Kerry or Bush and why?

[Aaron Knight]

I can not with any conscience or moral fiber vote for George W. Bush in the upcoming presidential election. Here's why:

1. He has racked up the largest debt _even with adjustion for inflation_ of any president in the history of this country.
2. He has passed a tax cut that disproportionately gave much more money back (proportional to income) than anyone else....
3. For all his claims about wanting better business practices post-ENRON, he has yet to come clean about his own questionable and illegal business practices in 1989-90 with his petroleum business, nor his executive cabinet's deep connections with ENRON itself.
4. In a time of two unfinished wars that he led us into, Bush has spent a disproportionate amount of his time on attempting a constitutional amendment that he claims is to "preserve the [christian] sanctity of marriage" - which would be the first amendment to the Constitution which would inhibit the rights of Americans (not to mention that would _change_ the definition of marriage, to that of the Christian right [what happened to freedom of religion?]......)
5. Bush is running on a platform of the "war president", that of a strong leader leading a secure nation. Now, the 9/11 hearings are revealing that he somewhat dropped the ball on security then; he established a redundant Dept. of Homeland Security rather than fix the problems between our domestic FBI and international CIA...... and has made a less rather than more secure nation and world in general due to his actions.

Bush can't run on the economy - sure, we may have bounced out of recession, but very few of the hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs lost in the recession have been recreated. The Trickle-down economic model doesn't work. Didn't work with Reagan heading into the elder Bush, and isn't working now.

He also will face heavy questioning when he runs on an education platform. You may remember the much-lauded No Child Left Behind act. However, you won't likely remember that Bush gutted the majority of the funding behind it, and only recently cut the standards back to a level that schools might possibly be able to meet with the aid he left in it.

To tell the truth, I voted for Kuchinich (sp?) in the Democratic primary. However, I am willing and will fall in line behind the Democratic front-runner Kerry. Nader just as four years ago I can not vote for, since his campaign primarily runs on "I'm neither (republican front-runner) nor (democratic front-runner)" every time. Not a compelling argument for me.

Kerry, I believe, has a strong chance and a strong vision for what this country can and will do to maintain its traditions and point us towards a future that is good not only for our citizens but for the rest of the world as well.

Okay, I'll stop ranting now . I welcome criticisms of this (privately if you so desire) - as constructive criticism serves to better politically educate those on both sides.