As a Democrat I: 1. Do not feel guns are evil. I just think that semi-automatic and fully-automatic weapons are pointless for anybody outside of the military to own since you can’t legally hunt with them. 2. Do not feel rich people are evil. I just think they should have to pay the same amount of tax based upon their income as everybody else. 3. Realize that not everybody is born and raised in an environment where they will automatically be self-sufficient, therefore might need a little assistance from “their” country to get them on their feet and pointed in the right direction. 4. Am perfectly capable of making decisions of my own accord, thank you very much. But then again, maybe I wasn’t when I was a sophomore in college since we seem to have a couple individuals who think they really know what the “real” world is like, yet haven’t spent more than a year and a half away from their parents mind-set. 5. Don’t think it’s necessarily okay to kill babies with an abortion, yet I am intelligent enough to understand that it’s a decision I can’t make for somebody else. 6. Believe completely in freedom of religion, yet understand that republicans tend to want you to believe in the freedom of “their” religion over your own. 7. Do not believe tax cuts are evil but understand that running a country that’s good to its people costs money. 8. Am tuned in to the political world enough to know that EVERYBODY who is into politics contradicts themselves. `Tis the American way unfortunately. So, since I want to, I’ll feel free to vote for Al Gore in this next election because I know he’s going to uphold what I feel to be the closer of the two versions of our American values and traditions of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not the republican version on how to deal with the Native Americans back in the 18th and 19th century or the privileged white Anglo-Saxon way of having to feel just a little bit holier than others. And when push comes to shove, this has been “my” country longer than it has been yours Mr. Vrana. Don’t worry though, because there are lots of countries who openly oppress minorities that you can feel right at home. Angie Chipman

Senior

Psychology, history and secondary education