2008 is an election year in America. There is an easy way to tell this, and it isn't watching the news. You simply watch the Democrat and Republican supporters in message boards.

I thought I had seen it all 4 years ago. The sheer passion that was expressed then by people while supporting their candidates was something to behold. This year, however, there are still 2 months to go before the election and already things are getting very heated. I'll be honest, what I've been reading is creeping up towards hate. That is not healthy, people!

It is also something I am not familiar with. It certainly isn't something that happens over in this country. Sure, people are critical of politicians, and yes, that criticism is often along party lines. However, it is never as strong as what we see during Presidential campaigns in America.

You see, over here, when we have an election, there is increased talk about politics. People discuss it and exchange views. However, once the election is over, people get on with their lives, regardless of who won. One way or another, whoever is in charge, things work.

What we see from the American public is people that loathe other people, for little reason other than they are on the wrong side. If having a country that is split solely down political lines rather than the interests of the country is the price of being the "Greatest Nation on Earth", then you can keep it.

I'd much rather have a mediocre country where things work and get done.

The fact is, given the horrors of the past eight years of the Bush-Cheney presidency, the attempted destruction of our constitution, the approval of torture, the outing of a covert CIA agent to punish her husband for telling the truth, the secret energy conferences, the decisions always made behind closed doors, the wretched economy, fiddling while Rome (Neew Orleans) burns (floods), the lives lost and the casualties taken in a useless and unnecessary war, the cronyism, the administration growing rich off war profiteering, the erosion of civil liberties, the warantless telephone tapping and monitoring of our internet posts and emails, the trashing through favored news outlets of those who disagree with them, and so many other things, make this election the most important one of our lives.

The future of America as a great nation and world leader hangs in the balance, and that's probably why we're all so het up.

How can you not hate someone who listens to your phone conversations because they feel like it, and who uses fear tactics based upon outright lies to get your vote?

That's not business as usual, that's fascism.

Personally, I'm against fascism. You?

The thing is, though, I would bet my house on a Republican firstly describing the opening paragraph of your post as "frothing at the mouth", and secondly provide instances during the Clinton years that they would claim was detrimental to the country.

Over here, we currently have a struggling economy, a stretched, under-funding and under-equiped military, a piss-poor health service full of superbugs, pensioners and disabled people likely to either freeze or starve over the winter, jails full to bursting, knife crime going through the roof and councils more interested in how to fine people for over-filling dustbims than fixing real problems.

However, if you were to ask a Conservative supporter, the strongest response would likely be "The Government is incomptent and needs replacing". If debating issues with a Labour supporter, the issue would less-likely be about the party affiliation and more about the actual issue. It damned well wouldn't involve such phrase as "You liberals" or "Spoken like a true Neo-con".

Sorry you feel that way, but here the stakes are high, and since we consider ourselves the leader of the free world we have to make sure we're going in the right direction otherwise we won't be the leader for long.

Also our very lives are at stake, because if people keep losing their houses,jobs, and their lives in useless wars, our nation as we know it will become history, and would become another fallen empire with the rest.

Rush Limbaugh has said, "Liberalism is a mental disorder." He is so right. So right. There isn't a forum at Fool Moon that is safe from the ravages of Obsessive Compulsive Bush Bashing Disorder.

The calm, rational voice of neo-conservatism, coupled with psychiatric diagnosis by someone unqualified to make such judgments..

Yes, they would, but that's their boilerplate reply to any disagreement with their views. As I've often pointed out, text messages can be read with a variety of emotions, and as such, the "foaming" responses of the neocons, heard endlessly on these boards, is useless.

And pointing to what they consider Clinton's mistakes is equally useless, since even if true, two wrongs don't make right, and Clinton is not our President any longer. Bush had eight years to fix those things, and if neocons are still bitching about it, it means he fixed nothing.

In the UK, the PM faces the house of commons on a regular basis and is grilled strongly, sometimes viciously, about his ideas, his plans, and his policies. Can you imagine George Bush facing Congress in the same fashion?

Really!

Which forums are safe from Liberal-bashing Disorder, Ray? Shall I put you in charge of making sure we get some of those, effective 11 years ago?

Well, golly. Here's the latest example from the Sci-Tech forums benignly titled Stewards of the Earth. It is nothing more than a political rant motivated by the recent Republican vice presidential choice. Now, if someone, oh say like me, actually suffered from "Liberal-Bashing Disorder" then that I probably couldn't have resisted the compulsion to answer such a clearly political ad. But I didn't. I know that the Science Forums, just like the Religious Forums are safe havens for liberal political opinion.

However, since you're interested, I'll be glad to note the next time one of the "non-political" forums is used for partisan political postings and bring it to your attention.

You're welcome.

I viewed the post in question, Ray, and it seems like a post about environmental issues to me. Simply because it mentions a political figure does not make it a political post. The posts asks why "cruel" methods of aeral hunting are being used to kill wolves that some consider to be pests and others consider to be endangered and hard to replace links in the ecosystem. Why are you reading a so-called "bash" into that, and why do you expect me to give further "heads-up' notifications of this sort any credence when you call false alarms of this nature? You may feel embarrassed that this political figure has taken this stance, but the post itself is completely neutral and only outlines an issue and asks why a state government is supporting what the poster thinks is the wrong side of the issue -- no "bashing" in sight.

Please don't "cry wolf" in the future.