frankie's Journal: Dear Democratic Leader (a slightly different survey)

Weird, I just received the 2006 Grassroots Survey of Democratic Leaders from Howard Dean, and it's formatted almost identically to the multiple redundant Republican surveys I've received, right down to the same dollar choices in the contribution checkboxes. BTW, I haven't heard from the Repugs in a while; perhaps they finally flagged me in the database. And they still haven't cashed the various $0.02 checks I sent them.

However, there is a HUGE difference in the tone of questions and answers. The Republican surveys generally sounded like this:

Do you support President Bush's plan to protect American freedom with surveillance cameras in your bedroom?
( ) Yes, I love America.
( ) No, I want the terrorists to win.

Whereas the Democratic survey has (gasp!) two or more plausible answers for each question, like this one (verbatim):

When decisions about Social Security's future are being made what do you think is most important?
( ) Keeping Social Security as a program with a guaranteed monthly benefit.
( ) Allowing younger workers to decide for themselves how their Social Security contributions are invested.
( ) Both guaranteed benefits and investments are important.

Of course, the answers are still confined to the single axis defined by the duopoly. My preferred policy (in this example, reduce the COLA and allow Social Security to gradually fade away) doesn't even cross their minds.

Eh. I guess that's why I'm not a real "Democratic Leader" (or a registered Democrat at all, for that matter). Maybe I'll send a $2 check or something; they're probably easier to buy than the GOP is.

Cameras in my home

[nizo]

If I know that the leaders of our nation would be forced to look at the images from my house every day, I might think about allowing this. The ability to moon them from the comfort of my own home would be awesome.