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This is the only part of your post that doesn't make sense to me: how can anyone agree with Bush's motives and ideology, when Bush hasn't made it clear what those motives and ideology are?

I think it's pretty clear that Bush comes from a position of conservative faith. I see in many cases how his faith drives his decisions, so I can say with some amount of confidence that our sense of morality comes from the same source.

I was surprised to read Bitt's answer to this, because it's pretty much what I think of Bush. I have a fairly conservative upbringing -- I was raised Christian, in a family where abstinence was the rule of the day when it came to sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Though I have a liberal political viewpoint, my personal choices are still extremely conservative. Much of my morality is grounded on teachings from the Bible, though I have found alternate justifications for that morality that don't require the Biblical teachings. That's part of what suggests, to me, that they are a reasonably valid set of morals. That said, like Bitt, I think that Bush isn't being completely forthright about his religion, though, unlike Bitt, I'm a bit more conflicted. In some ways, I think he's faking it -- his actions don't say "I believe in Christ's teachings" to me. In other ways, I agree with Tony (I think it was who mentioned it), in that he may be doing what he thinks is the most Christian, but then with quotes like "God wants me to be president", I think he's somewhat delusional. So I'm stuck between "faker" and "nutcase" when it comes to Bush's religion.

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Politically I find myself somewhat to the left of Bush and most Republicans (I don't support the gay marriage ammendment, I don't think their should be public prayer in school, etc.), but because we share similar belief systems Bush's views are closer to mine than Kerry or just about any other Democrat.

It sounds like we probably share a great deal in common, barring the fact that you think Bush shares a similar belief system with you.

I apologize for not being able to find the original website for this, but I think this is very truthful, even though it's a parody.

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Not that a person with similar faith can't be a Democrat, but usually they choose not to be because many of the party's ideals are just not consistent with our belief system.

I dunno. I feel the exact opposite -- that Christian ideals are *more* consistent with the Dem platform, than the Republican platform. Christ was about charity, forgiveness, good stewardship, uplifting the poor and middle class, etc, and I just don't see that reflected in the Republican platform to the same extent.

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I've said before that I don't feel well represented by these candidates, and that's why I'm so frustrated by the system at the moment.

Heh. I think this statement would resonate with the majority of the country. I don't think Kerry is really representative of my ideals, either.

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I should note that one allegation that is made over and over again that really bugs me is how Republicans say they want to spend less but then end up spending more. This bugs me because it's true and that is truly frustrating. I do think we ought to spend less in taxes and on government programs like the Republicans say, but they don't seem to know how to follow through on that. At least Democratic leaders have some integrity on this point by not claming the can do more with less.

Agreed. Though I have no degree in economics, I think fiscal conservativeness is the only way one can create a healthy economy. You can't spend your way out of debt -- that's been proven time and time again on a personal level, and I don't follow the logic that suggests otherwise. Where I don't agree with the Republicans on this point is that they seem to think that privatization is the key to spending less. I think when one goes down that road, the end result is a pure focus on the profit side, and none on the service, so if the service isn't profitable (such as, say, a hospital), then it goes away, leaving nothing. What's really needed is more efficiency, and less pork (and pretty much every polititian is complicit in this).

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So this is all what I meant by being a weak supporter of Bush.

I can agree with the logic, though I don't agree with your initial premises.