Like the oft-questioned "militia" in the 2nd Amendment?  Though we let government agencies hold the reigns for us when it comes to war and imprisonment, the civilian force is an implied right that comes with the responsibility of bearing arms.

We want a military to defend our country against foreign enemies.

We want guns so we can take our country back from unjust leaders, if need be.

Remember the French Revolution, O?

It would be ironic if the hippy liberal intellectuals who protested more-or-less peacefully against abuse of power, domestic spying, torture, etc for the past 8 years, finally got "their man" in the White House only to have an attempted coup by people who thought it was now an unjust government. 

 I'll say one of the most damaging things to come out of this campaign was the meme that there is a "real" America and some other traiterous America out there.  This leads down the road to "anyone who doesn't aggree with me is a traitor"- not exactly a healthy concept for a democracy...

Ann Coulter likes the French since Sarkozy took office. Bio, while there is more partisan squabbling here the last decade, bottom line (remember that overused expression replaced with 'at the end of the day' )we are all one country with a ' loyal opposition '.

It won't be a small group of people of like political ideologies.

Obama's plan brought to it's full fruition will be bad for everyone. (Except those who want their asses wiped from cradle to grave.) Hippies like freedom, don't they?

Hmm, a real America. If you take a ship apart and replace it with new wood, piece by piece, is it still the same ship? I'd say yes. Look at it this way- why are other leaders congratulating the US on B.H.O.? Because we're becoming like them.  There is a fundamental ideology in the Constitution that separates America from the rest of the world.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

And please, please read this article about the myths about George W. Bush that are the foundation of all the demonizing.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_/ai_113363774

   However, in my opinion Bush has been just a horrible president in almost every way, and I think you'll have a hard time convincing many people in this country otherwise.  I'm trying to think of good things about him, and one thing I can think of is immigration- border fence is dumb, but he wasn't the complete xenophobe/a little more pro-business than some folks.  Also, while No Child Left Behind hasn't worked, nothing else has either, so I'll give that a neutral.

 *Political scumminess in 2000 (vs. McCain) and 2004 (vs. Kerry).

*Katrina "Heckova Job, Brownie!"

*Secret closed-door meetings with energy companies regarding nation's energy policy.

*Unprecedented numbers of "signing statements" to circumvent checks and balances in government

*Torture

*Rush to war in Iraq (whether you believe the white house actually pressured intel for news it could use or not, there's no reason they couldn't have waited until they had body-armor for everyone)

*using federal money for domestic propaganda

*Firing judges who you don't agree with, then covering it up

*Harriet Meyers

*Unprecidented politization of federal agencies, where political appointees disregard opinions 

*Environmental Policy

*Patriot Act/Warrantless Wiretapping (blame dems for letting this pass too, but seriously, how is any of this junk patriotic?)

*Federal Marriage Amendment

*Believes Intelligent Design should be taught in science classes

*Underappreciation of how, while we should not let world opinion dictate our policy, poking sticks in foreign eyes and salt in the wounds is not beneficial.

*Cronyism in general- for example allowing no-bid contracts for Haliburton.

This is all I could come up with at work, I'm sure there's more.

Sorry, all i heard was blahblahblah hippie liberal   (That's for the Coulter comments.  I think she might be a leftie in disguise, anyway.)

You will find as many minor complaints with any other US president.  Did the CIA's use of torture affect you? Did it get the job done?  War is ugly.  People get hurt, people get killed.  Joe Everyday hardly knows the whole story, or is in any position to cry about it.

We'll agree to disagree here.  That's fine. 

Libertarians won't organize. We all feel too much like we're too smart and capable to appoint a leader. 

Yeah, just a dream : )

I guess the hope and change he meant was that he hoped that changing his mind wouldn't piss anyone off.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090108/Obama.Taxes/

p.s. It's highly unlikely that he'll give up the powers he inherited ("domestic spying, torture, etc")from GW. No politician goes into the business because he doesn't want as much power as possible.

Thanks, 12rb- I've been busy reading about our local race riots out here and haven't kept tabs on the president elect.  

 I'm not sure I buy that argument that the business tax credit won't make any difference.  Sure, not every small biz will hire/not fire more folks because of an extra $3000, but they may buy more stuff which will help the companies that supply the small businesses.

  It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.  Obama certainly seems to be poised to govern from the center and make pre-emptive concessions to the GOP to get stuff done as quickly as possible.  Will the GOP see this as weakness and push for even more?  Will the democrats in Congress get sore that they aren't getting to press their advantage more?  I think most people will understand that in a crisis like we have BO won't be as progressive as he might have otherwise, but some people will take longer to accept this.

america is circling the drain at this point, the only vote that counts is one you make from a belltower, hth

"Save us Obama-Wan Kenobi, you're are only hope!"

I find the idea that anyone and 'fix' the economy fairly amusing if not particularly surprising.  This is the bust of our boom and bust economy.  I saw the D-word (depression) used in type for the first time the other day and if are indeed headed that way (and it looks like it to me but that's me) ain't much of anything going to fix it. Can't use war as the U.S. has been on a war time footing since WWII.  Interesting times indeed.

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090112/Bush.News.Conference/

Bush's final news conference highlights here, in which he addresses his critics

he was visibly drunk, boris yeltsin wasn't this bad

i feel kind of bad for him and his family, falling off the wagon is rough stuff

My problem with Bush was his sticking too long with Rumsfeld. The change to Gates and Gen Patraeus fixed that a couple years late. No problem with Gitmo, or waterboarding to save lives.

I was also not a backer of Paulson, and Cox the lazy, incompetent SEC head. ( But when Paulson begged for the "Tarp", when it looked like the entire banking system would freeze as in no ATMs working- just for starters,  I blinked and felt it was necessary.)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hJlIlq5kHgC1FOXK-Yy6jjJViejwD97J3BRO0