I am a fundamentalist conservative Christian, so here's my perspective:
I really don't care whether or not there is water or life or anything else on Mars. Whatever exists out there, I know God created it.
Now, I have never understood the reasoning behind arguments on non-salvation issues like water on Mars. I'm here to tell you: you can believe there are 20 billion Martian programmers whose jobs have been outsourced to Venus. The Bible is the plan for salvation. Christ is Lord and he is coming back soon. Believe in Him and have eternal life.
And please explain to me why John Kerry fucking his intern, even if it were 100% true, is important news?
Don't know, but CNN was very quick to run the story on the denial from the intern in question...
There was little media support for the war in Iraq - at least in television and print media. Ever notice how MSNBC and CNN all report on how many casualties occurred that day in Iraq? When have you heard them discuss how power and water levels in Iraq have been restored to pre-war levels. What about the great morale of the Afghanistan troops and how they are geared up to capture Osama now that Saddam has been jailed?
I do care about the economy. See that GDP number recently? I don't know about you, but my 401k added a huge chunk of change over the last year. The market is up 30%. The job market is soon to follow I believe. By the way, the recessionary trend started while Clinton was still in office.
Skyrocketing national deficit. This concerns me, yes, but I'd rather it get spent on defense than some program to provide free condoms and needles to reduce HIV infections or welfare programs.
entirely legal sexual encounter
Is adultery legal? Immoral I know. I guess his version of the Ten Commandments is pick five.
I think you underestimate the understanding of scientists.
I think scientists underestimate the power of God, but hey, the Bible says that in the last days scoffers will come - they will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, ungrateful, unholy...
I think these scientists need to look up every once-in-a-while and remember that even though they think they know everything, they really don't.
Why? So I can get the liberal slant on world affairs? Gee. No one except Drudge bothered to report on the purported John Kerry intern affair, but the media sure did report when the intern in question denied the charge.
Of course, no one can prove how old any of this is, so the 6000 year estimate is just as good as anyone else's, right? Wasn't there an article recently where some scientist(s) reformulated their estimate of the age of the universe - a difference of several billion years if I'm correct?
Now I don't agree with the 6,000 year theory but I do believe the Bible and the great deception of the end times. I don't know what that deception will be, but if God can create all this, He can surely let you think it took Him 13 billion years when in reality it took Him only six days.
Us folks left in the Amiga community are kinda hoping for something nice from Amiga. A few of us in the area have our own Amiga user group and have managed to have two demos of the OS4 in the last few months.
It's funny that many of the people who profess their religion don't abide by it in their daily lives.
For the record, I am a Christian.
You are absolutely correct. The Bible says that the road is broad and the gate is wide for entrance into hell but the gate is narrow into heaven. There are many people that profess, for example, to be Christians but few actually know what it is to be a Christian - or follow the lifestyle to be a Christian. It's very sad, actually, because some of these "professing" Christians are the ones that turn many non-Christians off to the one-and-only God, which is the direct opposite of what I am supposed to do as a Christian.
We are to show love, mercy and understanding - not hate and bigotry. If I tell someone they are going to hell because they are a practicing homosexual, that doesn't accomplish anything. If I lead them to understand that practicing homosexuality is a sin (as is gambling, murder, lying, stealing, adultery, etc., etc., etc) and to gain entrance into heaven they need to repent of their sins and accept Christ as their savior, I might gain a little ground.
The shockwaves that it would send through religion would be huge
Only for religions that believe humans (and Earth) are "chosen ones" to represent the "one true god". There are other religions that are much more open towards other forms of intelligent life (eg Buddhism).
If you're referring to Christianity, I don't see how it would send shockwaves. My Bible tells me that God created the heavens and the Earth.
Now from a personal perspective, I can believe the whole alien thing. I understand them to be the Nephilim or fallen angels - remember that 1/3 of the angels in Heaven were cast down with Lucifer.
So basicly God is planning a mass murder again? And you people want to spend eternity with him????
There are several stories in the bible in which God killed off entire cities and he's supposed to be the good guy? Guess I'll be taking my chances with the devil then.
Again, it's the choice of the people. People *choose* separation from God, not the other way around. God loves you whether you like it or not.
Here's one way I look at it: would you rather live in a mansion in a city whose streets are of gold, or would you rather be tortured endlessly for eternity?
