What is the #1 most important political issue - to YOU

takin yur stuff

 

Which party controls Federal judicial appointments, appointments that are for the length of that judge's life. That is paramount to me.

 

Cutting government spending and raising taxes to Reagan era levels.

DD

 

That is a political issue, just as taxes, defense, the environment, etc., etc., are issues. I believe that, short of war, who makes federal judicial appointments (and gets them affirmed) has the greatest impact on the political life of this country. It determines an infinite number of things. It can determine who becomes President, as we saw in 2000.

Not a bad thread, *texxx. Basso could take lessons from you.

 

whatever Deck is fer, ahm agin.

Spoiler

you didn't answer the question.

 

Economic issues: because when there's enough for everyone, people in charge are less inclined to enforce cultural, racial or gender hierarchies.

 

Would say the two most important things are an absolute belief in the concept of foreign realism and total mistrust of populism in all forms.

 

He said ONE! (his caps, not mine) :-D-

 

haha - neither did u

mine would be the erosion of civil liberties that we have seen under bush-obama.

 

Voting laws. (campaign finance, voting rights act, redistricting, lobbying, etc..)

If we have a fair voting system, the rest more or less sorts itself out. A fair system makes it possible for the public to voice their opinion on issues in the form of voting in federal elections.

Eventually (possibly this term with the Texas redistricting case) the Supreme Court will make a ruling on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and I give it a 50% chance that they'll strike it down this term, effectively gutting the last piece of real voter protection legislation left. The standards of redistricting have more or less been ignored for 30 years and once Section 5 goes, we'll be back to the days of full on gerrymandering with no consequences.

I can't see any issue mattering more than ensuring our system of elections actually works.

 

Legalizing mar1juana and Gay rights.

 

Socialism.

 

Reducing defense spending to get rid of the deficit.

 

Kind of vague, but I think that education is the foundation of any strong society. So, I guess that's my #1 issue.

 

Reforming the education system: it is time to leave children behind, need to start teaching actual math and not just counting at earlier ages, teach foreign languages earlier, stop pressuring kids to learn a foreign language for college as it is totally worthless - I would have been better off with science/accounting/business or anything but foreign ****ing language.

Legalizing mar1juana: it's god's green grass.

 

Real equal opportunity for all, not just lip service. That can mean social programs, or it can mean not stacking the deck so strongly for special interests with money.

I've seen school districts that use chemistry books so old that they had to run off copies of the periodic table because the one in the book was missing a decades worth of discoveries.

 

Economy, unemployment.

 

+1 - so many #1 issues are ultimately resolved by the courts, and having judges capable of nuanced decisions (and not tied to radical ideology) means the odds are better for a good resolution.

My main political concern right now, however, is getting representatives who understand that government is a process, not an end. Too many on both sides seem to think that a particular tax rate or piece of legislation (or an absence of such) will be some kind of permanent panacea for all our problems. This kind of elementary-level thinking is the result of electing a bunch of ambitious simpletons, who use ideology and catchphrases to avoid critical thinking and to make their jobs simpler. That's crap - we need smarter, more creative people in government.