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Of course I do. So do many others. Are you aware that there are many organizations that are boycotting Mississippi because they refuse to remove the confederacy symbol from their state flag???

Boycotts= lost conventions, lost tourism, lost dollars.

Flying the symbol of slavery (let's not kid ourselves about advancing southern "culture") is viewed by many as no better than flying the Swastika....The confederate battle flag to Black Americans is the symbol of slavery, lynchings, and segregated public facilities. It is a symbol of bigotry and hate.

All it shows is the stark divide in this country. Many from each side have decided the only way to be heard is to yell louder than the other. And it's very sad from three perspectives.

First, it should be noted each side of this shrill debate has legitimate arguments. There is a great deal of common sense left in America, but all we hear now are the extremes. Not productive.

Second, and most troubling to me, is we seem to have taken the eye off the ball. We face enormous challenges and the "just say no" stance will kill us...from both sides.

The third is the most dangerous, and for me (as a republican) the most important to counteract. It is the notion that the GOP can survive doing business as usual. It can't. You can't stop demographics. The warning signs are already there. Arizona's attempt at marginalizing gay people in a business environment was met with a swift corporate slap and backfired badly. Attempted voter ID laws in my home state of Pennsylvania backfired badly. They really pissed off a lot of people and (in my opinion) cost Romney the election by driving piles of people to the polls to spite the attempt. It is also why our GOP governor will lose his re-election. Medicaid adoption by many states has officially ended the debate about single payer systems...because now the majority is on single payer and there is no turning back. And the rest of states that refused are now all falling into line.

The clock is ticking. In order for the opinions of this important portion of the population to be impactful, compromise must start.

Being tone deaf is dangerous as Mr. Cruz will shortly learn with his astonishing gambit of trying to sell off federal lands. Suddenly another "rising star" will crash and burn, leaving corporate America to select their next set of cronies to do their bidding. It doesn't matter to them whether they come as a democrat or republican. Money talks...and we all lose.

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Since President Obama was elected no new major wars have been initiated. This is what the majority of Americans want and why we elected President Obama to be commander in chief. After the Bush-Cheney war crimes, the body bags coming home to Dover AFB, and the trashing of our treasury, the nation said enough to the chickenhawk war pimps who would bleed their fellow citizens dry to advance their defense stock portfolios (Cheney).

You want to spill blood? You put your own damn boots on the ground and sure as hell not those of your neighbors' children.

Go buy a one way ticket to Bagdad...Send us all a postcard. I hear Iraq is quite beautiful in the fall.