Let's not forget that word "Liberty." The only way the government can attempt to guarantee happiness is to take away some liberty. The harder those in government try to guarantee our happiness, the more of our liberty they take away.

So, would you rather have a failed comedian or a successful goofball as president? I'll take Thurston.

I'm pretty sure the left isn't so much concerned about lettign gays get married as they are about minimizing the improtance of marriage (of any variety) in American society. This, of course, is consistent with the view on marriage espoused in all the tomes on leftist utopia.

Isn't it absurd that you can base your core principles on anything EXCEPT religious beliefs. 35% to 45% of our country's population can now be certified as ignorant.

8-(

Well, the President is a liar, isn't he. But it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that those smart enough to take care of the rest of us stay in power. Hope isn't a course of action, folks. Don't hope for cahnge, vote for it!

In terms of voter attention, it might be the economy; but in terms of the importance of the election, it's the underlying philosophy of maintaining (or returning to) the primacy of individual liberty vs the the erosion and ultimate end of individual liberty by the progressives.

(Sorry, I meant Hobbes, not Locke.)

Don't think the left is so foolish as to think that they can raise enough money by taxing the rich to pay for all the goodies they want to pass out. The only plausible explanation is the "vast left-wing conspiracy" theory...that the left wants economies to fail around the world to such a degree that The People can turn only to a peternalistic government, which will then have all the power it needs to establish the "world order" (a la Plato, Locke, Marx) that they think best for the rest of us.

Of course, the truth is that the American experiment - individual liberty, including private property rights and free markets - works just fine (evidenced by the great growth in just a few hundred years in net wealth and standard of living vs the prior thousands of years)...except when the Wilsonian-FDRian progressives get their way.