I find it interesting that some here can't, no matter how many times it is pointed out, seem to see that both the Republicans & Democrats IN CHARGE would like to infringe peoples rights. There are many gun-grabbers in both parties.
The common people in this country really aren't so far apart on the issues that mean the most to us. Everyone wants the Constitution & Bill of Rights to mean something. Everyone wants to live as free people & not have the government telling us what to do all the time, be it religion, speech, sex, RKBA, search & seizure laws, what we eat, drink, spend our money on, etc. Sure there are extremist groups on both sides who would try to impose their will on everybody else. The way I see it if the reasonable people in the middle don't stick together against the right or left extremists, WE WILL LOSE IT ALL.
Hawg Haggen - you said you don't have a problem with gays but you "don't want to see it". You are offended by it. Sorry, as was stated, you don't have a right not to be offended. You don't like it, walk away.
Some people here rant on & on about "socialist" programs to help the poor & tax the rich. People may not have a "right" to eat, but in a civilized modern society (the richest on earth) is there any excuse why anyone should starve to death. Don't get me wrong, the system needed to be reformed & it was. Could it still use work, yep.
I don't remember where I found it but a few years ago I saw data collected on tax burdens. The data I saw was from 1995 i think, the height of the supposed Clinton tax & spend administration. They took into account all taxes paid, federal & state income tax, property tax, sales tax, capital gains tax, excise tax etc. & found that the people who paid the most total tax as a percentage of income were those making less than $26,000 (I think the number averaged around 10%). This even with the progressive income tax. Those who made over $350,000 generally paid only around 7% of their income in total taxes.
Yet there are those who have no problem with the government giving corporate handouts & making those executives rich(er). I think it would be interesting to see how many wealthy Americans actually started from nothing & became rich in recent history by being an honest business person without any government assistance whatsoever in the form of tax breaks, subsidies, loans, infrastructure construction at taxpayers expense (railroad spurs, highways, water, electric, gas services etc.) or monopolies & price gouging. My guess is that number woud be exceedingly low.
The Bush administration & his Republican enablers in Congress have been the worst in recent history in infringing on our civil rights. I'm not saying the Democrats would/will do any better but WE THE PEOPLE need to stick together to make sure our representatives do our bidding on the basic rights guaranteed (not granted) by our Constitution & Bill of Rights. Once we get there we can work out the details.
The common people in this country really aren't so far apart on the issues that mean the most to us. Everyone wants the Constitution & Bill of Rights to mean something. Everyone wants to live as free people & not have the government telling us what to do all the time, be it religion, speech, sex, RKBA, search & seizure laws, what we eat, drink, spend our money on, etc. Sure there are extremist groups on both sides who would try to impose their will on everybody else. The way I see it if the reasonable people in the middle don't stick together against the right or left extremists, WE WILL LOSE IT ALL.
Hawg Haggen - you said you don't have a problem with gays but you "don't want to see it". You are offended by it. Sorry, as was stated, you don't have a right not to be offended. You don't like it, walk away.
Some people here rant on & on about "socialist" programs to help the poor & tax the rich. People may not have a "right" to eat, but in a civilized modern society (the richest on earth) is there any excuse why anyone should starve to death. Don't get me wrong, the system needed to be reformed & it was. Could it still use work, yep.
I don't remember where I found it but a few years ago I saw data collected on tax burdens. The data I saw was from 1995 i think, the height of the supposed Clinton tax & spend administration. They took into account all taxes paid, federal & state income tax, property tax, sales tax, capital gains tax, excise tax etc. & found that the people who paid the most total tax as a percentage of income were those making less than $26,000 (I think the number averaged around 10%). This even with the progressive income tax. Those who made over $350,000 generally paid only around 7% of their income in total taxes.
Yet there are those who have no problem with the government giving corporate handouts & making those executives rich(er). I think it would be interesting to see how many wealthy Americans actually started from nothing & became rich in recent history by being an honest business person without any government assistance whatsoever in the form of tax breaks, subsidies, loans, infrastructure construction at taxpayers expense (railroad spurs, highways, water, electric, gas services etc.) or monopolies & price gouging. My guess is that number woud be exceedingly low.
The Bush administration & his Republican enablers in Congress have been the worst in recent history in infringing on our civil rights. I'm not saying the Democrats would/will do any better but WE THE PEOPLE need to stick together to make sure our representatives do our bidding on the basic rights guaranteed (not granted) by our Constitution & Bill of Rights. Once we get there we can work out the details.