Hey, long time TER vet, new to this board.  Love the debate.  Let me share a few frustrations with what I read/hear in the press and even in this board.

1) The real health care problem is that we as a nation have a voracious and uncontrolled apetite for new, life enhancing technology.  So, of course costs are rising.  The only way to insure the insured and control costs for employers and patients is roll-back coverage and access (e.g., ration) or to make the consumer responsible for their behavior.  Neither is remotely visible in either platform.  Alan Greenspan is the only guy in a position to be honest about this, it appears.

2) The war on terror is unwin-able.  Just ask people in Belfast, the Balkans, central and south Africa, and beyond.  If it is win-able, its probably not launched at low-mandate nation states (read: Afghanistan) but against a culture.  Only Bush mentioned this in a slip and quickly rescinded.  Kerry, of all people, should know.  To me, the only real solution to terrorism is to roll-back our cultural, political, and economic expansion so that no disenfranchised peoples get jealous.  Who's ready to do that.

3) The deficit isn't a bad thing, per se.  Most every consumer and company on the planet have it (anyone here have a mortgage?).  Smart companies borrow wisely to help them invest during down times. The issue isn't that the deficit is bad...its the natural by-product of a slowed economy. The real issue is: what is the right stimulus to generate growth - which will help us pay off the debt.  You could get a dozen of leading economists to have a very healthy debate with no easy answer on this one.

While we're out peddling democracy to the great unwashed of the planet, evidence appears every day that suggests that our system is really only best at obscuring complex, difficult issues and turning elections into a false-promises contest.  

OK, rant over.