Most REAL biblical scholars do not believe this refers to an acutal physical mark, but instead, to some sort of compulsion of behavior or thought.
Can you give me a few of their names? All of the Bible scholars I've ever read have viewed this as a physical mark. Then again, I could say that any REAL Biblical scholar would interpret the Bible literally, not metaphorically.
Unfortunately, I think many Christians today would accept it if Ashcroft approves of it.
I agree with your statement. Just because this is a "conservative" administration (in name only, IMHO) people tend to just go along with whatever is done.
I vehemently disapprove of the Patriot Act and all these homeland security measures. Why should my personal freedoms be eroded because of a terrorist? We as a country have let them win.
So only 144,000 celibate men are being saved, so I doubt many are in a rush to hurry things along.
The 144,000 men are the 12,000 members of the 12 tribes of Israel used to spread the Gospel around the world during the tribulation. They have the mark of Christ.
I am against the death penalty because one of the Ten Commandments is "thou shall not kill". Same applies for euthanasia.
One more point on the 144,000 saved: the Bible says the road is wide but the gate is narrow for salvation. There are six billion people on this earth. If ONLY 144,000 are saved during the Tribulation, why put off salvation? The gate is indeed narrow.
And what happened to all the people who died *before* Christ and didn't even know about him? Are they all burning in hell from being born at the wrong time?
Nope.
As you probably know, there is more than one level of Hell. Those that died before the birth of Christ were sent to one level. After the death and resurrection of Christ, He went there to retrieve those sent there and take them to Heaven.
In all honesty, the one thing that many people (including myself at one point in my past) fail to realize is that God doesn't want to punish anyone. It's a choice and time is growing nearer when people have to stop riding the fence. It's a black-and-white decision: accept Christ and have a mansion in Heaven or not. Being a good person/helping the old lady across the street/never killed anyone doesn't cut the mustard. Christianity is not a works-based religion (contrary to the belief of some cultic variations of my religion). It is only by the acceptance of Christ as your savior that salvation is attained.
What happens to people that are born days or even hours before the end of the world then?
The Bible refers to something called the age of accountability - it's the age at which (and all people are different) one is able to discern right from wrong. Pre-age-of-accountability = no worries.
Has a single prediction fortold in either that or the bible come true yet?
Actually, the Bible foretold of the coming of the Savior in the Old Testament. The Savior did arrive in the form of Jesus Christ. Hence, we have the new testament.
The Bible foretold of the flood. It happened and Noah and his family were saved to repopulate the world.
The Bible foretold of the resurrection of Christ after three days. This, too, came to pass.
Nostradamus was a false prophet as is anyone who makes a prediction that does not come to pass.
The word "anti-Christ" does not appear anywhere in Revelation.
True. He's referred to as the beast, or more specifically, the first beast.
The word "rapture" isn't in the Bible, either, but it's a future event.
Revelation is not about the anti-Christ. Revelation does not mention the anti-Christ. Try again, please.
Just because something doesn't explicitly mention something means that it has no connection? There have been plenty of songs written that never mentioned the subject but inferred it.
It appears only in John's letters, and there in the plural ("antichrists", referring to anyone who is not Christian).
Actually, 1 John 3:18 (NIV) specifically reads, "Dear Children, this is the last hour; and as you heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour."
John continues to write in 1 John 3:26, "I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray." There have always been unbelievers. Do all unbelievers try to lead you astray? Not necessarily. I understand this to mean unbelievers that try to lead one away from the Word. David Koresh. Jim Jones. The Hale-Bopp-Comet-is-coming-with-a-UFO-behind-it guy.
Uh, guys? Revelations was a metaphor for the fall of Rome. Seven hills, etc. Rome and its evil sway over the land of Israel was all the Jews cared about back in the first century.
Since to write about the fall of Rome was a one-way ticket to death by torture, political writings were dressed in metaphorical language that couldn't easily be read as traitorous. John of course mixed his religion with politics, but I don't think he meant it to be read like the writings of Nostradamus. Hell, Revelations almost didn't make the cut into the New Testament.
It was? Since when did Christ return to earth and start a 1,000 year period of peace, throw the anti-Christ, Satan and the unbelievers into the Lake of Fire? My money is still on Revelations being future-telling. The second coming is, well, coming...
