MWF

Well, the other forum I regular that is full of my good friends is a lot busier than this one, and I know there were lengthy discussions with the election this year. And I thought I would come here to see what people think. I have friends that are very liberal and friends who are very conservative, staunch republicans...we find things we have in common that our friendships are based on, but wow are there HUGE differences sometimes! And since we are all intelligent adults capable of conversations such as this, I thought why not bring it up?

What are everyone's views on the outcome of the election? A lot of people have compared Obama's views as those of socialism. Do you agree? What are your opinions on socialism?

I voted for Obama. I do not agree with every single view he has. I do, however, like the though of a more socialized system. A few years back I used to envy the citizens of European countries and Canada. Especially heathcare. I am all for his healthcare plan, and I don't care if I have to pay higher taxes for it. Some people I work with are afraid we are going to lose our jobs, but since we currently work for Medicare, I highly doubt we will lose our jobs if everyone had government provided healthcare!

I am also all for redistribution of wealth. Not that I want someone to take two million dollars from Donald Trump because he has it too easy and give it to me just because I am poor in comparison (though, I wouldn't complain!). I think loopholes in tax laws for the wealthy need to be closed. I think teachers, police officers, firefighters, and the people who clean our sewers need to be paid WAY more and CEOs that take thousands of American jobs to another country so they can make millions more than they already do need to make way less (and be penalized for doing such things). I do not believe I should get someone else's hard-earned money. I do not have a problem with rich people. I do believe my hard work is just as valuable as theirs. I don't think liars and scammers deserve to be rich.

I could also go for less mixing of law and religion. I do believe in God and have strong Christian based beliefs (I know my lifestyle doesn't necessarily portray such). However, I was taught -not necessarily by my parents- to be tolerant and accepting of different peoples. I do not "approve" of gay marriage, but who am I to stop two people who love each other from making that commitment, based on my beliefs that they may not share. I am personally very pro-life, but who am I to tell the 13 year old raped by her drunk father that she can't have an abortion because my beliefs deem it wrong? So I guess I believe everyone had the rights to their own religion (or lack of) and their lives should not be imposed on by a government that obviously favors one in particular (even if it is mine).

Sorry - didn't mean to go so long - just want to know what other people's views here are with where our country may be headed.

I think the election shows how many people still feel the White House was called so for a reason. While I did not vote for Obama, my reason was based on experience, not race. I really wanted to vote for Ron Paul, but unfortunally, he was not on the ticket. So I did not.

I do not have enough information on socialism to really comment (a reason my reply is so delayed). Yeah, I can look up the word in wikipedia, or dictionary.com or any other source. Sure, I understand what it is, but being told what something is, and being a part of it on a day to day basis is a different concept. A lot of people in other countries might know what a free market is, but have absolutely no concept of it since they do not live in it.

I do care about paying more for healthcare. I already think that the inclusion of social security is a joke. That is a system where we trusted the government to take care of our retirement. SS is similar to early computer programming (Y2K reference to programming year as 2 instead of 4 digits). It is a great idea at the time, but someone is not thinking straight for massive long term. SS was done back around 1930 or so thanks to President Roosevelt