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cthulu23 · 07-06-2004, 01:04 PM

A few thoughts:

Most of the categories are too simplistic. I don't think that you can really sum up the differences in the parties with one sentence per issue or with stright binary comparisons. For example, not everyone believes that we must choose between economic prosperity and funding schools.

Economy is almost a non-issue between the candidates as both parties tend to support the "free" market, supply-side economy that we are now in. Bush's tax cuts are one source of dischord, and trade issues might also be relevant given that Edward's is running as veep.

As for war, I don't think that anyone can argue with defending our nation from terrorists. What is at question is the doctrine of preemption and whether or not one feels that invading Iraq has anything to do with the war on terrorism.

Unlike the other issues, abortion can more easily be summed up with dualistic thinking but I don't think that stem cell research is part of the abortion debate (although it is tangentially related on the opposition side).

With environment, we are once again at a false dichotomy. The economy and environmental protection are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

If I were you, I would save my effort and point my friend at any number of voting guides put out by a mainstream, objective newspaper. They will go into detail and take care not to editorialize (unless you are on the editorial page).

07-06-2004, 01:04 PM	#6 (permalink)
cthulu23 Banned	A few thoughts: Most of the categories are too simplistic. I don't think that you can really sum up the differences in the parties with one sentence per issue or with stright binary comparisons. For example, not everyone believes that we must choose between economic prosperity and funding schools. Economy is almost a non-issue between the candidates as both parties tend to support the "free" market, supply-side economy that we are now in. Bush's tax cuts are one source of dischord, and trade issues might also be relevant given that Edward's is running as veep. As for war, I don't think that anyone can argue with defending our nation from terrorists. What is at question is the doctrine of preemption and whether or not one feels that invading Iraq has anything to do with the war on terrorism. Unlike the other issues, abortion can more easily be summed up with dualistic thinking but I don't think that stem cell research is part of the abortion debate (although it is tangentially related on the opposition side). With environment, we are once again at a false dichotomy. The economy and environmental protection are not necessarily mutually exclusive. If I were you, I would save my effort and point my friend at any number of voting guides put out by a mainstream, objective newspaper. They will go into detail and take care not to editorialize (unless you are on the editorial page). Last edited by cthulu23; 07-06-2004 at 01:15 PM..