Comparing the Issues

[Gan]

I've posted several threads before on issue comparison with the candidates - namely when there were more in the race than McCain/Obama.

So here's a good source for convenient review (and not its not on Drudge).

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/

Its probably more important now than ever to review how the candidates stand because of stance revisions, refocusing, flipping, etc. that has happened since the field was narrowed down this summer.

I've also set up a poll that will ask what are the issues most important to you now. We did this earlier (seems like forever) so it will be interesting to compare how our emphasis on the issues has changed over time.

Enjoy!

[Gan]

My list from most to least importance:
1. Economy
2. Terrorism
3. Iraq War
4. Healthcare
5. Immigration
6. Education/Other

[Trouble]

I voted economy but it's not in the stock market sense, more of the we need to get spending under control thing. It's related to all of the other issues.

[Audriana]

1. Energy - A little because it ties into so many other areas, but mostly because I'm a tree-hugging hippy, and have been since I was born. Oil SUCKS.
2. Healthcare - Again, might be my hippiness coming out, but no person should profit on the life or death of another, and no person should get any less or more effort in trying to save their life. No life is better than any others.
3. Education - Our education system is alright, but it could be a lot better.
4. Economy - Nothing works without money. But you need to look toward the future instead of paying attention to the current 'fad' scare.
5. Foreign Affairs - Also very important, but doesn't really affect my personal day-to-day life very much.


Donnie Darko... "Pay attention, you might miss something"
I found the fact that energy & environment weren't even on Gan's list, very important.

[thefarmer]

The Economy and Heathcare are my biggest issues.

[g++]

Economy
Energy
Foreign affairs
Is it ignorant to say I dont give a shit about the rest? Well its honest anyway

[Gan]

I have blended Energy into Economy for my perspective simply because it plays such an important role.

I should have broken that out as separate choices. My bad. :(

[Audriana]

And thank you for that CNN issue tracking site. Seems very well written and actually is pretty unbias (although CNN tends to have a left slant).

Will really help voters be informed.

LOL this was great:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/deploy/020708/marriage/iSpark.swf

[Gan]

And thank you for that CNN issue tracking site. Seems very well written and actually is pretty unbias (although CNN tends to have a left slant).

Will really help voters be informed.

Believe it or not, CNN is set as my homepage on my computer at home. At work, its my intranet site. I like the coverage I get there. Its a good jumping off point when I'm news surfing.

[Athgo]

I'd have to go with healthcare. I don't want to end up working for the government years down the road...

[Sean]

Believe it or not, CNN is set as my homepage on my computer at home. At work, its my intranet site. I like the coverage I get there. Its a good jumping off point when I'm news surfing.

I used to use CNN as my homepage but now I just use Google news since google runs my life for me.

[Audriana]

Instead of the planet where every noun is 'Marclar', soon, all nouns will be replaced with 'Google' on earth.

[Warriorbird]

Social/Religious/Civil Liberties might have a place up there.

[Parkbandit]

I, for one, welcome our Google corporate masters.

:rofl:

I have no doubt...

[crb]

1. Energy - A little because it ties into so many other areas, but mostly because I'm a tree-hugging hippy, and have been since I was born. Oil SUCKS.
2. Healthcare - Again, might be my hippiness coming out, but no person should profit on the life or death of another, and no person should get any less or more effort in trying to save their life. No life is better than any others.
3. Education - Our education system is alright, but it could be a lot better.
4. Economy - Nothing works without money. But you need to look toward the future instead of paying attention to the current 'fad' scare.
5. Foreign Affairs - Also very important, but doesn't really affect my personal day-to-day life very much.


Donnie Darko... "Pay attention, you might miss something"
I found the fact that energy & environment weren't even on Gan's list, very important.
Your answer on healthcare I find offensive.

You didn't say you wanted to provide healthcare to the uninsured, or help people.

You said you thought it was wrong that there could be a disparity in care. That some people receive more care than others. It seems to me that is the type of bs communist argument that results in everyone getting equally and fairly shafted.

Furthermore, I hate to break it to you but people with healthcare and insurance and money subsidize healthcare for everyone else. This case is most relevant in prescription drugs. Drugs patents last for 14 years, so for 14 years the drug is expensive, allowing the drug company to make a profit and recoup their initial R&D expenditure. After 14 years it becomes cheap and is available to all, and even within the 14 years it'll often be given away, for free, to truly needy people (Africa etc). The people buying it during that 14 years are subsidizing the development of it for everyone else.

If it just was instantly cheap there would be no money in developing a drug, and it wouldn't have even existed. Having a medicine by expensive for 14 years, and then cheap for eternity, is a pretty low price to pay for that medicine's development.

What is your plan? Make all the researchers work for the drug company for free? Give the fruit of their labor and creativity away for free. But then they can't afford food and housing and transportation. So take cars from the car makers and give them to the researchers, and take food from the farmers, and apartments from the landlord, and clothes from the textile mill. All and all down the line, and hello comrade, you have communism.

Envy is not a good motivation for political policy. It never has been.

It is far more important to have a vibrant and entrepreneurial healthcare system that encourages advancement and the development of newer and better methods and technologies that will eventually benefit the entire globe, than it is to punish the successful out of a misguided sense of fairness where you'd rather healthcare be poor and equally given.

PS. You should be happy right now right? Did you not read the report by Brookings Institute (liberal) economists?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090902520.html