So I'm willing to admit that every day that goes by, the Bush administration seems more and more stupid and incompetent. People often acuse me of loving the guy, but I don't think I've ever said that, and I've frequently criticized him. What it comes down to is that there is only one alternative. You get the Republican candidate or the Democrat, and as bad as Bush may be, I still think he's better than John Kerry would have been. For the next election, it just depends on who is nominated. I'll probably vote Republican, but if someone more Lieberman than Dean wins the primaries, who knows?

I think the country needs to devise a way to open up elections to third parties. It's almost impossible for a third party to even get on the ballot for the Presidential election, much less have a chance in hell of winning. If a bunch of people decided to start a third party that follows basic libertarian principles without the extremism and peculiarity of the Libertarian Party, I'd probably follow. Such a party would strip people from both the Democrats and Republicans, but I think it would hit the right side hardest. A Democratic victory would be virtually guaranteed. This is why the Republicans need to turn things around. If they don't, they are going to start losing elections because of defections to either the Democrats or some third party/independent status.

What needs to be done? I can't speak for the Iraq situation. I just don't know, it's too hard to get straight answers from the press and the administration about what's going on over there. Iraq isn't turning away the kind of people I a focusing on, though. The people the Republicans need to appeal to want to see vast improvement in border control, spending, standing up to extremists instead of placating or ignoring them, and education, though that last could probably slide. I'm not even sure what the Federal government really has the right to do with education. Aren't schools run by the states? There was the No Child Left Behind Act, definitely done by Washington. So I'm not sure. But anything other than opening up the country to vouchers falls short. Back to the important things. Cut spending. Make some real efforts to do something about pork. Support the FairTax (ok, that probably won't happen, but it sure would be great to see it). Control the border, stop the influx of people illegally crossing. Do something about the ones already here. Another amnesty will just cause the cycle to repeat. Start condemning Islamist violence and such instead of apologizing for it. Like it or not, the Muslim world seems to be slowly gearing up to some bad stuff, seemingly led by Iran and the Saudis. Act like it.