Originally Posted by
white_n_slow
I can see both sides on most of this stuff. To me the most unacceptable mainstream republican beliefs are the "family values" stuff. Any way you cut it, I can't see opposition to legal gay unions as anything other than bigotry. Abortion is a little more of a gray area, but the bottom line is that your* religious beliefs have no place in a secular government.
I can agree with most of James' statements, for instance, but I think a lot of republicans need to reconcile the ideal that the government should play a minimal role and butt out, so to speak, with the reality that under republican leadership, spending (and national debt) has increased, the government has condoned domestic spying, warrant-less wire tapping, and building/buying prisons in foreign countries so suspects can be detained indefinitely without trial. For all the rights you stand up for, you certainly don't mind other rights being violated.
*you = a hypothetical republican, I'm not trying to attack any HANners here
i dont really have an issue with gay unions, IMO somebody should be able to share a household with whomever they please. and if somebody wants to name somebody their beneficiary or share their family benefits with somebody of the same gender, none of my business... now gay unions with children..... that doesnt really fly with me but thats another can of worms
as for the republican administration leading to higher spending, etc... circumstances overall havent been that favorable. after 9/11 we had no choice to be respond. whether or not that includes iraq is debatable. lets also keep in mind that the democrats have controled 2/3 of the federal gov't for the past 2 years and haven't come through on any of their promises. (get out of iraq/afghanistan, fix the subprime crisis, eliminate the bush tax cuts, handle the energy crisis, take care of illegal immigration, etc)
on the domestic spying front, they only tapped suspected terrorists. i dont see why anybody is trying to protect them???? foreign prisons are in place to handle prisoners of war. these people were caught plotting against the US and/or commiting acts of violence toward the US. They are lucky to be alive, much less 'awaiting trial' those people didnt give the innocent people in the towers a chance to get out alive, neither would they have given the chance to anybody else in their thwarted terror plots. the fact that they were granted that blessing should overshadow guantanamo.