...yep its that time again. As many of you are aware, the election to vote for the next president of the United States is coming up in a few days. And with the current candiates that are up, combined with current state affairs happening in the states (not to mention the rest of the world to a degree), it come to no suprise that this paritcuar election is turing out to be a monumential one.

I know that political discussions threads have a tendancy to become heated. Many have a strong opinon on some things, while others have diffrent points of view, which might lead to some level of tension(Some of you from the old Gamentorphy forum know exactly what I am talking about). But I still think it does open up for some interesting discussions..espcally those living in diffrent parts of the world.

So that being said, I'm wondering what everyones thoughts are with this election coming up. I know alot of people (both in the US and espcially those outside as well) are paying close attention to this one.

I'll put my 2cents in shortly....

I'm finding the election pretty one-sided. But I don't wanna go into details right now. Most of it seems pretty obvious to me. I might add it later.

Nov. 4th will be a sad day. Our leadership has been in decline and is proving to be at it's lowest with the 2 choices we have for the Presidency. McCain just doesn't have quite what it takes and I feel that Obama is simply dangerous to the country. What a pathetic reflection of the people of this country when this is what we have to choose between. Why can't people see how much sense that the candidates for the Independents have made? Why are we programmed to only understand a two party system? Because people today are easily led. Why think for yourself and try to vote for someone with a logical solution when you can just find a candidate on one side or the other that is loaded with political agenda? I give up. This is the beginning of the end.

I personaly find this election to be very interesting..as do many others here in Canada. This is espcailly true after what many here feel was a pointless federal elction that happened here just a couple of weeks ago..

I'll explain, Here in Canada we go by the # of seats a party has in the House of Commons in order to see who becomes the new PM (Prime Minister) of Canada. The party with the most seats won via party ridings in diffrent parts of Canada gets the leadership. We currrently have 5 parties here. The Conservities, the Liberals, The NDP (New Demorcrate Party) the Bloqe (mainly from Qubec) and the Green Party.

The reasn why I say it was a waste of time is that before the election, the ruling party (The Conservites) had the most seats, but didnt have enough for majority rule. So in other words a party can have majority # of seats, but if they have less than 140ish of the 350 seats in the house of Commons, its a minority govt. When the current PM decided to start up a early electon, (many suspect that it had to do with the influence of the US elections). Long story short, few seat numbers changed and no real change in govt..amny thought the gamble to have a early election was alot of time and money wasted...

So technicly a mult party electioral system isnt any better than a 2 party. But thats my two cents.

Oh and CFH, why do you think Obama is dangerous for your country? Because is lack of experience? Democratic issues? or somethign else? Just curious. And would you consider him more dangerous than how GW was during his 8 years? also wondering..

Im relieved to see Obama won the election. We could see this coming though, But I still wouldnt be surprized if McCain won after all after bringing up some last resort dirt out on Barack or something like that.

Now im looking forward to see how and if he's going to do what he said he would. And who knows? Maybe I can be proud of my own country for cooperating with the usa again.

I know this may sound hatefull toward america. But I feel that with McCain in charge, the vicious circle would simply continue. I was actually more worried that McCain would simply expire within the next 4 years and you guys would be stuck with that witch Palin!

Well I can too say it is good to see Obama win. Considering all the stuff that was happening in the past 8 years, this is a breath of fresh air. Not to mention the historicness of the win as well. I mean it pretty much sums up the American Dream...as corny as that might sound. Plus on a world perspective, it shows to everyone other country, that America can get past its mistakes and start making amends to to the future.

It will be interesting to see what happpens in the next few months. Once again congrats. Looks like the US got it right this time.

^ Guys, I want to comment so bad on how things really are in the U.S. currently. Unfortunately, it would sound like I am just flaming. And I really don't want to argue any points right now, it would just bring me down.

Same store, different window dressing. What do I mean? I am saying that you are going to see much of the same that you have over the last 8 years but with a different face to look at. Ultimately, most of you in other countries give way too much credit (albeit bad) to George Bush. Well, the President doesn't "run" the country as most are led to believe. These wars and legislation that you see are voted upon by House and Senate members which contain both Democrats and Republicans. Bush didn't declare war, Congress did. A President cannot solely make that decision.

