Who are you voting for?

The democratic caucus is coming up next tuesday, so I figure this is an appropriate thread. I think majority of the people on this forum are 18 and over. Who do you plan on voting for?

Obama gets my vote for sure.

I'm going to vote Obama as well. Though I am highly debating if I still should switch over to republican and vote Ron Paul.
The vote is too close right now between Clinton though. And especially considering she's favored in Ohio and Texas. Every vote counts. So Obama all the way.

im never gonna vote. not interested in politics.
if i did though, i would vote for Obamamama.

I understand how that is Tsuda,
I'm part Hawaiian too, and I still have reservations on how I feel towards certain things about our government.
But if we don't do our part.
We can't make a change.
Obama, for the most part, has had some accomplishments where we has been proven to stand up against the political status quo.
In a legislative movement he helped to spearhead, "The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act". It was a step forward in a movement to decentralizing the corporate stranglehold.
We have to start participating and fighting back.
Hawaiians and locals for the best interests of our youth, the cycle of poverty and uneven social class due to a lack of education and guidance, needs to be broken. We need to start doing something about it.
Voting is one way. To put someone in the seat, who is most after our best interests. And Obama, right now (although far from perfect) is the guy best suited in direction for what we need.

I think Clinton is too focused on plugging her "experience" thing. Experience doesn't mean everything, you know? I find her shady. I can't seem to really trust what she says. And also, on a feminist level, I'm all about breaking the glass ceiling, but I don't want a woman in office breaking down every time she's faced with something stressful. And as President, your life is going to be stress.

As for Ron Paul, I think that guy is crazy. Complete US soverignty? Cutting international ties? No UN, no Geneva Convention? Free trade?? It's overly ambitious to the point of lunacy in my opinion.

as long as Hilary doesnt win, im happy.

i vote Fred Thompson. but mostly it seems Obama will take it.

I'm not affiliated with any party but I'd go with Obama. Based on what I read in the foreign newspapers, most of the world also thinks that he'd re-establish America's leadership position.

I wouldn't vote for Ron Paul, but I like the fact that he was in the race because his ideas really shook-up the rest of the candidates. It gets really boring when everyone sounds like a clone.

Last week I saw a car *still* sporting a "Vote for Dennis Kucinich" bumper sticker on its bumper. I thought that was adorable.

Ron Pauls ideals and view points are extreme.
But its not without warrant and justification if you look at our capitalist system.
I'm all for The Obama movement right now, just because I'm not convinced that the system is completely broken. The key remains in maintaining a balance between the altogether altruistic and the egoist.
If either side tips too far into the power of the egoists, then it would be impossible fix our nation, and we'll be on the forefront of a bloody revolution, and 2nd Civil war.
And the path we are heading on its dangerously close towards passing that apex and tipping over. Their needs to be an overturn on the corporate strong arm that is running our country. Lobbyist, special interest groups, the big pharmaceutical companies all have strings attached to the majority of our administration. Ron Paul had an idea to cut all the strings at once, and do a 180 from the direction we're heading. Because an idea is extreme, it doesn't mean its bad. Our country really does need some extreme decision making.
Complete sovereignty isn't a bad thing by the way. I feel for the people in need too. I hate reading about the problems in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But the thing is, We have soooooo many problems in America. Before we make a commitment to any other nation, why don't we fix ourselves first. If its a fear that there will be some sort of reprival against us. How are they going to do that? We are the number 1 super power in the world. We have nuclear weapons. We're at the point where no one can really do anything to us, except the terrorist. But their only attack is by sneaking in our country and blowing us up. But they wouldn't do that if we stop meddling in their affairs and stop trying to convert their people to our westernized culture.
See thats the problem with America. We can trace it back to its roots. We can trace it back to something very familiar to us, Hawaii. The foundation of America has always been forcing other cultures to conform to theirs. And we need to stop doing that. Fix ourselves first. Then we can help others. But lets not try to conform people. And sometimes other countries need to fight their own civil wars. Its part of life. We can't keep on butting in. We had to go through our own civil war. It sucks. But we need to concentrate on ourselves right now. Ron Paul would be the best guy to help us move in that direction.
Obama can too, but he hasn't been all to specific. And I'm thinking once he does get in office. People will all crawl back into their caves and wait for him to do all the work. If thats the case, not much is going to happen. We need to get active and start making things happen.

i live in the uk so i cant vote, but if it did i'd vote clinton!

she is the only candidate as far as im aware, but please correct me if im wrong, that wants to nationalise healthcare (free healthcare for all!)

no offence to americans, but your healthcare system is corrupt, unethical and excludes the propotion of the population who need it the most. only in america are people paid money for the less people they give healthcare to.

i know UK NHS might not be great, and there are waiting lists for procedures that can wait - but if u need help you can 100% be given it for free.

but please educate me a bit more on this, the only reason i would vote clinton is her stance on healthcare - and also bill whispering in her ear can only be a good thing?

jon

deadeye said:

i live in the uk so i cant vote, but if it did i'd vote clinton!

she is the only candidate as far as im aware, but please correct me if im wrong, that wants to nationalise healthcare (free healthcare for all!)

no offence to americans, but your healthcare system is corrupt, unethical and excludes the propotion of the population who need it the most. only in america are people paid money for the less people they give healthcare to.

i know UK NHS might not be great, and there are waiting lists for procedures that can wait - but if u need help you can 100% be given it for free.

but please educate me a bit more on this, the only reason i would vote clinton is her stance on healthcare - and also bill whispering in her ear can only be a good thing?

