Why are there so many "chickenhawks" in office?

I don't get why majority of people in Congress who are pushing this war are the ones who didn't serve in the military when they were of age. However, the majority of those who oppose the war are veterans. Isn't America going to wake up and see that if their Congressperson had served, than they might be more recalcitrant about sending our kids off to be cannon fodder? While the Bush administration and the Republicans really got the gold for chickenhawk-ism, the other side of the aisle is sure doing its job. Few, if any members of Obama's cabinet and his advisers (aside from those within DOD itself) were never out on the front lines themselves. If the Obama administration had more civilian cabinet members who had served, they would realize that a country has to pick its battles. We simply cannot go waging wars unless it is absolutely vital to our self-defense. It is unfair to the soldiers who had the courage to sign up, to send them out to war without having ever put yourself in their shoes. There is even a repository of notable Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who served and didn't serve. You'll be astonished at how many "neo-conservatives" had their patriotism displayed through bumper stickers instead of enlistment contracts.

A good compromise leaves everyone happy, a bad one; everyone mad

Well, thanks a ton, Lieberman and Friends. You've done a fine job taking away health insurance for millions of Americans AND giving the insurance companies some extra customers in the process. It's bad enough that we have Americans without insurance, but to make them criminals for not making enough money and forcing them to starve themselves so that they don't get sent to prison is insane. Your state opts out of the public option and you can't afford health insurance? Congratulations! You'll get to pay an addition 2.5% of your income in taxes! Now, if we had something sensible, such as SINGLE-PAYER, this would make sense. But, under the current law, if your state opts out on the public option, and you're too poor for insurance, you just got a a tax hike. Not to mention that you would effectively have to pay for a public option which you might not be able to afford, but that would probably be more affordable than private health insurance. So, Joe Lieberman, if you won't vote for anything with government-run health insurance, why do you allow YOURSELF to get government-run health insurance? Why not put your money where your mouth is any pay for private health insurance, considering the government is as scary as you portray it to be? Or maybe, you just want money from the insurance companies, considering you get more money from them than 75% of Senators. Corporations run the government by bribing lawmakers to get laws passed. I feel so much safer knowing we are effectively run by an unelected plutocracy. Which is, thanks to our unmeritocratic system of "success" in life, effectively inherited. Almost like a monarchy. The very thing our country revolted against...

Tea Party fanatics racist, paranoid

Socialist. Fascist. Communist. These are just a few of the things President Obama has been called by Tea Party attendees (popularly referred to as "Teabaggers"). While the left certainly criticized Bush, they made a clown out of him instead of dehumanizing him. I do believe that people who just criticize Obama are being patriotic by dissenting, but people who just make up LIES are just stupid. The most popular conspiracy theory is that Obama was secretly born in Kenya. Even the wacko WorldNetDaily has pronounced his birth certificate legitimate. According to a recent study, a whopping 35% of Republicans believe in this nonsense. In that same study, it was revealed that 8% of New Jerseyans believe that Obama is the Antichrist. The Antichrist. According to a recent chain mail, the Bible states that the Antichrist would be a man in his 40's of MUSLIM descent. Let's get out of Fantasyland and return to real life, here. The BIBLE couldn't say that a person was of MUSLIM descent, as ISLAM DID NOT EXIST UNTIL WELL OVER 600 YEARS AFTER the Bible was written. While there was a fringe group saying that Clinton killed Vince Foster, there has never been this large of a following (nor as many extreme theories). As former President Jimmy Carter said, "There seems to be a large Republican following who just cannot believe that they lost to someone who happens to be African-American". However, the Tea Party attendees insist they are not racist at all. If that's the case, then why are you guys so paranoid about Obama?