The number of his name - that's your credit card number, above your name, right? The "name of the beast" - some formm of recognised ID with a corporate/government name on it? Sorry, fundies, you're too late - its already happened. Any attempt at a cashless society would appear to trigger this verse.
The Bible continues to say that the number of his (the anti-Christ) name is 666. I don't think it's the credit card number above your name.
So fundamentalists should abhor all banking and inist on cash transactions only (which avoids the usury the bible goes on about as well). In fact, notes have serial numbers and the "name of the beast" - the government - on them. So coins only. Cpuld make life difficult in this modern world.
Those who accept the mark will KNOWINGLY be pledging allegiance to the anti-Christ. I personally have nothing against technological advances. Believe me, though: no one will be fooled into taking the mark. All who take it will know to whom their allegiance lies.
which avoids the usury the bible goes on about as well
There's no point to forcing a cash-only society. The future has already been written. It's just a matter of time before it comes to pass.
Yes, this does bear a similarity to the Biblical reference to the mark of the beast.
The mark will be in/on the right hand or the forehead and no one will be able to buy or sell without it. Anyone taking the mark will be consciously pledging allegiance to the anti-Christ and will have subsequently and irreversably chosen their destination after death.
I am guessing you are trying to pin CNN as liberal. CNN has been the target of conservatives for years since it refuses to carry programming like Fox or MSNBC (which has added Scarborough Country) and is the leading news media outlet. I guess you can say CNN is trying to be the true "Fair and Balanced" news outlet rather than spreading misinformation for political parties. Again, can you give proof that CNN is liberal?
Actually, I can prove that CNN, Fox News and MSNBC are ALL liberal. Let me not pick just on CNN...
Remember that "comatose" Terri Schiavo lady in Florida whose husband was trying to get her feeding tube removed? The right-to-die husband? Anyway, I did a little experiment on whether the three aforementioned news organizations leaned left or right. I did a search for the word "comatose" in each of the news articles about Ms. Schiavo. All three news agencies reported her as being "comatose" when, in fact, this woman is not comatose (in a persistent, vegatative-like state), but rather in an awake, responsive and alert state of being. This is hardly an angle that a "fair-and-balanced" or a right-wing news organization would take.
Secondly, to further prove my point that the three major news organizations offer liberal slant, just listen to the latest on Iraq. What do you hear? Another soldier dead in Iraq, right? Another bomb explodes or another rocket-propelled grenade kills one or more. How about reporting on how Iraq now has pre-war levels of electricity, water and sanitation that was provided by the US and her allies? But I guess they're used to reporting on conflict - even Clinton threw around some missles halfway around the world to draw attention away from his charge of infidelity.
On a side note, presidential hopeful Howard Dean spoke in Texas earlier this week. He accused the current national administration of "morally bankrupting" our country. Last I checked, Clinton wasn't in office any more...
Regarding Rush Limbaugh, I do not advocate the use of drugs and I do think he should be investigated. If proof is found that he did indeed obtain these prescription drugs illegally, he should be dealt with through the court system. Funny, though, I feel that if this were someone like Clinton or Gore, the Dems would just want to give him a slap on the wrist and say, "bad boy". You know the Dems love creating social programs to "help" those who need it.
No, the surplus was real.
It was? How can a projected anything be real? You've got to be kidding me. If Hillary had gotten away with her communist national healthcare plan, the democrats couldn't have even projected a surplus, much less achieve one.
Democrats: Tax more than you spend.
Republicans: Spend more than you tax.
Then why tax more than you're going to spend? You and me and the rest of this country pay for those people in Washington. So you'd rather THEM have the money than you? You think they know how to better spend your money than you do? Oh, yes, Social Security is a wonderful thing. Force me to pay into a retirement fund that I won't collect more than $255 from if I die before retirement age. Yeah, that's fair.
I prefer a president that is socially conservative rather than a fiscal conservative, but I don't believe I'll see that in my lifetime.
Slashdot Mirror
I am a fundamentalist conservative Christian, so here's my perspective:
I really don't care whether or not there is water or life or anything else on Mars. Whatever exists out there, I know God created it.
Now, I have never understood the reasoning behind arguments on non-salvation issues like water on Mars. I'm here to tell you: you can believe there are 20 billion Martian programmers whose jobs have been outsourced to Venus. The Bible is the plan for salvation. Christ is Lord and he is coming back soon. Believe in Him and have eternal life.