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Yeah, Clinton is the only one left that has a plan for Socialized Medicine. Besides her gender, and her supposed experience, it is on this issue that she carries most of her supporters. Especially since she pretty much spearheaded a calling for it back in 93', which caused the Clinton presidency and administration a lot of trouble back then. But it is an admirable thing. And that as well has me on the fence between her and Obama. Though I think Obama is by far a more complete leader.
John Edwards was also for a single-payer Universal health care system. But he's out now. So it is just Clinton.
Obama, has what he calls a "Universal Health Care Plan". But its pretty much a plan based around the "Massachusetts' Mandatory Health Insurance Program" that in fact was set up by Mitt Romney. Who is a corporate pharmaceutical puppet. So in this regard, and on this issue, I'm not in favor for Obama. What the plan states is (from my understanding) it basically provides for all those who don't have insurance coverage by putting the accountability in the hands of business owners.
So a company has a choice to offer insurance package to its employees.
-if they accept it, they are forced to cover.
-if they don't, then they get charged a fee per month, per employee, in which they have to pay for the funding for insurance to those who don't have any insurance.
Its really sketchy.
It makes no sense economically and socially.
But its been working in States like, Maine, Massachusetts, and California.
But whether it'll work on a National Scale. I personally don't think it will.

Im not saying I didnt understand all that, I just think its a waste of my time. people fighting for power, forcing pressure on the parties, and making fake promises. and worst of all, the decisions made were crap. The moment Bush made the draft, i began to hate presidential commotions.

If I could vote. I'd vote Obama.

Obama has an entire bluprint on his website for the changes he wants to make. Does anyone know if Hillary has one? I'm too lazy to look.

tsudawuda said:

Im not saying I didnt understand all that, I just think its a waste of my time. people fighting for power, forcing pressure on the parties, and making fake promises. and worst of all, the decisions made were crap. The moment Bush made the draft, i began to hate presidential commotions.

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Nah man.
I used to think like that too.
I used to think, "f** it. Its all crooked politics. Guys who lie and say things they're not going to do. Its a waste of my time."
But, It got to the point where I was so pissed off at this political BS, that I wanted to punch some of those guys faces in. Especially George Bush.
Then I realized, well what would happen if Bush was in my face right now?
Would I not knock his f*cking head off?
And the answer was, F*ck yeah I would.
I'd drop him like the b*tch he is.
It was then that I realized I was giving up.
That I wasn't fighting.
I was essentially just sitting there and letting them do whatever they wanted and not making an effort to change it.
See they are fighting us. But in their own way. And they are doing underhand tricks. Knowing very well, the most of us will think its useless to fight back.
But its not useless man.
We can fight back.
Its just that the most of us don't try.
You look at all the Local Homeless we have here.
Do you know why that continues.
Because they are uneducated.
Its the product of generations of our ancestors and family that were not given the proper resources to assimilate into this westernized government.
Now, I'm not one to call for Sovereignty, because there is a possibility that we can balance out this government.
I'm just calling for equality and peace.
But nothing happens with just talk. So we have to commit the actions to make it happen.

Kateri said:

Obama has an entire bluprint on his website for the changes he wants to make. Does anyone know if Hillary has one? I'm too lazy to look.

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Nah.
I haven't really looked up either one of their sites, just because they can be very persuasive and misleading with their rhetoric.
I usually just gather info from different sources and watch the debates. Look for what they say, and what they don't say.

I admire your passion HP.

Honestly, it can be frustrating to spend two years listening to people make promises for change, or at least improvement only to have it be "more of the same" when they actually get in office. I can see why people feel disenfranchised with our political system.

That said, I really want to believe Obama when he says he wants fundamental change in Washington. I think many other people feel the same. Like many, I want there to be change and think we really need it to move forward. I liked Ron Paul's message for the same reason. At this point, however, I am really just skeptical of how much power any of the candidates will be able to exert on the political machine to affect change here in the US.

Misguided Musician said:

If I could vote. I'd vote Obama.

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Agree'd with Misguided as usual >.>

studentaccount1 said:

I admire your passion HP.

Honestly, it can be frustrating to spend two years listening to people make promises for change, or at least improvement only to have it be "more of the same" when they actually get in office. I can see why people feel disenfranchised with our political system.

That said, I really want to believe Obama when he says he wants fundamental change in Washington. I think many other people feel the same. Like many, I want there to be change and think we really need it to move forward. I liked Ron Paul's message for the same reason. At this point, however, I am really just skeptical of how much power any of the candidates will be able to exert on the political machine to affect change here in the US.

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thanks SA1. I was just having this debate on a tattoo forum. The power doesn't rely in the hands of whomever takes over in the next administration.
The 'political machine' can only be changed by the people.
I'm very afraid that if Obama gets elected, all the people and support you are seeing now, will go away.
I'm thinking there is a huge belief right now that if Obama gets elected. Things will change. Because thats what he's pushing, is "Its time for a change" message. But He is not going to change our country. We are. The only guarantee I think we can get from him. Is that he won't f*ck it up like Bush did, and is still continuing to do.
People getting involved is how we'll make a difference. Getting out there and voting is the first step. Taking action locally. Keeping our local reps honest. Thats our next step. Participating where we can to help, that comes too.
At the very least, the proliferation of knowledge and awareness needs to be continued. People need to start learning about our system. Learn what to be aware of. Learn how to speak and be heard. And learn how to commit action if no one listens. Its time to Ku'e.

Wow thats quite the rant up there ^

I lived in SC for 3 years, but I just moved back to Guam.. so I can no longer vote But if I could I would vote for Obama. Whether or not you support Obama, I highly recommend his books: Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. The audio book version of the his 'hope' book won a grammy too