The Politics of the Circulating E-Mails

There is an e-mail circulating around. Just another one of these anti-Liberal sentiments made up by misguided so-called conservatives. I see quite a few half-baked assumptions and clearly distorted views of the people who hold different opinions. I'm not far to the left or to the right, maybe somewhere to the centre. The truth is, I just tell what I think since I'm dead-on independent, I don't associate myself with either the Liberal or the Conservative party in Canada. I just vote who I think is the best person for the job.

First of all, I want to make it clear that I'm not a devil-worshipper and I don't sacrifice children to Lucifer. That's not what being a Liberal is about. Nowhere close to that at all.

You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on Demand. That a convicted mass murderer has rights which need to be protected. But that an unborn baby is "unviable fetal tissue" and can be aborted at will.

I don't believe in either capital punishment or abortion. Though, I'm not going to stop a woman from aborting her baby, that's a choice that the mother-to-be and father-to-be will have to live with. Nor am I going to stop a government from executing a prisoner. Nobody said life was fair. What people don't realize that if they don't face the consequences here on Earth, then they will once they depart. There's already a lot of wars going on in this world where many innocent people are caught in the crossfire. For instance, the people in Congo, South Africa, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, the list goes on and on. As much we may value life, can we save everybody?

No.

You have to believe that businesses create oppression and Governments create prosperity. That when business makes a profit, it's bad. But when government declares a surplus, that's good.

No, it's great when a business makes a profit. So is a surplus in the government budget. But burning books and spending on illegal activities is definitely a bad thing. Enron anybody?

You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens are more of a threat to the free world than nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Iran, China and North Korea.

No, that would be criminals with guns. There's a difference between law-abiding citizens and dangerous and armed criminals.

You have to believe that there was no art nor education before federal funding. You have to believe that the only way to avoid racism and preserve quality of service is to have federal control over both art and education.

That's absurd. It was ideal back then at the creation of the bill but it isn't today. It served its purpose and need to be put aside for now and focus on breaking down more of the barriers between all of the minorities.

You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by natural cyclical changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms Driving SUVs. And by freon in air conditioners.

No, I believe it's both. I'm aware that the natural greenhouse greatly affect the climates around the world. Though we are polluting the land, water and the air which is a problem and need to be resolved before it gets worse. China is one of the worst polluters, both Canada and USA aren't innocent either, plently of pollution problems in both Canada and the USA especially with smog during the summer and water pollution is also an issue. Not only to mention the landfills. In fact, both sides are dumping their wastes onto each other's land. For instance, Toronto bring its dump to Michigan while some other cities in USA bring theirs across the Canadian border.

You have to believe that gender roles are artificial, but being homosexual is natural.

Artificial? Um, a man is a man, a woman is a woman. It's that simple. But you don't get to decide what role they should play. That's up to them, they are free to be who they want to be whether you like it or not. They are able to reproduce babies by nature but sexual orientation is a different matter. It's a preference one holds, the majority is obviously heterosexual while a (not-so-small) fraction is homosexual.

You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal Funding.

No, there's at least three ways to spread HIV/AIDS. Sex. Sharing needles. Blood transfusions. Obviously, sex is the most common way of becoming infected with HIV. Money has nothing to do with that. Money is needed to fund the medical research to find a cure for the HIV/AIDS strains.

You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach 4th-graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.

If a teacher isn't qualified to teach, then s/he shouldn't be teaching at all. Though children do need to be educated on the subject of sex because they are entering or has began the early stages of puberty. They don't teach 4/5th graders about sexual intercourse, at least that's not the big topic of the sex education at their levels. They are taught about what changes their bodies are going through. Often, they will learn more about sex intercourses once they're in 7th or 8th grade. Though they aren't encouraged to have sex, instead they are encouraged to either abstain from sexual activities or use safe sex methods. Though I don't think a lot of students are receiving the proper education in this area.

You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but PETA Activists do.

I don't like the PETA for their naughty deeds. Most liberals I know don't like the PETA either. They don't care about the animals, they kill a large number of stray animals they pick up off the streets. The hunters (at least the good ones, not these who just hunt for sport) show a great deal of respect for mother nature and see the death of a deer as a sacrifice.

