Reply #144: You're not too far from me. [View All]

[backscatter712]

Let me address a couple of your points really quickly. I don't have time for everything, but I hope you'll see that yes, we can work together.

"1. The heavy hand of govt, while well intentioned, only serves to erode our freedoms."

Yeah, that is true, but on the other hand, society cannot function without government. To quote from the Code of Hammurabi, "The first duty of government is to protect the powerless against the powerful." Government is one of humanity's oldest institutions, which has been with us since the beginning of civilization. Government can work, and does work.

But, like all human institutions, government is imperfect. IMHO, the way to keep government working well is to participate. America has been lax in participation, caught in apathy, and only now are people waking up, liberal or conservative. When few people participate, then government gets wasteful. Government gets infiltrated by parasites and predators who'll waste taxpayer's money and use government to harm people. And the U.S. government has a rather large share of parasites and predators right now, sucking from all of us like vampires. If you'll join us, join with fellow liberals and conservatives and push to take our government back from Bush and the rest of the predators that have turned government away from its mission, we can make our government work again. Let's make our voices heard!

"2. When we try to help other nations(Iraq), it ends up causing more harm than good and drains our Treasury. But we also need a foreign presence in this day and age to help us combat terrorism."

Very true. IMHO, the correct response to terrorism is not open military force and invasions. It's not to turn this country into a police state. Terrorism is best combated with law-enforcement and counter-intelligence. When those two things are working correctly, you don't really see it. We don't even have to do things like pour out our drink bottles at the airport. Terrorists are given far too much publicity. They're nothing but common criminals, and while they organize like the Mafia and drug cartels, it's well within the capabilities of law-enforcement and intelligence to fight them and stop them without destroying our liberties. Also, IMHO, invading countries, especially the invasion of Iraq has been completely counterproductive - the resentment coming from our invasion and the atrocities we've committed have resulted in more terrorism, and will continue to create more terrorism until we bring our troops home.

As to the four reasons why you're leaving the GOP, I couldn't agree more.