Things that I am scared about (in regards another 4 years under Bush):

[rosebee]

*more liberal judges of the Supreme Court retiring and being replaced with more conservative judges
-resulting in further erosion (what I see as) our already weakening protections between church and state
-resulting in the prohibition of all forms of abortion
-resulting in the loss of a very important balance we currently have

*requirements for schools to achieve without the funding for them to have any hope of meeting those requirements
-our schools are generally in bad shape, and while it's important to have a measuring stick to see how they're doing, it's unfair to give them goals that are unattainable without additional funding/resources

*tax cuts for the insanely wealthy that will only increase our overwhelming deficit at the cost of the average & low income american

*the privatizing of social security
-while something needs to be done, too many people currently see the social security taxes that get taken out of their paycheck as 'their own' retirement money, when in actuality this money is what's being used to pay the current retirees... letting people take some of their social security taxes and invest them will reduce the money available to current retirees... and with our deficit the way it is this is something we can't afford

*Bush's damn "faith-based initiatives"
-while I'm glad that he's giving money to various social welfare organizations, the fact that those organizations can be (& are) religious organizations with goals of brainwashing converting those who come to use their (drug treatment, homeless shelter, etc) I DO NOT want MY tax money going to convert people to any given religious persuasion.

*foreign policy
-the way things are going I see us as pissing off the vast majority of the other nations of the world
-I think that going after terrorists and forcing our version of democracy on other nations is *not* the way to prevent a repeat of 9-11 (I see it as a very good way to piss them off further and only give fodder to their beliefs that we are the 'evil americans' who deserve anything we get. Education, humanitarianism, and the promotion/encouragement of self-determination I feel are the things we should pursue). Just because something is the right way for us, does NOT mean it is the *only* way for ourselves, or any other nation. Other ways and other points of view are just as correct. The world is not nearly as black-or-white/good-or-evil as our lovely current and future president seems to think it is.

*environment
-I do not see any hope of our wildlife getting more protections, our air or water getting cleaner, or any hope of progression towards alternatives for the day that we run out of oil (which not only affects the gasoline our cars run on but plastics and everything else that's made out of petroleum)...

*the patriot act
-i deeply value my privacy and my civil liberties... I'd like to keep them, thanks.

*the republican control of the white house, senate, & house of representatives
-I shiver to think of what they might be able to push through... my only consolation is that their majority isn't very big...


that's enough for me for now...
I may come back and add to this later...