It’s not always black & white..Sometimes it’s grey

I've been accused having a liberal mindset which equates to me being irresponsible because I don't think reducing the National Debt should be our first priority. I was never asked why. It's something that I have experienced all my life when I'm discussing politics. When I ask if having a liberal mindset is wrong; I never get a direct answer.

I remember the times, when our company reduced our cost of living raises, made us pay a larger percentage of our benefits, and drastically cut back the amount of our bonuses. The reaction from my conservative friends to those moves (especially when they cut back overtime) was to get on the computer and look up to see what our CEO was currently making and the national trend of CEO pay to workers. We all felt that we were slighted until I made that same argument about supply side economics. My conservative friends argued that “trickle down" was important because they have never worked for a poor man. They accused me of being for a "welfare state" because I defended the safety net. I could never make the case that the middle class was being squeezed while the emphasis was on the rich and the poor.  I couldn't even make the point that the "rich" will find a way, and we will always take care the poor because the "liberal mindset"became the core of the argument. I think the middle class takes up for the rich because of their aspirations, and they see the working poor becoming more and more dependant on the government.

It's not all bad, because just last week two people on the opposite sides of gay marriage ,had a civil discussion with a promise to come back later and discuss it further. The only agreement that we are used to seeing is when the opponent leaves the discussion. It seems like the posters make everything left, right, conservative, liberal, and Christian non Christian. If you're a middle of the road poster, your comment will probably be ignored. Perhaps the civil discussion over a very controversial subject was a fluke.

I think the dumbing down of America has taken over because even the so called liberal media in saying that Michelle Bachmann is a serious contender to be president of the United States because she did not embarrass yourself the other night. Is that the standard of intelligence that we're striving for? They said that Mitt Romney looked presidential but what the hell does that mean? I didn't hear one credible solution for solving our problems from the republican candidates. I did hear that "Sharia Law" was a threat and a need to have a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. I didn't hear the word “middle class” or a plan to create jobs other than doubling down on supply side economics. These are perilous times, so we cannot give anybody a pass because they don't trip on the way up to the stage, or that they had their hair in place. The media needs to ask pertinent questions and refuse to take talking points as an answer. I heard a pundit say that Michelle Bachmann's "Barack Obama is a one term president" will get her through the primaries. These were the same pundits that thought “Yes, We Can" was the deciding factor for Barack Obama.

Is there a “schools out" summertime lull at the VA forum or is it because the topics are not exciting? I've noticed that traffic is down and sometimes it's a long time between posts. Is it just me or have you noticed that during the lulls,is  when we  start getting new posters? Could be the same posters changing their identity to argue the same point because they didn't have much success with their last screen name? Perhaps some have gotten, bored and moved on, or maybe the 95°is making me delusional to where I'm seeing things that are not happening?