I'm a TRUE moderate, this is the open-minded way to go. If you vote democrat one term, and republican the next, it shows how clear thinking you are. It shows that you form opinions based on each candidate rather than based on each party. This is the most important thing ANY TEACHER can teach to his/her students.
Democrat or Republican?
You shouldn't vote Democrat just because your friends tell you to or because many in your campus/school do (very typical of American Universities and Schools)... This is social validation and group mentality and can be extremely dangerous. Form your own opinions.
You shouldn't vote Republican just because your family or elders tell you to. Or just because you're a businessman or a religious leader.
A great teacher once told me this about politics of America (It's paraphrased):
Throughout life people change their opinions on politics, many people that graduate high school vote democrat, because they need job, they aren't prepared enough for life, and they find life difficult, so they vote democrat, because they are may rely on welfare or need job security. People who graduate from 2 year colleges, usually vote republican, because they have earned their degree and have an average job, and find that their salary isn't much and so much taxes go to people who haven't worked as hard as them. People who graduate from 4 year universities tend to be Democrat, because they get high paying or well paying jobs and care for the poor and the unfortunate and can afford to do so. Ph.Ds usually tend to be Moderate, sometimes Republican, sometimes Democrat, because they have studied and learned so much about the world that it has made them wise enough to decide that neither side is always right, they have become enlightened usually.
Abortion
Abortion SHOULD be legal, it is the woman's right and it should be encouraged. You kill thousands of cells every shower just by using soap on your body, and it's the same concept with abortion. If you think Abortion is a sin, or that it is "killing" or "murdering", then you can say, well, "You two didn't have intercourse tonight? You basically killed a baby's chance at the world!" Of course the first and foremost defense is, not abstaining from sex until you decide for sure you want kids, or using safe sex practices. However, I would like to ask any Christians, what do you care if someone else commits a "sin" in your opinion?
Abortion is linked to crime rate, if you allow abortion crime rate drops significantly.
Keep religion out of politics - Homosexuality?
You can believe in God and even Christianity if you so choose, but religion should not affect politics or decisions of people on sexual orientation or abortion. Even if you do not like homosexuals, even if you think they have a dysfunction, but that doesn't mean they don't have the right to be homosexual, and that doesn't mean they do or don't have the right to be married or not. It's really their own problem/blessing, why do you worry yourself about other peoples' behavior?
Atheist? Christian? Muslim? Jewish? Agnostic?
Watch Zeitgeist movie, the first part is a bit of atheism, but that doesn't mean Christians should be afraid of watching it, because it's good to keep an open mind, even if they don't like atheism etc... There is nothing wrong with being Atheist, Religious, or Agnostic, but there is something wrong when you are one of these and you go and force your beliefs on others or annoy them with your opinions on spiritual/non-spiritual matters.
A Sociology professor once told me, that religion was created out of necessity, and it has evolved for centuries, and cannot be attributed to a couple prophets. People will always war with each other over religion but all the of the religions were invented by man, and no one knows how much of it is corrupted or not. The idea of religion should be taken as "do good", and don't be evil, and nothing else should be taken from it. Rituals, sacrifices, are all sociological aspects created by man.
Too bad Taner Akcam was never a good sociologist, otherwise he'd know more about the Armenian rebellion, I think he should have just kept to politics as he had in Turkey, but I guess prison showed him that he needed to be more cunning than that, what better way to be a politician than to pretend you're a historian?
Be Independent - don't be victim to group mentality
Don't vote democrat, just because of the good things you hear from people about some politician. Don't think for one second that any of these politicians are "down-to-earth" or "really nice" people, not a single politician is an average joe who believes in the good of mankind. 99.9% of them ... Just like Obama and Clinton, many politicians are corrupt money-loving, lobby-kissing good-ole'-politicians.
And if you were even for a second assuming one of these candidates are people who make decisions on their own, who have opinions just like you, you are sadly living in a world of idealism, and they did an amazing job of FOOLING YOU.
Of course you should believe in the separation of Church and State even if you believe in God. People will always try to use religion to their advantage, and that is a sin in my opinion. The Founding fathers worked hard all their lives for this country, and they believed in Church and State even though all of them were quite religious. It just shows the HIGH amount of intelligence of these people.
Who do I vote for?
Huckabee? Horrible choice... Ron Paul? No way... Rudy Guliani? Who is he really? John Edwards? Don't think so. Barack Obama? Maybe if he didn't eat from the hands of lobbyists... Hillary Clinton? Yeah right. Mitt Romney? Too religious.
--- gasp... so who do we vote for? It's really hard to decide, but if John McCain is the candidate for republicans I'm voting for him (he's a war veteran, he knows politics, and he thinks on his own, and doesn't succumb to party beliefs), if Al Gore is the candidate for Democrats (what an amazing politician, and he actually cares for a cause), I'm voting for him (too bad he's not running).
Think open minded, and don't let others form your opinions.
You're probably right. The only reason I am against Hillary is because she is a co-sponsor of H.R. 106. She seems to be playing both sides in everything. John McCain might be conservative on some issues, but that's because he is in the Republican Party, he may not be as conservative as he appears. He's a very logical thinking person. I think I will vote for John McCain this year, just because I don't wanna risk everything on Hillary Clinton, because we really don't know what she really stands for but I can guess that she is exactly as you describe her to be, but I cannot be sure.
I totally agree with you, I'm not sure if I will vote for John McCain, but he doesn't seem like a bad choice. I don't tend to vote Republican, but ever since Democrats have been trying so hard to please Armenian-Americans by succumbing to their political pressure, I fear I have to change my stance to the Republican party.
I really thought Obama was going to be a great candidate, he tricked me into believing he's an average person, a person of the people. Then suddenly in one television interview he was asked "Barack Obama are you Muslim?" and he replies "No I am very much a Christian... bla bla bla", that's just ridiculous, to think that he would actually now try to please the Christian community as well. Even if he is fully Christian, I'd assume a politician wanting to be president, would like to please all his Muslim, Jewish, Agnostic, and Atheist voters as well. I think in the end this will hurt him the most.
And then he broke the last straw by making speeches and lecturing Americans on Ottoman history, just who the hell does this guy think he is?
I think a lot the way that you guys think. However, I was under the impression that Barack Obama was Christian, although he was part of a church that is really anti-Semetic. I heard that his pastor was a devout anti-Semite and on top of that, an Israeli panel ranked him as being the worst candidate for voters who care about Israel. That, and his catering to the Armenian lobbies, are enough of a reason for me to not vote Obama, even though I agree with him on most social and economic issues. Huckabee, Romney, and Ron Paul are all losers in my opinion. I don't like any thing about any of them. I am liberal on social and economic issues, but conservative on foreign policy, especially when it comes to Israeli and Turkish security. However, I will never vote for lunatics, and in my eyes, that is precisely what Ron Paul, Romney, and Huckabee are. Ron Paul is anti-Semetic on top of that, he has links to the KKK. I am leanings towards either Clinton or McCain. Clinton is supposed to be better for Israel. She has the support of the entire Jewish Lobby and most of the US Jewish community at large. On top of that, I love Madeleine Albright, and she endorsed Clinton. Clinton is conservative on foreign policy and liberal on every thing else, just like I am. However, I don't like that she is a flake who sold her soul to many lobbyists, including the Armenians. McCain is better than her, for this reason, but I don't agree with McCain on much outside immigration, campaign finance reform, and foreign policy. I am much more liberal than him on social and economic issues. I am voting either Clinton or McCain, that much I know. Which one, only time will tell.