What is the most important issue for YOU in this election?

[Blue_Roses]

Poll question: What is the most important issue for YOU in this election?

there are alot for me and it's hard to narrow it down to one, but I would say jobs, and healthcare coming in a close second.

[daveskilt]

1. preservation of republican democracy - bush has to go

[pmbryant]

21. Accountability

Bush == miserable failure

Fire him. We can do better.

Peter

[BamaLefty]

46. Constant Smear on Lawyers

Both my parents are trial lawyers and you would not believe how pissed they get when the GOP continues to smear their profession! It is wrong and the right-wingers are once again distorting their facts to benefit themselves and the big corporations... crooks in other words. Kerry/Edwards in '04!

[sandnsea]

2. The SUPREME COURT

We've lost track of this issue and it's the most important one. For me personally, it's health care; but for my kids and grandkids, it's the SUPREME COURT. We've got to remember to talk about this.

[DaveSZ]

8. Too many

We're going the wrong direction on judicial nominees, the environment, imperialism, education, and shipping of jobs oversees.

Kerry is a free trader, so really there are 4 out of 5 of those issues where he is better than Bush.

[AntiCoup2K4]

17. Absolutely

Honestly, the Supreme Court is the only issue that I **know** Kerry will be better on than Bush.

Foreign policy under Kerry will be just as bad. He's already said as much. Kerry doesn't seem to care about breaking up the State Media. I'm genuinely hopeful he can reverse the environmental damage caused by the BCE, but I'll believe it when I see it. As for the economy, Kerry would probably better in the long run, but how long is that exactly? It took Clinton almost his entire first term for it to turn around, and the hole Poppy left him is a mere fraction of the damage caused by Junior.

Supreme Court should be pushed HARD as a top 5 issue, if not #1.

[Blue_Roses]

18. this definitely is an important one

n/t

[CornField]

26. This year it isn't just about selecting the judges, it's about the bills

that take direct hits at our judicial system:

The Constitution Restoration Act of 2002 (limits Supreme Court jurisdiction) & Congressional Accountability for Judicial Activism Act of 2004 (allows Congress to overturn Supreme Court decisions)

[DURHAM D]

36. Ditto, ditto, ditto

[CrispyQ]

3. I voted other . . .

The diminishing of separation of church & state. This terrifies me.

[proud patriot]

4. For Me "It's the Constitution , Stupid"

at least that's what my bumper sticker says , I'm
not calling any DUers stupid , just quoting my
bumper sticker . :hi:

Edited to add link to "It's The Constitution Stupid"
stuff . http://www.cafepress.com/2004primary/358737

[cheshire]

5. I voted other because it's all of the above.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

40. All that and more. agreed. eom

[jakefrep]

6. Bush..

...is a dumb bastard, period. He has to go. I'm sick of our foreign policy being dictated by a bunch of stupid old men who think war is meant to be conducted for their own personal entertainment.

[AP]

7. Turning back fascism and embracing democratic ideals (ie, economy)

duh.

Economy is what Bush is all about. They're trying to shift all the wealth created by people who work to people at the top who don't work. They're using fascism to do it. This is the battle FDR fought and won by implementing economic policies that built up economic (and therefore political) power in a vast middle class.

That's what you do to have a strong America. It's all about the economy. It's all about the money and which way it flows. Fighting this any other way is like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

[DaveSZ]

9. I had forgotten about separation of church state

That's important too in a free country.

[AP]

30. You hit reply, but you didn't read my post did you?

[demnan]

10. You forgot reproductive (pro-choice) rights

That is always my number one but Iraq war is a close number 2.

[Blue_Roses]

15. I started to put it

under the heading choice, but I figure this one is a given as far as being a top issue:)

[Blue_Roses]

11. amazing

no votes for healthcare yet...

[sundancekid]

12. blood and treasure all going in the WRONG direction and for WRONG reasons

[Walt Starr]

13. Geting these evil people out of OUR White House

everything else is secondary to that, ergo, I voted "other".

[michigandem2]

14. do not like how the democracy of our nation is being destroyed

and that church and state are being blurred...

