So what would you call it? Liberal or conservative?

Spoken like a confused and angry little boy.

As a white, umpteenth-generation Appalachian, I find your presumption that I'm a person of color rather revealing.

You will never hear me defend the continuation of the Patriot Act (just as I will never hear you take responsibility for electing it's authors/sponsors), nor will you hear me defend the so-called "defense" bill that effectively ended what remained of the Bill of Rights last Thursday.

As for "going after Americans"... Yes, you're right... He HAS continued this unforgivable interpretation of plenary powers... Continued them from the administration that first dared to claim them: The bush/cheney administration. Padilla ring a bell? No? Regardless of his merits as a man, he was/is an American citizen, and if we let them take him then they can take any of us at any time, for any reason - or none. It was the bush administration that first pushed the offensive and deeply un-American view that 'we' should declare the entire world to be a "battlefield in the war on terror". THAT is the position from which these egregious powers stem. Conceived of by republicans, written by republicans. Were you concerned about these powers at the time they were first abused, or did your alarm happen to coincide with a Democrat taking office? I oppose them regardless of whether or not there's a 'd' or an 'r' after the President's name... Sadly, the same usually can't be said for those on the political "right". Same for Gitmo. Same for illegal assassination by predator drone. Personally, I think treaties mean something... They are our nation's word of honor. Whether it's a private citizen or our government...If you don't intend to keep your word, you shouldn't give it.

I vote for Democrats because the alternative is profoundly worse, not because I think they do a particularly spectacular job, or because I believe that corporate America isn't pulling their strings. You on the right talk Constitution, but you're the last to defend it sincerely... From bringing us the Patriot Act, to constantly assailing a woman's right to have autonomy over her own body, to anti-drug laws that long ago destroyed the 4th amendment, to secret illegal spying on all of our private communications (something Obama has continued, to his eternal shame), to 'papers please' voting restrictions, to the total deregulation of every industry across the board (Fukashima, anyone? Coming soon to your backyard!), republican legislation of the past 40 years has been consistently, nightmarishly un-American and incalculably damaging to the present/future of this country.

Your misrepresentation (or misunderstanding) of the message of the Occupy movement is typical, and hardly something I will be able to correct here. Suffice to say, it has nothing to do with "gimme gimme" and everything to do with restoring the balance of economic/class power in the United States. That you fail to recognize this, and would likely oppose it even if you understood it's intentions, says everything about who you are as a 'man'.

As is often the case with those on the "right", you invent strawmen, mischaracterize your opposition, and then proceed to attack your creations with fervent gusto. The rightwing rank-and-file, as individuals, rarely know any real details of the issues they claim concern them most, preferring instead to assail boogeymen of their own invention ('There's people driving from welfare office to welfare office in Limos!! And they're all black, and dressed like pimps from a 70's blaxploitation movie!!'). It's easy, and you never have to back up anything you say with facts. If you're too lazy to inform yourself, what's not to like?

And yes, "goatbut", corporations are bad. Or, rather, the carte blanche power we've allowed them to purchase is bad. That power grants them far too much control of the legislative process, protects them from any real responsibility for their actions (both as an entity and as involved individuals), and has allowed them to gut the manufacturing base of this country in service of their own personal financial gain. Regardless of what poorly informed Fox/Rush-brainwashed laissez-faire kamikazes like yourself may think, the financial interests of the wealthiest Americans are directly at odds with the interests of the vast, overwhelming majority of the country. Y'know... The American People? Remember them?

We are, empirically, living in the second gilded age.

The sooner people like you... the people whose opinions are informed almost exclusively their by emotions & personal prejudices... the people who drench themselves in hard-right propaganda / opinion sellers like Fox "News" (the only news outlet known to have gone to court to defend their right to lie to their audience... in FLA... look it up) and Rush Limbaugh... The sooner people like you stop sneering and/or pounding the table in anger and actually inform yourselves, the sooner we'll begin to deliver on the chance afforded us by the work and sacrifice of the Founders (and others, innumerable).

You are a serf, "goatbut"... A serf that spends his days hating his fellow citizens for a wide variety of absurd personal reasons ('Dang hippies!!'), while defending to the death the right of your baronial masters to export your job to China or exploit your labor right here in the States, all while rewriting the laws and Constitution of this country to benefit their bottom line.

You don't know what you're talking about, "goatbut".

You've abdicated your responsibilities as a citizen of a free country... As a citizen of this country.

All the wars, all the sacrifice, all the work... All of them meaningless to you, except in name, because you care only for imagined ideology and nothing for the truth. If the sacrifices and toil of tens of millions of Americans meant one iota to you, you'd take the time to read beyond the headlines, and you'd already know that the politicians you personally support are handing the laws and resources of this great country over to the wealthy class hand over fist. They are the personal representatives of thieving plutocrats, and you turn out in droves to support them based on personal prejudice, lies, half-truths, misrepresentations, and the exploitation of your religious beliefs.

In my opinion, you represent the worst kind of citizen this country produces... Those who wave the flag with the most fervor while supporting what it represents with the least sincerity.

Shame on you.