So, I tuned in last night to the Republican Primaries being held in Florida to get an idea as to what each republican candidate is bringing to the table. I wasn’t all that impressed – but honestly, how could I be? I have disagreed with many of President Bush’s policies and the consequences of those policies. Unfortunately, all of these candidates (except Ron Paul – as Frank Lucas would say, “My man!”) were in agreement with the direction that the country has been taken by George W. Bush. They supported the war and were unwilling to acknowledge the economic crisis we are facing now. Anyways, the two candidates that I was most impressed by were Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. They both have some ideas that are out there. I like the idea of a fair tax (proposed by Mike Huckabee). I am not an economist or anything, but at least a fair tax would allow you to be taxed as much as you want to be taxed (there would a flat 23% sales tax). So, if I wanted to save more money, I would just buy less products and that would mean I would pay less tax. I don’t know if you crunch all the numbers that that would work, but it’s an interesting idea. And, my man Ron Paul, is off the chain! I just like him because he is so different than the other candidates – although he practically has no shot at winning the republican candidacy. He is not afraid to oppose traditional (or at least recently traditional) republican views on major issues. That guy is off the chain!

Anyways, the republicans did very little to sway me into their corner – if anything, they have convinced me to vote democrat in the upcoming general election. I am not for the war and I do think that this country’s bureaucracy and economy was mismanaged during the last two terms of republican presidency, so I do not trust the republican party to get us back on track. Especially when they are in support of so many of George Bush’s policies – and they seem more concerned with the upper class of society. They seem to be out of touch with the middle class and the poor – they barely even gave mention to those that would be hit the hardest with the sagging economy. The republicans just seem to have this air of arrogance that bothers me. It’s like they don’t want to acknowledge the failures of the last 7 years. They believe that the republican party is truly headed in the right direction and refuse to acknowledge any quantitative evidence proving the contrary. You know what? The average American voter is not that stupid to believe in your stubborn rhetoric, at least I am not. At least Ron Paul had the cojones to come out and say that the war on Iraq never should have even been waged. Mike Huckabee, if anything, seemed to be more in touch with the common voter than anyone on stage – and he won some points with me for that. I don’t think Rudy Giuliani did enough to win Florida. I think that he took a big risk in banking on Florida – and I think he is going to lose that bet. I’m wondering how defiant he will be to the end.

A large majority of Americans are against the war and many feel that we are now in an economic crisis and/or recession. So, riddle me this, why in the hell does a republican candidate even have a legitimate shot at the White House? I mean, should they even? I don’t think so – but as loud as we think these voices of dissension are, the republicans will probably fare extremely well in the general election. It is an undeniable truth. I mean, I didn’t think George Bush deserved to get elected and didn’t think he would, but he did and he did it convincingly the second time around. Stranger things have happened and I wouldn’t put it past anything for it to happen again (unfortunately)…

A few more debates will be held next week before Super Tuesday (February 5th) – so we’ll see how this all plays out.