believes that the school system and the states should be completely seperate. They believe in a complete privatized school system. From this, you should be allowed to pick and choose what school you want your kids to go to and pay for the ones you can afford.
The Libertarian Party is in favor of Civil Liberties including those for homosexuals. They believe that all laws against homosexuals should be repealled. You should have the right to express yourself in any means you please.
The Libertarian Party believes that abortion is a woman's right to choose and is no business of the state.
The Libertarian Party believes that the war on drugs threatens individual liberties. It should be your choice to do drugs if you please.
The Libertarian Party believes that the issue of foreign affairs should be limited to only the affairs inside the United States. We should not involve ourselves in the affairs of other countries.
The Libertarian Party believes in a complete free trade markety with absolutely no barriers of protection.
The Libertarian Party believes that all gun control laws should be repealled and the state has no right to tell you how many and what kind of guns you should own.
The Libertarian Party believes in open boarders. They want to repeal all restrictions on immigration.
Let's take a gander into some of the beliefs and fundamentals of the Green Party.
The Green Party believes in a universal health care system which provides heath care for all of its citizens. They believe this should be federally funded program for all no matter your age of disability.
The Green Party believes in a federally funded social security program. They believe that all citizens have the right to receive social security benefits when they reach the required age.
The Green Party believes that a woman is protected in her right to choose. They believe that abortion should be covered under a national health care system.
The Green Party believes in equal right for all including homosexuals. From this, they believe in equality by sexual orientation including gay marriage if so choose.
The Green Party believes in public schools with a choice by the family to decide which public school the child wishes to attend. They believe that the location of the household should not dictate which public school they must attend.
The Green Party believes in what they call thoughtful gun control. They believe that it should be harder to buy a gun but not ban them all together.
The Green Party believes in a negative income tax in order to keep families above the poverty line. From this, they believe in a living wage and a higher minimum wage. They believe in progressive tax not a flat tax system. They believe that the more money you make, the more you deserve to give back to the system.
If you pay any attention to United States politics, you should have notice one thing in common between the two parties by now. Even though both parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, are at opposite ends of the spectrum one thing joins them both together at the hip: Corruption.
With political parties as power hungry as they are, corruption runs right along side of them. Why the need to be corrupt? After thinking about this for some time now, I was able to draw a few conclusions on the issue.
One conclusion I've drawn is quite simple. Basically, with power comes corruption. What is the one thing you want when you get power? More power. It is that simple. All these politicians want more of it. Now at first, most of them follow the lines I believe. It's not until the power starts to go to their heads before this totatly consumes them, and they begin to be corrupt.
Another conclusion I've drawn is corruption isn't limited to just one party. If you've ever listened to any sort of political talk radio show, the particular talking head will do its best to make you the listener believe that his party can do no wrong and the other party is worse than satan himself. Of course, this just isn't the case in America. Both parties have their corrupt members, and it is our duty as voters to get the corrupt representative out of office.
In a brief conclusion, not all politicians are corrupt. Some actually do their jobs of serves us the constitutents and do it good. Just try to keep an eye out for the bad ones. Corruption hurts us all in the long run.
The other day before the House Judicary Committee, a woman by the name of Monica Goodling made her testimony. She was granted immunity for this testimony because the House is looking to bring down some top political figures. With all that aside, Monica Goodling brought up some very interesting events that have been taking place within this administration. One of which is a felony charge.
The issue I am refering to is something called "caging". If you are not aware of what caging is then allow me to explain. Caging in a political term is a ploy in order to get people strached from the voting lists. Evidently this has been a common practice among Republicans for quite sometime now. What they do is send a certified letter to people they suspect don't live at their current address that they are registered to vote at. Most of the people they choose are those overseas fighting with our military and the poor minorities. When the letters are not received from the resident the post office sends them back and the people names go on a "caging list". From there, people move to strach your name from the voting list so your vote won't be counted.
Now on to the story. Monica Goodling the other day in Judicary Committee brought up the issue of caging all on her own. She basically admitted that Carl Rove and his staff have been doing this for years and that many other very important members of the Republican party know about this. I don't need to remind you that this is a felony offense.
To me, this is not being taken serious enough. We are not talking about caging just a few hundred of people in the nation here. We are talking thousands of Democrats caged in one state. This is dramatically changing the outcome of elections.
Not only is this illegal but unethical as well. Nothing surprises me about the Republican party anymore. I don't see no low that would not be willing to stoop in order to steal votes away just to get in power.
I don't know if you see it or not, but to me there is a huge hypocrisy with which the Republican party is running on. The hypocrisy that I am referring to is the so called "party based on morals" on the issue of "coherst interrogation" or like how it should be refereed, torture.
If you've missed the previous Republican presidential debate, you didn't miss much. What what you did miss was the question being asked to the "candidates" of should we be allowed to use coherst interrogation methods on prisoners to extract information. Out of all the candidates on the stage, all but two said that they support coherst interrogation. The crowd actually applauded to when one would say "yes I do support this".
I have no clue what they were applauding for. If it were me, I would be applauding because they finally admit they are the biggest hypocrites in America. All this might I remind you is coming for a party that is trying to steal votes from the so called religious organizations.
Let's ask the question. If Jesus were here, do you think that he would be in favor of torture? I think NOT! How can you run on the platform of morals and in favor of torture at the same time without there being a hypocrisy?
