the more important issues in this election are

domestic:

jobs
medical coverage
prescription drug costs

foreign:

how to extricate from iraq before any more military people get killed.
how to untarnish our image with countries that have always been our allies.
and loosly quoting sun tsu, get more spies and learn what is going to happen before it does.

olease add your own ideas.

If we're just blue-skying ...

Social Security - Fix it right or abolish it.
Tax code - See above.
The out of control mega millions lottery known as civil law suits.

Doubt either candidate will do squat with any of these, but they're important issues to ME.

Rick, I finally (kinda) agree with you!

the more important issues in this election are

domestic:

the economy (jobs are a component and we are currently in the middle of one of the biggest economic recoveries in the last 20 years.)
medical coverage (tort reform is the single biggest measure that will bring down medical costs and make coverage more affordable for all Americans.)
prescription drug costs (an issue we need to address, not fair to sell far cheaper in Canada and Mexico.)
but... your forgot
border security
illegal aliens
outsourcing of jobs and what incentives (tax) should be offerred to keep jobs in the USA.

foreign:

how to extricate from iraq before any more military people get killed.
(I would reword this to read:
Come up with a finite plan to achieve our goal of a democratic Iraq including time line for our continued security and training of Iraq police and military which will likely be at least ten years.)
how to untarnish our image with countries that have always been our allies.
(I would reword this to read:
How to hold our historic allies accountable for their illegal dealings with a country which was under U. N. Sanctions and to which they sold over 500,000 tons of military hardware in the last ten years.) [I can provide you with the source of these figures if you're interested.] (I would also add that we need to hold our historical allies accountable for contributing like amounts to the world organizations we support such as the U. N., AIDS research in Africa, etc.)

and loosly quoting sun tsu, get more spies and learn what is going to happen before it does. (I prefer quoting sun tsu where he says get more spies and kill your enemy by stealth before he has the opportunity to implement his plan).

Just my humble ideas.

Cheers,

grond

I just wish OBM could meet John Kerry. That would end all of this nasty misundrstanding in the Middle East. Can't we all just get along?

domestic:

jobs
medical coverage/prescription drug costs

foreign:

realistic plan to hand over more power to the sovreign nation of iraq, extraction over time of US troops -- other nations can help take over for this time as well

DEFINE who our allies are NOW (not just historically -- some lines may have shifted). once allies doesn't mean always allies, and some of our so-called allies have acted as anything but.

more intelligence agents doing more cooperative work within SEAMLESS agencies where such info is able to be shared without bureaucratic b.s. we need some serious housecleaning done in the intel agencies with more accountability to this country than to pulling strings to keep cousin jim from losing his job with the feds.

US needs to adopt a more isolationist stance in the form of sealing its borders. we do not need to be at the beck and call of every country in the world -- especially those hostile to us while we feed them.

to "domestic" i'd also add education and the teaching that with the rights of freedom come responsibilities.

also: MUCH more emphasis on the FreedomCorps program. i signed up after bush introduced it in a speech -- i'm still waiting for the group to be formed.

Domestic: These parties should discuss banning abortion as it is a serious violation of human rights.
More attention should be focused on educational funding as well.

Foreign affairs: Well you never do anything to please another for the sake of pleasing them. I must agree though the President has put the American government at greater distance from foreign governments.

Both parties fail the litmus test of human rights and foreign parties don't qualify for this either. Germany and Poland maybe. It seems evident that we are in the dark ages of human rights. Addressing this problem will be the point that unifies the global community.

Human rights!

I would say the first people that need to be educated would be these murderous, raging, lunatics who keep murdering men, women and children. Beheadings appear to the be the norm when it comes to Islmaic extremists and they are not a part of the global community. How do we address their violations of human rights? Can the U. N. sanction them?? Can the world unite and fight these people. Hell no! You've got Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia and scores of other countries aiding these guys.

It's just a fact that unless we Americans are willing to subject ourselves to the EU, we'll never be looked upon as anything but an Imperialistic aggressor. When we comment on the EU's need to welcome new members, we're told to bugger off and mind our own business but then its okay for Chirac and company to comment on Mexico, South America, etc.

Crappers people.... we gotta start some deep thinking to understand and determine how we can beat these guys. I'm afraid its going to come down to us rolling up our sleeves and behaving in ways that we normally find abhorent. It's either that or simply kiss our way of life adios.

Cheers,

grond

To me everything is close be being irrelevant without good National Security. In my opinion everything else is secondary.