Our Gang: Democratic Little Rascals

Why do I care so much about democratic movements seeing as I am not a democrat myself? I don't know. Perhaps I should visit the Dr. Phil House. Actually, the only democrat that could possibly maneuver a vote from me is the indelible Mike Gravel, and maybe even John Edwards; but I don't take kindly to politicians who want to raise my taxes - AGAIN. I constantly feel as though I'm being nickel & dimed by the US government. But I digress.

In much anticipation I viewed the Democratic Presidential Debate, and as I viewed the 8 hopefuls I thought to myself - "Hey, its Spanky and the Little Rascals". They all behaved so nicely towards each other, except maybe Mike Gravel, but I love Mike Gravel! And I'm not even a democrat! He voted to de-fund the Vietnam War and he holds the same position towards the Iraq war, which he thinks, like Senator Reid, is lost already. According to Gravel, all soldiers have "...died in vain." That's a bold statement to make; I'm sure the Sheehan and Tillman families, among most others, would find that a statement hard to bear.

The dialogue revolved continuously around Iraq and our continued occupation there.

They also played around in the fields of hedge funds, campaign finance reform, abortion, and universal health care, which incidentally they all seem to support.

"How would you pay for universal health care?" asked Brian Williams.

John Edwards would, "...abolish the tax breaks for those who earn $200k and over" as well as "increasing taxes". Bad John Edwards, nobody wants to hear that you intend to raise taxes, but kudos for your honesty anyway.

Obama and Richardson both support a pool where we all share expenses. Obama wants subsidies to help the poor and Richardson holds that he won't increase taxes and will eliminate HMOs.

Richardson at least acknowledged that bureaucracy has infected our health care system. Obama focused his gaze on the poor, and that's all find and dandy, but -and I'm surprised to say this - Hillary was the only one who seemed to be looking out for those of us stuck in the middle. She vowed to decrease costs for everyone, not just the uninsured and plans to save money wasted in the existing system. If the election were solely based on that, she would have my vote, but its not, so she doesn't. I don't believe she can get the whole job done, but I believe she believes it.