I didn't vote for President Bush, but I have grown to appreciate him for his finer qualities: the resolve to end terror on our homeland and abroad, providing adequate leadership during a very difficult time in our nation's history. Things could be worse, but I must come to the conclusion that things...could also be better.
With the 2004 campaign season about to begin, I must start the process of deciding who can best lead our nation beyond the current economic and national security crisis we still find ourselves in. Something must change and I feel that fresh ideas and fresh blood are necessary for this change to occur.
By some people's standards I am a liberal, and by other people's I am a conservative. But truth be told, I am a pragmatist who wants the basic things in life: financial opportunities, economic growth, a secure environment to raise my children and access to reasonable health care.
Why are these things so difficult to attain? All around me I see people struggling to make ends meet, get to the next level on the socio-economic food chain and find a balance between achievement and happiness. I DO NOT blame Bush for this fundamental shift in the United States status quo, but I do not get a sense that he has ALL of my needs and desires in his sights. President Bush has set the stage for global security. I expect any new leader of my nation to maintain that bar and raise it even higher as necessity indicates, but I have other needs, and I am an average American.
I am not rich, I am not middle class making ends meet, I am not the lowest tiers of poverty, I am an out of work mother with a child on the way. I am dependent on the local government for health care for my unborn child and children, I am dependent on the government for unemployment benefits that are only days from expiring, I am an entrepreneur looking for a way to better myself and contribute to my country through economic growth and value added service.
Article comments
1 - Chris
As a one income family, I can appreciate the struggles, I don't know quite what to do about it politically yet, but being thoughtful never hurts.
One thing we did this year is announce early that instead of buying Christmas gifts we were going to do other things, like take cool pictures of the grandkids and give those as presents.
2 - mike
Sorry, I can't resist this one. One of the main arguements against the war was that the U.S. could not afford both to "liberate" Iraq and to provide its people with basic needs like healthcare and a functioning infrastructure (see here).
Well, now that the cost of Iraq is exploding beyond all expectations, that arguement is truer than ever. We can't build schools and hospitals in the U.S. because we're building them in Iraq. We can't provide heath insurance for Americans because we're up to our necks providing it for Iraqis. Do the math.
As the French and the Germans say: you made this bed, you lie in it. The chickens have come home to roost.
3 - Al Barger
Mr. Larkin, your misanthropy is noted. However, stopping bad guys from killing and raping rates as a more critical function for government than providing free stuff to everybody. Dawn might be struggling financially, but at least she's not getting killed by terrorists.
Of course, you're working on the premise that the costs of our defense are somehow the cause of our economic troubles, which is nonsense. Dubya inherited a recession, and then we got hit with 9/11.
Note also that those events screwed up not just our emotions but our economy far more than any financial cost of fighting and rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq.
On the other hand, at least you get to gloat.
4 - Dawn
True dat Al, the company I worked for USED the 9/11 tragedy as an excuse for filing bankruptcy.
Mike, I know we are supposed to be all civil to one another, but go hump a camel. Truly and sincerely.
5 - Mark Saleski
true, we did get 9/11...but then we got a long slow buildup to the invasion of iraq...that was the straw that broke the back of the camel that dawn wishes mike would hump...so to speak.
6 - Eric Olsen
well put Mark
7 - mike
see here