Sometimes, we have to bite the bullet and say we were wrong.

You have no idea how much this pains me. While I’m best associated as a moderate conservative (not Republican), I do usually vote with the GOP. For the first two years of his term, I was supportive of President Bush, and I voted for him and supported him quite nicely in 2000 against the evil force that was Gore/Lieberman. But, no more. The only way I could in good conscience vote for him a second time is if the entirety of his cabinet was replaced, except for Colin Powell. The rest of them should never have been allowed anywhere near the White House. And that saddens me. You know what’s worse? The Patriot Act. And the people who want it STRENGTHENED. The Republican Party is supposed to be Conservative, and that means CONSERVING my rights, doesn’t it? Well, it’s supposed to. It seems that that has fallen by the wayside a bit. And there is no way to explain the outrageous debt he wants to incur in Iraq. I was for the war, let’s get that out of the way, but I always hated how we went about it. I do believe that if given enough time, we could have established international support of some kind. We didn’t need to lie about weapons of mass destruction to do it, either.

Why does an Administration so, supposedly, dead set on national security deliberately ruin alliances we’ve had for years? Yes, the United Nations has become a lame duck of late. But why do we fly in the face of NATO, which obviously hasn’t, and is only getting stronger? Why do we fail to support Israel as we should?

Why haven’t we listened to Ben Franklin, who would be rolling over in his grave at the thought of the Patriot Act. I’d never willingly give up my freedom for safety, and that’s what this administration has done for me.

There are a few problems with my new chosen candidate for 2004. He comes from a party I have a long history of not liking. But, then again, I just don’t like the majority party stance. And this man doesn’t stand with them. I don’t know how he feels about the DMCA, another push-button issue with me (because it once again invades our basic civil rights), but considering his stance on the Patriot Act, I believe I can at least trust him to not be any worse. Then again, I still have the letters from both my congressmen who felt that it was a good idea. Hoy. Finally…how does he feel about our relationship with Israel?

No one will ever completely agree with what you feel politically, though, I guess. And that’s fine. It’ll have to be. I’m still watching what happens closely; I’m still doing more research to make sure I pick the best one. And I hope he wins. But, damnit…

…Vote for Howard Dean.