[Feanorcurufinwe]

16. It's personal: Kerry is a better man than Bush and will be a better Prez

[DaveSZ]

20. I also forgot about child torture as US policy

That really bothers me as well.

See?

Too many issues to only pick one.

[Blue_Roses]

23. yep

maybe I should have just rolled all these into one and let that be a category all on it's own;)

[benburch]

19. A legally elected government is my #1 priority,

Bush is not legally the President.

We need a legal govenment to overturn all of his official acts.

[hyphenate]

22. Getting these

assholes out of the white house. I sure hope that they tent it and fumigate it when they leave for good.

[AP]

24. These results are really discouraging.

It would be nice to see people rallying around the central theme of the campaign. It would be nice if people saw what Bush was doing in broader, more historical terms.

It seems that people have latched on to a lot of very little things that are tangential to the central problem with America today and with the Bush administration.

[Blue_Roses]

25. I know

here we are bitching about lack of jobs on this site and very few votes for jobs:eyes: This does indeed show that getting Bush out of office is the #1 priority and all else falls in line.

[AP]

28. And it's through destroying job opportunities that Republicans

are transferring a huge amount of wealth to the bush cronies.

Most Americans have ONE thing to sell to get wealth, and that's their labor.

Most VERY large, VERY uncompetitve, VERY rich corporations can make more money by having lower labor costs and then selling their shit to people who go into debt year over year to pay for it.

They don't care if you're job pays less (or whether the polices of the party they support push a lot of people out of jobs). They just want to get their money.

This shift in wealth, whether achived by destroying the value of work, or by rigging the tax code for the rich, or by the outright transfer of taxpayer money to Republican cronies, is what this Bush administration is all about. It's fascism.

It's amazing to me that some Democrats would think the separtaion of church and state, or the environment is MORE important that the bigger wealth-transfer issues. Those issues are subsets of the bigger issues, and America will never get those issues in line until we solve this bigger problem.

[AP]

29. If the Dems lose, this will be why. It will be because so many democrats

don't get it and aren't on the same page.

Republicans may be wrong about how the world works, but they all agree that we should sacrifice greater social wealth and that it's OK if what's left goes to a few very rich people because they agree that national security risks justify the concentration of wealth and the reduction of opportunity for others.

Clearly, a lot of Democrats have no clue about how all the little pieces fit together. This is one of the accomplishments of people like Andrew Sullivan -- they've sold identity politics to the point that so many "liberals" have their identities formed around these small issues that they have no idea what the big picure tells them.

[Blue_Roses]

31. I don't think DU speaks for the majority of Democrats

however, with that said, I do agree that the hatred of Bush and his policies has blinded us to what's important. I think that's the reason sometimes we go around looking for ANY issue that will bring him down, rather than sticking to what's best for Democrats to win on--something that will actually benefit us when this election is over;)

[democratreformed]

37. So, what's the right answer?

I didn't answer because I honestly don't know any more. It used to be the war and our standing and lost respect in the world. Now, it's a vast array of things - intellectualism, the Supreme Court, education, health care, and just preserving our country and making it a great place - a better place.

[AP]

39. Don't you think there's one thing that Bush is trying to do, under which

all these issues naturally fall?

What is Bush trying to do? He's trying to shift political, economic and cultural power into the hands of a very few people at the top of a power pyramid that has very steep sides. He wants most people on the very bottom, and then a very steep climb to the top, where there will just be a few people.

What is the source of power in the US? Mostly, it's money. If you're in debt, you don't have power. If you have a lot of money, you have a lot of power.

So that automatically makes the economy the biggest tool, if economy is understood broadly as how money circulates, what you have to do to get it, and where it accumulates. Now, what are the biggest economic tools Bush is using to transfer power from the bottom to the top? He's devaluing labor in a myriad of ways. Take outsourcing, for example. They've created a tax incentive to send jobs to countries where conservative governments prevent their labor forces from effectively competing with capital. That means American workers have to compete with low labour rates abroad. That means less power flows down to people who can only sell their labour in order to make money.

Another way they do it is the tax code.

Another way they do it is simply by signing contracts giving away money to their insider friends, whether it's a Diebold contract to provide millions of dollars worth of voting machines, or it's a no-bid Halliburton contract.