And please explain to me why John Kerry fucking his intern, even if it were 100% true, is important news?
Don't know, but CNN was very quick to run the story on the denial from the intern in question...
There was little media support for the war in Iraq - at least in television and print media. Ever notice how MSNBC and CNN all report on how many casualties occurred that day in Iraq? When have you heard them discuss how power and water levels in Iraq have been restored to pre-war levels. What about the great morale of the Afghanistan troops and how they are geared up to capture Osama now that Saddam has been jailed?
I do care about the economy. See that GDP number recently? I don't know about you, but my 401k added a huge chunk of change over the last year. The market is up 30%. The job market is soon to follow I believe. By the way, the recessionary trend started while Clinton was still in office.
Skyrocketing national deficit. This concerns me, yes, but I'd rather it get spent on defense than some program to provide free condoms and needles to reduce HIV infections or welfare programs.
entirely legal sexual encounter
Is adultery legal? Immoral I know. I guess his version of the Ten Commandments is pick five.
As usual, the conservatives are behind the times.
As usual, the conservatives tell the truth.
I'd rather have a true conservative, but I guess I'll take GWB anytime over the left.
I think you underestimate the understanding of scientists.
I think scientists underestimate the power of God, but hey, the Bible says that in the last days scoffers will come - they will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, ungrateful, unholy...
I think these scientists need to look up every once-in-a-while and remember that even though they think they know everything, they really don't.
Hint: Read a newspaper every now and then.
Why? So I can get the liberal slant on world affairs? Gee. No one except Drudge bothered to report on the purported John Kerry intern affair, but the media sure did report when the intern in question denied the charge.
Oh, but there's no media bias.
I don't believe it's deceiving. I believe it's the limits of human understanding.
Of course, no one can prove how old any of this is, so the 6000 year estimate is just as good as anyone else's, right? Wasn't there an article recently where some scientist(s) reformulated their estimate of the age of the universe - a difference of several billion years if I'm correct?
Now I don't agree with the 6,000 year theory but I do believe the Bible and the great deception of the end times. I don't know what that deception will be, but if God can create all this, He can surely let you think it took Him 13 billion years when in reality it took Him only six days.
Us folks left in the Amiga community are kinda hoping for something nice from Amiga. A few of us in the area have our own Amiga user group and have managed to have two demos of the OS4 in the last few months.
Keep you fingers crossed.
It's funny that many of the people who profess their religion don't abide by it in their daily lives.
For the record, I am a Christian.
You are absolutely correct. The Bible says that the road is broad and the gate is wide for entrance into hell but the gate is narrow into heaven. There are many people that profess, for example, to be Christians but few actually know what it is to be a Christian - or follow the lifestyle to be a Christian. It's very sad, actually, because some of these "professing" Christians are the ones that turn many non-Christians off to the one-and-only God, which is the direct opposite of what I am supposed to do as a Christian.
We are to show love, mercy and understanding - not hate and bigotry. If I tell someone they are going to hell because they are a practicing homosexual, that doesn't accomplish anything. If I lead them to understand that practicing homosexuality is a sin (as is gambling, murder, lying, stealing, adultery, etc., etc., etc) and to gain entrance into heaven they need to repent of their sins and accept Christ as their savior, I might gain a little ground.
Michael
The shockwaves that it would send through religion would be huge Only for religions that believe humans (and Earth) are "chosen ones" to represent the "one true god". There are other religions that are much more open towards other forms of intelligent life (eg Buddhism).
If you're referring to Christianity, I don't see how it would send shockwaves. My Bible tells me that God created the heavens and the Earth.
Now from a personal perspective, I can believe the whole alien thing. I understand them to be the Nephilim or fallen angels - remember that 1/3 of the angels in Heaven were cast down with Lucifer.
Yup. I agree 100%. Wow. A true conservative on Slashdot. An anomoly. Welcome to my friends list!
So basicly God is planning a mass murder again? And you people want to spend eternity with him???? There are several stories in the bible in which God killed off entire cities and he's supposed to be the good guy? Guess I'll be taking my chances with the devil then.
Again, it's the choice of the people. People *choose* separation from God, not the other way around. God loves you whether you like it or not.
