Sending prayers and thoughts to Sue and her family.

I would have to respectfully disagree with you on a couple of points. The first question I have is this: what do you think the first and foremost interest of a corportation is? I would take a chance on saying it is pure and simple profit. Do you believe that earning maximum profit and considering the welfare of the end consumer are compatible in the thought process of those who run a corporation? I do not believe so. Fine examples of that are McDonald's, pharmacutical companies, and toy manufacturers. Everyone knows that McDonalds puts out a product, that while it may be tasty is undeniably not in the best interest of the consumer. Without regulation, do you think that pharmacutical companies would be as diligent in making sure their products do not harm the public? Based upon the number of products taken off the market after being found to do more harm than good recently, I would have to say no. Why would a toy manufacturer continue to put harmful lead into products that children use if it didn't maximize their profits? These are just three examples of what I am assuming you mean by calling for 'actions harmful to business interests"--in other words regulations of the end product which will be consumed by the public. When you claim that businesses are entitled to just as much of a voice in an election as the average citizen consider this: you listed stockholders, customers (debatable imo) employees, and suppliers as all part of that business. Those people already have a right to vote--because they are actual people. Why would we want to give them more of a voice than the average citizen has? To me that is the first flaw in that Supreme court decision to say 'corporations are people too". There are other flaws in the thinking, but that to me is the strongest argument against that decision.

Barry_T: I am confident that my vote counts, and often try to convince others of it when they use that as an excuse not to vote. However,I said that in response to wynoch_man who made the following comment:
"I say who cares! Pour on the money! Let people give as much as they want to!"
And thank you for the suggestion as to which party I should vote for, but I think I may have to reconsider your words "use it wisely" and vote something other than Republican--hope you don't mind..LOL...

Wow, you have taken this rationalization of your own lack of knowledge to new levels. It is the Democratic party--always has been, always will be. The 'dumbing down' you speak of is what has so many people calling it the Democrat party. You can't be serious when you ask "why aren't there Republics in the Republican party?" as your attempt to pretend you know what you are talking about--or are you?

The problem with that kind of thinking is this: too many voters don't check facts, they only believe what they hear and someone with a lot of money for ads can easily manipulate those kind of voters. So I for one, like to know who is paying for it so I can start the fact checking process and determine if the source is one that can be trusted to be telling the truth.

When that happens, then I will have to agree with those who don't bother to vote, because 'my vote doesn't count'. And that will be the end of anything resembling democracy in this country--which sadly is coming very close to reality.

The fact that Romney can't remember those little details provide all the doubt I need to hear. He has made so many 'mis-statements" , 'flip-flops" and isn't even willing to take credit for his healthcare reform in his own state, which has proven to be successful, all which tell me he is simply not the better choice for president of our country.

okthen1: There are indeed some quality traits that the president of our nation should have in order to gain the respect of the All this talk about wanting an AMERICAN president brings me to one thing I think should be a pre-requisite--have all your money, whether it is hundreds of thousands or hundreds of millions, in American banks. That's just something I prefer. But, as for lying going on in the campaign--neither of them has the corner on that little market. And I believe you know that to be true. Just like every other American. You just prefer to ignore it. I don't know if that's just because you don't want the black guy in the White house any longer, or whether you are just stuck on the political party of the other guy, or some other silly reason. They both embellish the truth, they both blame someone else for what is wrong with this country, they both have things they would prefer stay hidden from the view of the voters. In my opinion, since sadly they are our only options, I just will have to go with the smarter of the two.

I have been thinking about for the last three or four elections. But my theory is that the people who are capable of running the country effectively know that they would have to play all the games--answering idiotic question about youthful indiscretions, drinking a little too much occasionally, smoking a little weed, having to provide the same documents (birth certificates) over and over and over again, scrambling to remember when you actually left a job, having to explain your millions of dollars in non-American banks, all that kind of crap. And they are smart enough to know they can do better then that somewhere else and not have all the headaches that go with the job.

Couldn't agree more.