First and Only Survey

In order to try to get away from my seemingly never-ending angst, I thought I would do my very first survey.. since I really don’t care for surveys. But since this one required a lot of thought and I don’t care to talk about these issues, I felt I would challenge myself in an area that I shy away from. DarkRen posted this and asked others to try to answer it, and so.. here goes:

Answer the Following:

Location: What region do you live in?

U.S. Pacific NW, Oregon

Religion: What’s your religious denomination, if any?

Russian Orthodox Church in Exile

Party: What is your political party of choice?

Currently, I am ashamed to say that I am Republican. At least that is what I am registered as. However, never once have I voted a straight ticket, because I have not found candidates that I can in good conscience support across the board. In fact, I have not voted in the last 5 years, due to the fact that I do not believe my vote is counted, except for local elections. The latest fiasco was already decided before the West Coast had even finished voting. The ballot recount only reiterated that feeling.

I would change to a liberal party if I felt strongly about a majority of their candidates, or if I felt that doing so would be more than just changing it for the novelty effect. Right now, no liberal candidate would ever become president, because none have stood out enough to topple the Democratic or Republican party.

If I were to have voted in the last election, with the information available at that time, I likely would have voted for Bush. Were I to know then what I know now, I would have voted for a Liberal candidate.

War with Iraq: What is your general opinion on the war, its legality, ethical justification, potential and anything else you wish to add.

I do not feel the war is legally, ethically or morally right. I do not support Bush in this war at all. However, I do support the troops who have gone and who will go, because they are merely following orders and do not have a ‘vote’. Some would go to war regardless, some I am sure would rather not. But they are the ones taking the risk for our sake or for this countries pride sake or whatever other rational is currently around.

My brother was in VietNam, the nightmares he had from that war stayed with him his entire life. He managed to join when he was 17, sneaking his way into the service. I was very young at the time and it was terrifying as a child to hear of what was going on over there, the little we were told. Whenever there was a movie at school about war, I put my head on the desk to shut it out. I could never watch a war movie then or after without putting him in the role of whoever was playing the soldier.

Finding out this last year what he went through, after he died of a heart attack 3 years ago, my mother finally told me what was in his journal that he’d written in and she found 2 years ago. They are images that I will never be able to put from my mind, the guilt he felt.

He was a driver of those military jeeps that would hold 20+ men in the back. The one instance that chills me to think of, was when many of his buddies were riding in the back and they passed some of the enemy. He frantically drove to get out of there, trying to get to safety. Once he was in a clear area he pulled over to check on them, not one of them survived. Another time he watched his best friend get blown up by a land mine. He never told any of us, only his counsellor.

This is why I do not watch war movies or talk of the war. It’s not ‘someone else’, it’s not a Hollywood production. Hollywood has really desensitized so many people, all the war movies and catastrophy movies, always have the hero coming through in the end, averting true disaster. But this isn’t a movie.. the nuclear and biological consequences could truly cause chaos beyond what we can fathom.

Abortion: What is your stance on abortion.

I am pro-choice, but.. I think that it should also be limited and not thought of as a birth control option. I think it is justified for rape or to save a mothers’ life, in a situation like that, the mother should live. I know many mothers would rather the child live, but if the father is not capable of raising a child on his own, it should be a joint decision.

The Economy: What is your stance on matters of economy?

I believe that the economy is only going to get worse, which is pretty sad considering the horrible state it is in at this time.

Homeland Security: What is your opinion on the Dept of Homeland Security and/or how Homeland Security should be handled in your country?

Too much leeway has been given to those in authority to snoop and spy in places that they have no reason or need to. The whole reason why the United States came to be was to allow us to have freedom, which we are daily losing, bit by bit. That makes the name of our country an oxymoron, we’re definitely not ‘united’ any longer.

Marijuana: Legalize it?

I’m torn on this one. There are times when it is necessary for a few for health reasons, medically prescribed. It is the lesser of many evils, yet I think if it were legalized, too many would operate vehicles when they shouldn’t. I know it is already a problem in that vein, but legalizing might take the danger quotient out of some minds. There are so many other things that need to be focused on, keeping drugs out of the schools and the like, something minor like marijuana I think can be taken out of the way to focus on more prevalant things. Another opinion, of course 😉

The UN: What is your opinion on the UN?

Honestly, at this time.. it’s a popularity contest with those who have too much power and little in the way of hearing. They listen to each other, but I do not think they listen to the people of the world itself.

North Korea: What do you think about North Korea and the issues surrounding it?

Ugh.. that’s another timebomb waiting to happen.

G. W. Bush: What do you think about G. W.? Be honest. Dissent isn’t a crime.. yet? Nor is bootlicking. 😉

I thought Clinton was one of the countries biggest embarrassment of all times. I think he’s got a runner-up here. :p He doesn’t listen to anyone but himself, he definitely doesn’t speak for the people of this country and I am ashamed to be a citizen of the U.S. right now.

Science Funding: What do you think about it?

I think funding for science is a luxury item. We need to focus on the economy and our people now. Medical funding is definitely a higher priority.

Education: What is your opinion on the state of education as of late?

It keeps getting worse and worse.. I would never want to go through the school system as it is right now, it was bad enough when I was in school.. but now? I’m just glad I’m not a child.