Here's one way I look at it: would you rather live in a mansion in a city whose streets are of gold, or would you rather be tortured endlessly for eternity?
That web page is hooey.
The Bible speaks of a beast SEPARATE from Satan in Revelation. How can the beast be Satan when they are two separate people?
Most REAL biblical scholars do not believe this refers to an acutal physical mark, but instead, to some sort of compulsion of behavior or thought.
Can you give me a few of their names? All of the Bible scholars I've ever read have viewed this as a physical mark. Then again, I could say that any REAL Biblical scholar would interpret the Bible literally, not metaphorically.
Unfortunately, I think many Christians today would accept it if Ashcroft approves of it.
I agree with your statement. Just because this is a "conservative" administration (in name only, IMHO) people tend to just go along with whatever is done.
I vehemently disapprove of the Patriot Act and all these homeland security measures. Why should my personal freedoms be eroded because of a terrorist? We as a country have let them win.
So only 144,000 celibate men are being saved, so I doubt many are in a rush to hurry things along.
The 144,000 men are the 12,000 members of the 12 tribes of Israel used to spread the Gospel around the world during the tribulation. They have the mark of Christ.
I am against the death penalty because one of the Ten Commandments is "thou shall not kill". Same applies for euthanasia.
One more point on the 144,000 saved: the Bible says the road is wide but the gate is narrow for salvation. There are six billion people on this earth. If ONLY 144,000 are saved during the Tribulation, why put off salvation? The gate is indeed narrow.
And what happened to all the people who died *before* Christ and didn't even know about him? Are they all burning in hell from being born at the wrong time?
Nope.
As you probably know, there is more than one level of Hell. Those that died before the birth of Christ were sent to one level. After the death and resurrection of Christ, He went there to retrieve those sent there and take them to Heaven.
In all honesty, the one thing that many people (including myself at one point in my past) fail to realize is that God doesn't want to punish anyone. It's a choice and time is growing nearer when people have to stop riding the fence. It's a black-and-white decision: accept Christ and have a mansion in Heaven or not. Being a good person/helping the old lady across the street/never killed anyone doesn't cut the mustard. Christianity is not a works-based religion (contrary to the belief of some cultic variations of my religion). It is only by the acceptance of Christ as your savior that salvation is attained.
What happens to people that are born days or even hours before the end of the world then?
The Bible refers to something called the age of accountability - it's the age at which (and all people are different) one is able to discern right from wrong. Pre-age-of-accountability = no worries.
Yes. You're welcome to the laptop whose keys have been ripped off by my dogs. :)
Has a single prediction fortold in either that or the bible come true yet? Actually, the Bible foretold of the coming of the Savior in the Old Testament. The Savior did arrive in the form of Jesus Christ. Hence, we have the new testament.
The Bible foretold of the flood. It happened and Noah and his family were saved to repopulate the world.
The Bible foretold of the resurrection of Christ after three days. This, too, came to pass.
Nostradamus was a false prophet as is anyone who makes a prediction that does not come to pass.
The word "anti-Christ" does not appear anywhere in Revelation.
True. He's referred to as the beast, or more specifically, the first beast.
The word "rapture" isn't in the Bible, either, but it's a future event.
Revelation is not about the anti-Christ. Revelation does not mention the anti-Christ. Try again, please.
Just because something doesn't explicitly mention something means that it has no connection? There have been plenty of songs written that never mentioned the subject but inferred it.
It appears only in John's letters, and there in the plural ("antichrists", referring to anyone who is not Christian).
Actually, 1 John 3:18 (NIV) specifically reads, "Dear Children, this is the last hour; and as you heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour."
John continues to write in 1 John 3:26, "I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray." There have always been unbelievers. Do all unbelievers try to lead you astray? Not necessarily. I understand this to mean unbelievers that try to lead one away from the Word. David Koresh. Jim Jones. The Hale-Bopp-Comet-is-coming-with-a-UFO-behind-it guy.