If I can recall correctly, our current president used the exact same platform to receive his votes. He ran as the so called "Moral Candidate". What a joke that was. Look at what your so called moral candidate is doing right now. Every day he is sending more and more troops to be killed in a completely moral-less war.
Would Jesus want us to kill for oil if he were here today? Do you think Jesus would support George W. Bush? HA!
Whether you believe it or not, it is evident why we are still in Iraq. It is for the OIL! Instead of continuing to fight a losing battle in an unpopular war, I have a better idea. This idea will save hundreds if not thousands of lives in Iraq and will greatly benifit America in the long run. What I am proposing for us to do isn't that far out there. As it is, most cities around the U.S. have began taking small steps to getting to this solution.
It is quite evident that American's love to travel. Most of them must travel in order to get to work everday. This of course burns oil.
Instead of fighting for oil, let's let the Iraqi's have it. Just let them have it all. Here's why.
We need to develop more vehicles that run on ethanol or other forms of alternative fuels. Make them more affordable and begin to phase out regular oil burning vehicles in the next few years, we won't need oil any more.
I'm not limiting this idea to only use ethanol. You cannot tell me that in the year 2007 that we do not have the technology to where we can't develop an engine that runs only on fossile fuel alone. This makes no sense.
Mr. Bush, if you are listening, end this war in Iraq and use the billions upon billions of dollars that would be used to kill more innocent Americans and Iraqi's, use this money to develop more realistic alternative fuel vehicles.
I guarantee you, less people will be dead in Iraq because of it. More troops will be able to return to their families. Hell, this may even stop the effects global warming.
All this can be accomplished by doing just one simple thing:
As you are probably well aware, last week Congress (or should I say the Democrats) passed a bill that will give President Bush funding for the war in Iraq until September. Here is why I believe the Democrats passed such a bill.
One reason is that from now on, the Republicans cannot say that the Democrats don't support the troops. By passing giving in to Bush's demands and fully funding the war until September, this shows everyone that the Democrats support the troops.
Secondly, from a political standpoint only, by not ending the war greatly benifits the Democrats. The war is only going to get worse. That is evident. The worse the war gets, the more the American people will hate Republicans. When it comes time to elections, people will remember this and vote for Democrats. The Democrats are trying to build an empire like the Republicans have had before Bush was in office.
Thirdly, if the Democrats would have not funded the war and allowed it to come to an end, by 2008 the American people would have completely forgot about who ended the war and wouldn't vote Democrat. Another fault for doing this would be that the Republicans could soley run on their famous talking point of the Democrats don't support the troops and win on it.
The only draw back for not ending the war now is quite obvious. American's are losing their lives day after day and enough is enough. Things aren't going to get any better in Iraq and we just need to face it.
At first I was really upset that the Democrats didn't end the war when they had the chance but I came to realize that it is better to lose one battle than to lose the whole campaigne. By allowing the Republicans win the battle of letting their war go on for a little bit longer allows the Democrats to start building a solid party that can potentially take the White House in 2008 and keep a Congressional majority for a long time in the future.
According to an article posted on Yahoo by Reuters, the Bush Administration may consider pulling out half the troops in Iraq next year.
Next Year. Next Year. Oh my God! Wow! These people really just don't get it do they. They have no idea what mainsteam America belives. I just don't get these people. You'd think that when your approval rating falls to an all-time low of 23% that you might rethink your position on every aspect of your job, but they don't!
Next year is way too long. Hell tomorrow would be well overdue. I just don't understand how Mr. George Bush can sit behind his little desk in the oval office and feel nothing. I know he doesn't feel anything because any person with a heart and a love for fellow Americans would not allow our troops to die every single day.
How dare he say that it is the Democrats that don't support the troops. How dare he! We want to support the troops by bringing them home (at least that's what I thought until they passed a "blank check" war funding bill).
Next Year. What a joke. What a loser! He thinks that by doing this that his "legacy" will live on. Boy will he have another thing coming in a few years. All he is doing is making his "legacy" so much more meaningless and pointless. What a crock!
Well it's been a while since I made a post but I figure now is just as good a time as any to sum up how I feel about what the newly elected Congress just did about the Iraq funding bill. If you haven't already heard, Congress voted on a bill that would fully fund the Iraq war until September. With this bill comes absolutely no strings attached. Basically what the Democrats in Congress did was give President Bush a blank check. I cannot express my disguss and anger with my fellow Democrats enough because of this.
I think someone needs to remind them exacty why they were voted into power. It was not because of their stance on abortion or their position on gay marriage. They got voted in for one reason and one reason only. That reason was to end the war in Iraq. How can you end the war in Iraq by bending over backwards to a knuckle headed President who won't compromise an inch over his stupid pointless war.
In my opinion if the Democrats want to remain in power, they need to not only listen to what the majority of America wants but grow some balls and carry out our needs. This is completely disgusing to me.
They tried once to pass a bill with benchmarks, and Bush vetoed it. Next, they tried to pass a bill that would over-fund the war and with a timeline and Bush vetoed it. What should have happened was instead of bowing down to Bush was to keep on sending him the same bill. Let him veto it. From a political stand point, you can say that it is Bush that is not "supporting the troops". He is the one not funding them since it is his pen that is vetoing the proper funding. If he signs it, you win. If he vetos it til the money runs out, you win. There are no draw backs in this whatsoever.
Instead of doing the right thing, my fellow Democrats gave in to an unworthy President and completly let down all of the United States. If this doesn't come to an end soon, our nation as we know it will be completly changed and times will begin to look like they did during Vietnam.
