I live in the UK and havnt been following all the peeps/stuff ... was looking at a blog about what the candidates represent
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Barack_Obama_vs_Mitt_Romney 

is this accurate and is it accurate on the ryan vs biden?

If so ... geez, its like picking the lesser of 2 evils ...

There are a couple things I like or would like about america -
#1 - I dont want to live in the dark ages
#2 - Rules are there for a reason
#3 - Brains before greed


I know many of you may not agree with me but here are my thoughts.

- Abortion, why cant women decide what they want to do with their body? ... are they not people too? ...
- And speaking of people; Are not gay/lesbians people also? ... why can they not get married if they want too? ... why does it hurt you?
- Guns, I know when that senator got shot I spoke up about gun control and I got the 'guns dont kill people; people kill people' ... but seriously how many gun deaths will it take for people to realize. With great power comes great responsability.
- Money spent; if money spent is more then money brought in then there will be problems. What is going to work for the greater people; not just certain ones.
- How about fixing the immigration issue now? And do it in a way that isnt for garnering votes but what is good for america.
- Jobs and then econ. I cant figure out whom has the better picture with this if any do ...


So to sum up - religion out of politics and poltics out of common sense.
Now whom should I vote for (takes coin out ;)

religion has been into politics since Day 2 of the world. It won't go away any time soon.

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Don't think of the abortion debate as a debate about what women should be able to do about their bodies. It really boils down to when people believe life in any sense that has equal value to a fullgrown human begins. Pro-"life"rs by and large believe it begins at conception and thus abortion isn't any better than killing anybody else, pro-"choice"rs in my experience have a wider range of views but at its core, they believe that life in the sense I'm talking about begins much later. Thus, before that point abortion is an issue of a woman's health and rights because the embryo/fetus does not yet have the same value as a fullgrown person.



The part that offends me is Obama's "Evolved" stance on gay marriage. First he was against it, then when the election season approaches, he says his stance is "evolving", then he's for it. Personally, I'm waiting for an actual conservative to step up on the GOP side and ask why the government is in the business of defining marriage at all. For all I care, extend civil union rights to what marriage rights are now (as well as tax benefits, but perhaps scale them back a little), stop calling it "marriage". If people want to have their own private or religious ceremonies, they can call it whatever they want.



People are stupid and impulsive. Some stupid and impulsive people buy guns, some people buy guns to protect themselves and their families from the stupid people. And some people just like guns/hunting/etc.



Any needed reforms would spell political suicide for those enacting the reforms. Things are just too screwed up for minor changes.



Because there's just too many votes out there ripe for the picking by backdooring a policy of totally-not-anything-like-amnesty, and American voters are stupid enough to be bought by such things.



If you don't seem to like either candidate, why are you thinking about wasting your vote on one of them? Vote third party, write someone you like in, write in "None of the Above"... none of these are wasted votes. If 1/4 of the people fed up with both parties and candidates used their vote for something else, I guarantee you both parties would snap to attention, because that's a heck of a lot of votes up for grabs if either side gets their shit together.

The real problem with the Pro-Lifers and the Pro-Choicers is that both sides are convinced that their way of thinking is the only right way. Me? I'm both. I think the life of an innocent is precious beyond measure, and it would be extremely difficult for me to condone an abortion in 99.99% of cases. But I'm also pro-choice, because I'm not arrogant enough to believe that everyone with a differing opinion is wrong.

I am, in all cases, in favor of getting (and keeping) religion out of ALL public issues: politics and schools especially.

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Just for context, I'm officially Catholic but a lot of my social views are significantly more progressive so I'm not sure what that really makes me. As far as the abortion debate goes, I believe that life begins at conception, and that in 99% of the cases where an unplanned pregnancy comes up, this was a situation where both parties knew what they'd potentially be getting into and they got screwed on the pregnancy lottery. However, taking the easy way out and terminating the child is pretty low. HOWEVER, note that I said 99% of cases... I am not God, I cannot have a clear view of every situation and I have no right or cause to damn anybody.

Pregnancy in cases of rape is a really hard one for me, as is cases where the mother's life is legitimately in jeopardy. I don't have a solid opinion on these matters yet, in the meantime I can at least have profound compassion and sympathy for anybody put in a situation where they need to make a decision like this.

I think one thing some Catholics seem to forget is that humility is a good thing. It's great to profess your faith, it's great to profess your values, but there's a fine line between professing your values and using your values to condemn other people. Leave the judging to God, focus on being an instrument of love and compassion.