How Close Are Certain Issues To Your Heart?

[THUNDER HANDS]

I'm watching C-Span, and they're talking about religion and some case that pertains to Church-State relations going before the Supreme Court.

I don't know why I'm watching it, but I'm sure that out there, somewhere, somebody is really really interested in Church vs. State issues and is living their life, day to day, thinking about certain issues.

Whether it be that one, or...say, opposing the death penalty or protecting a woman's right to choose.

I bet that every DUer here probably feels extremely close to at least one issue along those lines.

So, is there any national issue in the news that you put closer to your heart?

Besides the obvious getting Bush out of office.

What issues drove you when Clinton or Bush or Reagan were president?

Wasn't there at least one?

One that grabs you attention everytime you see it on the front page of a magazine or newspaper?

Hmm?

[VelmaD]

1. Discrimination

I have an over-developed sense of fairness and any time I hear about someone or some group getting discriminated against it makes me insane. All the "causes" that are nearest and dearest to my heart spring from this.

[bobbieinok]

2. civil rights

That's the bottom line.

[Jerseycoa]

3. Definitely interested

in separation of church and state. Court-packing with rightwing judges is a big one for me. Social Security. I could go on forever probably.

Oh, yes, and the $300B/year we are paying in interest on the federal deficit. I almost had a stroke when I saw this one.

[terrya]

4. At the risk of sounding like a one note person...

My choice has to be gay issues. Take gay marriage. It gets so tedious to hear the right wingers/fundies yammer on and on and on and on about how gay marriage will cheapen and defame the institution of marriage, destroy the American way of life (next thing you'll know, they'll blame gay marriage on the destruction of the ozone layer".

They say these things...WITHOUT A SHRED OF EVIDENCE. No studies, no reports, no research. Nothing. And how would a gay or lesbian couple getting married affect those right wingers personally? They'll never attend a gay wedding. How can they be threatened by something they'll never have any experience with?

I got excited about Clinton because he was the first candidate for President who said that gays and lesbians has a place at the table. That gay and lesbians are part of the American fabric...and should not be discriminated against. And that our sexual orientation should not bar us from areas previously barred to us...like the military.

You can't possibly know how uplifting...how exciting....it is to have a candidate for President respecting us. And welcoming us to the table.

[booksenkatz]

5. A million of em, but especially education

particularly early education, i.e. Head Start. The ability to think critically, and to see the bigger world beyond this crass commercial culture, is the only thing that's going to keep this country from slipping into total fascism, if it's not too late already. When I think of the things that America could contribute to the planet if we only had an enlightened populace, it takes my breath away.


"Hey, I have nolej and Im rill smart, to!"

[Kamika]

6. I'll admit something

If it wasn't for our HORRIBLE foreign politics, and the fact that the conservative party rather make rich ppl richer then creating jobs etc, I would probably be a republican.. So I guess those two are the ones I care about the most

[bloom]

7. The Budget and the Environment

have always been important issues for me.

I hate it when the Republicans get in there - cut all the social and environmental programs and raise the budget for the military. (I was happy to see Clinton getting a surplus.)


I would like to assume that anyone would protect the constitution, people's rights (including choice), and so forth. (Of course this is not the case - esp. with Bush*).

I see religious things like school prayer, and flag burning things as non-issues intended to rile people up. (People can pray anywhere, at anytime, anyway).



On Edit: Universal Healthcare is a big issue for me these days.

[Redbear]

8. Government Reform and Campaign Finance Reform

To see "the people" actually run this country some day is my dream.

[guitar man]

9. The working class

.....specifically the destruction wrought us by the corporate fascists.
The labor movement struggled very long and very hard in this country to create a working class with enough. Now these greed infested neocons have sold the very people who built this country down the river.

Mad,you bet I'm mad. more like seething with intense rage at the sheer injustice!


Freepers,neocons and other RW nuts beware. If you see me coming down the street,you better cross to the other side before I get there!

[Kanary]

10. Poverty and Disability

There's gonna be a lot of people dying, and it sure as heck won't be in the news, or get much caring.

Kanary

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. Workers' rights

I have this paranoid fear slavery is coming back, and this time it will not be ethnically discriminating.

[amazona]

13. slavery is back

A great many prisons are being run for profit, which is why there is so much motivation to put more and more people in prison for nonsense.

[pmbryant]

12. Environment used to be #1 for me

It is still way up there, but since Bush took over, there are so so so many others.

The most important now are probably civil rights and civil liberties. Those are the issues that finally prompted me to start posting here back in October 2001, in the first days of the PATIOT act, etc.

--Peter

[amazona]

14. me too but i think it's a lost cause

It gets old fighting a battle you can't win, and I no longer see any genuine reason to believe our forests (other than papermill-type pine forests, which provide little habitat for wildlife) will survive more than a few decades.

Most people don't even know what a real forest is, hence, most don't care. The fake jackpine forest that is almost lifeless except for some deer is all they want or need as a background to their family barbecue. :-(

[populistmom]

15. Women's/human rights

Everything from choice to rights of those incarcerated.

[Lindsey]

17. Gay rights, civil rights and civil liberities, the oppression of the

poverty stricken, and the disregard for those with mental disorders (to name a few).

[populistmom]

21. Amen...

Children's rights (here and globally)
Worker's rights

...to name a couple more. I made it short because there's just so damned much it frustrates the hell out of me.

[Lizz612]

16. Public Health

Not just Universal Health care, though that is big. I mean more hospitals, more education for the common man, more nurses more doctors, better cheaper drugs, drugs for the people in the third world that need them. Think about the pyramid of needs (is that what its called?) How can you focus on preventing war if you don't have enough to eat and are dying of a curable disease? Thats my issue.

[The Lone Liberal]

18. All the people in all the history that have been pissed on...

because they didn’t belong --- to the correct class, right school, acceptable social club, were not beautiful, not rich enough, not smart enough, not athletically inclined, not the fastest, the strongest, just generally the masses. They are the ones that are close to my heart.

[JVS]

19. The Metric system

[jus_the_facts]

20. Enviornmental issues first and foremost....taxin' the f*k outta the rich..

....are my top two attention grabbers....oh but pardon ME it's TAX CUTS isn't it?! :evilfrown: