Hi Claude,

>An excellent example is past Gov. Gilmore(R) of Virginia who got voted into office based on his pledge to get rid of the car tax(which never happened). I'd gladly pay more taxes for better quality schools and healthcare.

Yes. I do too. And I think most americans will also if they understand what is going to be done with the tax income, however most of them seem to be very shortsighted and think that lowering taxes is really a good thing. Indeed if you've got lots of money you can buy all things you need privately. However for arround 300 million americans the situation is not like that.

>Another example of the flubs of the Republicans is the Flu vaccine problem. No doubt they insisted on keeping it privitized, based on principle, even though the companies can't make any money on it. Now there's a chance most ordinary folks won't get it this year. Same thing with guns - why any lunatic should have the right to purchase automatic weapons is beyond me...

Yep. Indeed a big problem.

What however scares me the most is the following:

America is in serious depts. The question is how do current expenses get payed? Who is paying and what do they ask for return? The weapon lobby is a very strong one. Probably one of the factors that lead to the iraqi war. To most europeans it is very obvious that Mr bush is NOT the most powerfull man on earth as he has the intelligence of a peanut. The question is, who is the man behind him ? what are his real motives? IOW what are the forces driving your government?

Walter,