Uh, guys? Revelations was a metaphor for the fall of Rome. Seven hills, etc. Rome and its evil sway over the land of Israel was all the Jews cared about back in the first century. Since to write about the fall of Rome was a one-way ticket to death by torture, political writings were dressed in metaphorical language that couldn't easily be read as traitorous. John of course mixed his religion with politics, but I don't think he meant it to be read like the writings of Nostradamus. Hell, Revelations almost didn't make the cut into the New Testament. It was? Since when did Christ return to earth and start a 1,000 year period of peace, throw the anti-Christ, Satan and the unbelievers into the Lake of Fire? My money is still on Revelations being future-telling. The second coming is, well, coming...
The number of his name - that's your credit card number, above your name, right? The "name of the beast" - some formm of recognised ID with a corporate/government name on it? Sorry, fundies, you're too late - its already happened. Any attempt at a cashless society would appear to trigger this verse.
The Bible continues to say that the number of his (the anti-Christ) name is 666. I don't think it's the credit card number above your name.
So fundamentalists should abhor all banking and inist on cash transactions only (which avoids the usury the bible goes on about as well). In fact, notes have serial numbers and the "name of the beast" - the government - on them. So coins only. Cpuld make life difficult in this modern world.
Those who accept the mark will KNOWINGLY be pledging allegiance to the anti-Christ. I personally have nothing against technological advances. Believe me, though: no one will be fooled into taking the mark. All who take it will know to whom their allegiance lies.
which avoids the usury the bible goes on about as well
There's no point to forcing a cash-only society. The future has already been written. It's just a matter of time before it comes to pass.
Yes, this does bear a similarity to the Biblical reference to the mark of the beast.
The mark will be in/on the right hand or the forehead and no one will be able to buy or sell without it. Anyone taking the mark will be consciously pledging allegiance to the anti-Christ and will have subsequently and irreversably chosen their destination after death.
I am guessing you are trying to pin CNN as liberal. CNN has been the target of conservatives for years since it refuses to carry programming like Fox or MSNBC (which has added Scarborough Country) and is the leading news media outlet. I guess you can say CNN is trying to be the true "Fair and Balanced" news outlet rather than spreading misinformation for political parties. Again, can you give proof that CNN is liberal?
Actually, I can prove that CNN, Fox News and MSNBC are ALL liberal. Let me not pick just on CNN...
Remember that "comatose" Terri Schiavo lady in Florida whose husband was trying to get her feeding tube removed? The right-to-die husband? Anyway, I did a little experiment on whether the three aforementioned news organizations leaned left or right. I did a search for the word "comatose" in each of the news articles about Ms. Schiavo. All three news agencies reported her as being "comatose" when, in fact, this woman is not comatose (in a persistent, vegatative-like state), but rather in an awake, responsive and alert state of being. This is hardly an angle that a "fair-and-balanced" or a right-wing news organization would take.
Secondly, to further prove my point that the three major news organizations offer liberal slant, just listen to the latest on Iraq. What do you hear? Another soldier dead in Iraq, right? Another bomb explodes or another rocket-propelled grenade kills one or more. How about reporting on how Iraq now has pre-war levels of electricity, water and sanitation that was provided by the US and her allies? But I guess they're used to reporting on conflict - even Clinton threw around some missles halfway around the world to draw attention away from his charge of infidelity.
On a side note, presidential hopeful Howard Dean spoke in Texas earlier this week. He accused the current national administration of "morally bankrupting" our country. Last I checked, Clinton wasn't in office any more...
Regarding Rush Limbaugh, I do not advocate the use of drugs and I do think he should be investigated. If proof is found that he did indeed obtain these prescription drugs illegally, he should be dealt with through the court system. Funny, though, I feel that if this were someone like Clinton or Gore, the Dems would just want to give him a slap on the wrist and say, "bad boy". You know the Dems love creating social programs to "help" those who need it.
No, the surplus was real.
It was? How can a projected anything be real? You've got to be kidding me. If Hillary had gotten away with her communist national healthcare plan, the democrats couldn't have even projected a surplus, much less achieve one.
Democrats: Tax more than you spend. Republicans: Spend more than you tax.
Then why tax more than you're going to spend? You and me and the rest of this country pay for those people in Washington. So you'd rather THEM have the money than you? You think they know how to better spend your money than you do? Oh, yes, Social Security is a wonderful thing. Force me to pay into a retirement fund that I won't collect more than $255 from if I die before retirement age. Yeah, that's fair.
I prefer a president that is socially conservative rather than a fiscal conservative, but I don't believe I'll see that in my lifetime.