I was trying to stay out of this but....
I thought no better day to talk politics than on election day. I'll throw my 2 cents in. First all I have been a registered Republican my whole life (all 30 years) but I have many concerns about where out country is headed.
My own personal view of Iraq: I think the "invasion" was justified because for years Saddam Hussein stuck his middle finger at the US and the rest of the world. For years he was not complying with UN rules and sanctions and he probably should have been dealt with years ago. What good is the UN if they do not enforce their rules? Saddam was given multiple chances to comply with the UN but never did. The rest of the countries that make up the UN should have elected to go into Iraq, but they did not. How I see it, the US did what the UN should have done years ago. I don't think the president should have ever sold us on "we are going into because Iraq has WMD's. He should have said "we are going into Iraq because we don't know what Iraq has and they have not played by the rules."
Possibly when dealing with other countries like Iran and North Korea, they will show little respect to the UN. They'll say fine, sanction us, we really don't care. If the UN threatens with force, they might not get scared because the UN went soft on Iraq. Some people might think the US can be the world's police department, I on the other hand don't they should and don't think they can be.
Maybe the US should not have gone into Iraq at all unless they had the full cooperation of the UN?
It will be interesting to find out how history looks back at this time period. Will the real reasons why the US went into Iraq ever come out? Maybe George W will look like a genius for creating a permanent US presence in the Middle East? Or maybe not.
What really bothers me is that I believe the US being in Iraq hinders us from dealing with Iran, who is a "real threat." Iran is not supposed to be playing with nuclear power and they are and they are sticking it in our face. What is better, Iraq with Saddam Hussein or Iran with a nuclear weapon? The US cannot attack Iran because they have missiles that can reach our troops in Iraq and that can reach Isreal. Plus the Persian Gulf is a giant bathtub with one way in and one way out. Iran would be more than happy to start firing cruise missiles are our warships. Something that probably won't happen because that would be a direct attack on the US and the US would be forced to respond with probable unrelinquished hell on earth. Iran is taking full advantage of their position, they realize the US cannot respond like they could if they weren't in Iraq.
Oh, I just thought of this. The Dems also voted to go to war with Iraq and now they talk like it was all a bad idea, well you voted for it didn't you? And they all say the US needs to get out of there. Well no crap, really? What is missing is an actual plan. I think Kerry lost on that 2 years ago. I can sit here and say we need to get out of Iraq, but how is the real question.
I think George Carville coined the phrase for Clinton during the 1992 election when he said, "It's the economy stupid." I think he is right, after all this talk about Iraq it still comes down to one thing, the economy. Some people say the economy is doing great, others aren't so sure. I'm no economists but I know one thing, this country is in so much debt right now it's scary. Sooner or later it is going to bite us in the a$$. A country, company or your own personal finances cannot be managed like the way this country is. You know who is funding our country right now? China. An ever increasing amout of foreign countries are investing in our assets, which could be good, but it puts the US at risks. More and more countries are turning to the Euro and doing away with the dollar. If countries start dumping the dollar, this country is in serious trouble. The US needs to remain strong. One thing that is hampering the US is the cost of Iraq, I heard last night it has cost the US 382 billion dollars so far, I think our defense budget is right around 440 billion. Imagine all those programs that will be cut, like funding for the F22 Raptor or the upcoming JSF F35. Our military is great but the parts are getting old and need to be replaced. Heck the great F15 dates back to the late 1960's, the F16 and F18 date back to the 1970's. The US is only buying 182 F22's, is that enough? We need those planes and a well funded military to take on China and the likes in the near future.
I really don't know the point of this. It's probably the longest thing I have written since I left college, haha. I just had to get my thoughts out there, you can disagree or not, that is fine. I just want people to be educated and to think about the future. I do not think the future is tomorrow, next week or next year, it is 5, 10 or 15 years down the road from now. Where will our country be at that time? Is it time for a new plan, if yes then lets here it and lets do it. One thing I just thought of, even though I just rambled on about the economy. Let us not forget our country was not founded on a great economy, what made our country great or what makes it great is our liberties and freedom. If you are a Republican or Democrat it doesn't matter. Get involved, get informed and vote! I apologize now if I have taken up too much of your time.