Secondly, who gives a shit what color the new President is. I mean, if we were really "getting past" our mistakes of the past then race wouldn't be an issue at all. I am very happy that racial prejudices are subsiding and that everyone has a chance to follow their dreams. But let us get to the point on where we give people positions and jobs based on their ability to perform and not on the principal that we have never had a person of a certain color hold a certain office. Obama is a man who fought hard for the Presidency and he won. Congratulations to him as a man, a human being, a part of the human race. Not as a Black Man or a White Man or an Asian Man. We are still separating ourselves by race, but we are doing it in reverse. We need to praise each other as a human race and nothing else.

My hopes are this. That Obama upholds the Constitution of the United States of America and sees that it is enforced for every person living in the U.S.

What we do not need is re-distribution of wealth. I don't feel that someone who has worked hard for their money should be punished by being forced by law to give a huge chunk of their income away to those who don't make as much money. CF and I live under the poverty line and we still don't agree with handouts of this nature. I don't want a handout from someone who has worked harder than me. I want to stand on my own and do for myself. Redistrubution is Socialism, and the U.S. doesn't operate on that principal, we operate as Capitalists. Socialism is forbidden by the U.S. Constitution.

Just for sake of information, I have listed below Obama's 1st 10 Exectutive Orders.

• Obama enacts stronger “federal hate crimes legislation” to “reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section.”

• Obama creates “a fund to help people refinance their mortgages and provide comprehensive supports to homeowners.”

• Obama, following through on his pledge to “meet with the leaders of all nations, friend and foe,” signs a non-agression pact with the leader of Iran.

• Obama doubles foreign aid to $50 billion to cut “poverty around the world in half by 2015.”

• Obama removes our troops from Iraq.

• Obama enacts socialized medicine, taxing small businesses to pay for illegal alien healthcare.

• Obama enacts amnesty for illegal aliens.

• Obama enacts legislation demanding carbon friendly cars, hammering the final nail in the coffin of the US car industry.

• Barack Obama enact laws to reinforce affirmative action by funneling money to “women and minority-owned businesses.”

• Obama repeals the Bush tax cuts.

• Obama enacts the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to entrench the power of the homosexual lobby.

I'd say that most people do not simply work less than others, they have just not caught the right positions, and are being held into the dirt. But clearly, I am at a loss of fact here.

And I hope that the whole "first black president" thing, is just for the sake of cherishing. I believe most people simply find it historically fascinating. I really wish no one actually voted for him based on his skin, although, yes, it's probably true.

But I am doing what I probably shouldn't do, and keeping (keep / keeping? God I can't wait for some more important education to pop up in my English class) myself out of this, until I reach a point where I am more politically aware. I don't think you should influence such a subject before you are sure of what I speak. I hope most people act accordingly.

Personally, I detest the fact that we, as a nation, are practically brainwashed into thinking that we have to vote for either a Democrat or Republican. I went into a nice little rant on another site about this very subject.

I have given it some time before posting again in this thread in hopes that my gut feelings about Obama would be wrong. I would never wish for any U.S. President's failure because his failure is the same as a failure to the country. However, U.S. citizens are really going to have to take a second look at Obama's performance and come to a conclusion as to whether the country can handle any more of his money sucking actions. The difficult part is that we have so many people that are convinced that the guy is larger than life and somewhat of a super-human, that you cannot convince them to look at the bigger picture.

I will elaborate further as I collect my cool and my thoughts. And no, this isn't going to be an Obama bashing thread. I want his success because I want to live in a successful country, but it seems that the opposite is happening.

On that note I will leave you this quote from the Editor of Newsweek, "Well, we were the good guys in 1984. Hasn't felt that way in recent years. We're seen too often as a bad guys. And he is a very different job from Reagan was all about America, and he talked about it. Obama is, we are above that now. We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something. I mean, in a way Obama's standing above the country, above the world. He's sort of God."

I can't even begin to understand this. I could never see anything, let alone a human being, as "sort of a God", or anyone as "standing above the country".