You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than accomplishment, or getting the right answer. You have to believe that if one person is correct, that others will have their self esteem damaged by being incorrect.

Both self-esteem and accomplishments are important. There's a link between these two. Without these two, you will have problems. Having a good self-esteem is where you get your self-confidence from. You won't get anywhere if you don't think highly of yourself. Nor will you be happy with the accomplishments you've made. Having a good self-esteem is what drive you to accomplishments. Why bother trying to accomplish something if your self-esteem is low?

You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of The Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.

The NRA isn't bad, it's just an organization of gun owners. People have the right to bear armed. NRA isn't a legal firm organization, ALCU is. Though there's a lot of organizations out there, this isn't really the place to discuss the politics of these organizations.

You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high. You have to believe that wealthy people paying a higher tax rate based on their income is good, but capable people getting paid more because of their talent or wisdom is bad.

Well, to make it simple... the IRS is a joke. It need to be hauled over and reformed. There's a lot, lot of issues with how people are being taxed in both Canada and the USA.

You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more Important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or Robert E. Lee

Do you have any idea who Margaret Sanger was? I can't imagine anyone admiring her except for people who supported Adolf Hitler. She was a nutcase. Gloria Steinem, who remember her? (shrugs) George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, yes... they are definitely important to the American history. No doubt about that so do many people.

You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas, affirmative action, and set-asides are not.

Well, not everybody receive the same education. So SAT (and ACT) results tend to vary based on what they've learned. Nothing to do with racism, but I don't believe there's such a thing as a true standardized education in either Canada or the USA. Some people are remarkably intelligent yet they fail the SAT because they differ in the education they receive.

You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge. And that renaming socialism "invest in America" or "progressive" will allow it to work.

Well, America is already part socialist due to the many changes to the laws in the past 50 years. If not, then why do people have welfare and medicare? Canada is both socialist and democratic, but not as democratic as I'll like it to be when it come to certain laws. People often don't get to vote on the law they want rejected or passed.

You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag queens and transvestites should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas and the Confederate flag should be illegal.

Drag queens and transvestites, nothing illegal about that. Though sexual exposure in public is a different matter and should be illegal. (Yeah, I know what the author was referring to when the gay parade was mentioned). The same should be said about the Mardis Gras parades, people (both straight and gay) get naked and have sex in public during these events. It shouldn't be illegal to wave any flags you want to though the 'Confederate' flag is a thing of the past and is no longer in power. So it has no business being on a flagpole on state/federal property unless it's for historic purposes (for instance, a museum). The flag of the United States of America is the one to put up onto the flagpole in the USA. If you take pride in the Confederacy, then you have no business being a Republican since the party was founded by Abraham Lincoln, the one who waged the war onto the South.

You have to believe that this message is a part of a vast, right-wing Conspiracy.

Well, I think the author made it pretty clear that it is.

GOD BLESS AMERICA. Oops, can't do that either!!

Um, no apologies needed. The first amendment, remember? You're free to say it. President Bush is free to say it as he's a Christian. After all, it's who he is. I don't take offense to any religious-inspired greetings because it's often done with a great deal of respect and kindness.

However, if someone screams "MERRY CHRISTMAS" at me just to make a political point, then that's a different because of the tone used. But will I do anything? No, because I'm not the one with the problem.

After all, I do wish a Merry Christmas to a lot of people during Christmas. (gasp)... I didn't mention the "H" word! Oh my!

Yeah, I never use the word, 'holiday'... because that's for people who are worried about getting punched in their face for using the wrong greetings. But not even people are safe with using the 'Happy Holidays' greetings these days. It's still safe to wish someone a Merry Christmas here in Canada without getting all politically correct.

People need to stop assuming all sort of nonsense about each other.

Circulating e-mails is an annoyance and they are often heavily inaccurate and distorted to fit one's political agenda. Both liberals and conservatives do it on a daily basis, just wait till the 2008 election, it'll get ugly within the e-mails with all sort of misinformation and lies about all the presidential candidates running for the White House.