And how do they prevent the left from congeling around these central issues? By selling them all these identity politics issues which often are presented in a way that makes them incompatible with other liberal principles.

For example, I say the environment is better off when we have a real democracy and communities can make a democratic stand against zoning and polluters -- ie, when political, economic and cultural power flows down to the middle class so that they can fight corporations over what they're doing in their neighborhoods. But Republicans sell the environment in a way that puts it odds with labor. They say that more jobs destroys the environment, so if you want to be a good environmentalist, you have to make sure people can't work for a living. They have labor and environmentalists fighting it out so that they don't join together and fight Republicans.

Then they have gays fighting over whether they can join the most conservative institutions in America: the military, and the institutions of marriage. So long as they're doing that, they're not talking about getting the federal rights that make them more effective workers (eg, health insurance, right to inherity without having to hire a lawyer, etc.). So they can put off the day even farther into the future when labor develops some power to take on their employers on a more level playing field.

Get it?

If you listen, these are the arguemnts that Kerry and Edwards are making about how the world should work. It's sad that more people aren't picking up on them.

[democratreformed]

43. I hope most people are not as dense as I am.

I've been told my whole life that I have lots of brains but just no common sense. Guess that's where I missed that one.

But, now that you have pointed it out, I see it clearly. Actually, the REAL truth is that I have pondered it before but cast it aside as conspiracy theory (the quest for money and power to be concentrated in a few hands). That is the absolute scariest thing when I really study about it. Taken in that context, so many of his actions make so much sense.

Good Lord, now I am REALLY terrorized. Really, honestly - it scares me so bad that I'm almost unable to act. No kidding. I feel inadequate and meaningless (I guess his tactics have worked to a degree on me).

What meaningful thing can we do? All our actions seem like they're not enough.

[AP]

44. Vote Democratic, every chance you get.

[democratreformed]

45. Oh, trust me, I do.

n/t

[Greyskye]

27. all/other

All of the above, plus getting someone other than an illeterate, incoherent, corporate whore idiot into the office of the President.

[noonwitch]

32. The preservation of our great nation

4 more years of Bush is going to leave us with a totalitarian dictatorship and a helluva mess to clean up. Not that there won't be a big mess in January if Kerry takes office then.

[BonjourUSA]

47. A nightmare for you and us too. But...

More and more comments on this Atlantic side are beginning not to bet a cent for the Kerry's election. Wake up Dems !!!

[gumby]

33. Stopping the One Party State

Whatever you want to call it - fascism, Communism, plutocracy, the ends are the same.

Only citizens swearing loyalty to, and "achieving" within The Party will be able to speak, work, be educated, receive medical services and receive legal services.

That's our future if Fearless Leader remains in power. Nothing less.

[Christof]

34. All the above.

No need to elaborate.

[TriMetFan]

35. All of the Above.

Plus:
Supreme Court
The Constitution.

[DoBotherMe]

38. Freedom of thought and freedom of speech <eom>

[TankLV]

41. I said Iraq - but it really is ABB.

He should never have been installed as pResident in the first place, and I was and have been ready to vote against him on EVERYTHING no matter what it was/is because Al Gore should be in OUR White House.

NOTHING that the criminal bush* could do would EVER justify me giveing him a vote or even the BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.

And he has constantly and continually proven my decision correct.

[Awsi Dooger]

42. Restoring the Clinton tax rates would cure plenty

The more I study base economic projections, the ignorant tax cuts are guaranteed to have devastating implications for the near future, even forgetting the ineffectiveness of the past three years. The budget deficit has significantly decreased national savings, increased our dependence on foreign borrowing and bloated the trade deficit.

A Kerry presidency trying to return the upper bracket rates, with two GOP houses of Congress, would be a political battle royal. Clinton managed by 1 vote despite impressive Dem margins in '93.

[BootinUp]

48. All of the above, plus integrity in the Whitehouse.

[WyLoochka]

49. Saving the Federal Judiciary

from 40 years of domination by the radical right.

[Piperay]

50. Environment

single most important issue, without a clean environment nothing else is going to matter.