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This presidential election season is in full swing. The battle lines are drawn and candidates are battling for there parties position in the primaries. One of the hot button issues is public/socialized medicine. This issue seems to be drawing as much attention as gay marriage did in the last election. I feel that this is a smoke screen. People are missing the real issues that need to be solved. I personally feel these issues are the economy, liberties, oil dependence and the war.

The first and last one are tied together to an extent. First the US dollar is at lows I never thought I would see in my lifetime. This is a serious issue. I feel that the war in Iraq has quite a bit to do with this. Now keep in mind that feeling is just my opinion. I am not an economist and my understanding of international finance is not backed by a degree. It just seems to make sense that you can not spend more then you make and keep borrowing from other countries.

We seem to be comfortable giving up our liberties in this country. After 9-11 people readily handed over the right to privacy, free speech, due process and most importantly the ability to hold the government accountable for there actions. I feel that the US needs to get back to a government for the people by the people. Not a government for the corporations, politicians and International interests by the before mentioned. This was built to be a people first country and it is high time we returned it to such.

Oil dependence is a no brainer. We are way to far behind in solving this issue. We have the technologies, will power and the brightest minds in the world. Now all we need is to stop suppressing them and let them solve the problem. Listen to the crazy guy and try out his idea. Hell he might even do something great like reinvent how we live. I do not believe that the government needs to fund this research. This should be handled by the private sector. The end rewards are so great for the company that comes up with a solution that someone would take up the challenge.

I will state this again. I feel that issue one is in some way related to the war. We are spending lots of money for a never ending battle. We will not be able to exert military control over a country for years to come and be successful. I know there are arguments that state we are not doing that. Again I am not a scholar in this area, but it seems like we are an occupying force to me. And I feel that the Iraqi people see us as such. We need to stop throwing good money after bad.

At this point you might be asking “You left out a lot of important issues.” That is true. I feel that we can not really solve the other important social issues until we fix the bigger picture problems. You have to have money, research, and a free society before things like cultural issues, healthcare, and the housing slump can be addressed.