My Two Cents

What with the current attention on the current presidential campaign, I thought it would be my turn to rant.

I have long said that there isn't a lot of difference between our two political parties. I found a site that agreed with me!

John Ashcroft scares me. But nothing Ashcroft has done, yet, compares to FDR. This Democrat signed the order that sent thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent to prison camps during WWII. Not one citizen of German descent was imprisoned in the same way.

Truman, a Democrat, used the Bomb on Japan. Reagan was castigated for joking about using the bomb.

JFK started to invade Cuba. LBJ sent troops into Vietnam. It took a Republican to get us out, yet every Republican since Johnson has been accused of trying to create another Vietnam.

Carter denied Haitian refugees entry to the United States, while he escalated the violence in East Timor. Carter also earned his Nobel Prize for his work in Southeast Asia while he helped prop up the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Even though the Khmer Rouge has dropped off the media's radar, their legacy still affects Cambodia to this day. It was Carter's administration the recruited Osama Bin Laden to combat communists in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

Texas' congresswoman, the celebrated Barbara Jordan, came out in favor of a national ID card.

Clinton abandoned his pledge to allow Haitian refugees (and his promise of a tax cut) almost as soon as he completed his inaugural address. He reneged on his promise to allow gays in the military (which he should have followed through on), his health care plan (which was a bit scary). He bombed Iraq and the Balkans, invaded Haiti, tightened restrictions against Cuba (as well as Iran and Libya), and signed a Welfare repeal bill. He also signed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act that laid the ground work for the Patriot Act. He also began dismantling environmental laws that, today, we lay at Bush's doorstep.

As Gore Vidal said, "Our only political party has two right wings, one called Republican, the other Democratic." And as Rush Limbaugh said, "Hold your nose and vote."

Me? I'll be supporting the Libertarian party.