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You never know where a thread will lead do you? I'll let you all argue all that stuff but I'll tell you I do believe God gave us the Bible and protected it for many years. That doesn't mean he could never alow people to corrupt it if that's part of his plan for end times....

People can use the Bible to justify almost anything, not because the Bible is flawed, but because people are. Some people could use a nursery rhyme to justify their own actions and beliefs. In other words, some people are going to do what they do and they don't want to hear anything (like truth) that counteracts their own ideas.

Anyway, keep the dialogue going.

I have always found it interesting that people who believe in God & believe that God created our universe and gave us life on earth suddenly drop their faith when talking about the Holy Bible. I believe that a supreme being capable of all these great & awesome things, including life, can also give us a book called the Holy Bible that is absolute truth. 3springers

I find it interesting that the original meaning of liberal is derived from "liberty," as in personal freedom - often used in economic terms, and closer to the modern meaning of libertarianism than anything else.

In economic terms, it seems like the debate is always market vs. government. As if there could never be any alternative or compromise between the two. In one sense I think debate and partisanship are good for the system -- in theory it should take the best of both worlds, and maybe even elevate our ability to manage these problems beyond that simplistic dichotomy. But in practice it seems like a competition and little more. There seems to be little evolution in this debate -- we never seem to learn from our mistakes.

I am a liberal who believes in self-determination and a government who can keep control of their spending. I am a conservative who believes in taking care of our most vulnerable and that our environment should be a higher priority than lining the pockets of campaign donors.

And if you search hard enough, probably anyone here could meet both definitions if they thought about it.

I love the commenting crowd here on redblue, seems like mainly intelligent arguments and no shouting. Too bad the same can't be said for the people running this year. Lots of low-blow attacks already, and it is still early. I wish politicians would hold themselves to a higher standard.

Jesus Christ is my personal savior. I support Hilary Clinton in this election Some would say that is a mutually exclusive position LOL I support civil unions with the full benefits of marriage for gay couples. Though I don't support gay marriage. I believe that Jesus was more concerned with the immorality of money and wealth than the imorality of sex Yet I don't use my religon to justify my political views I belong to the Christian left We believe in the separation of Church and state

I think of the Bible as a brilliant work of fiction, very moving in it's moral teachings. However, I still have a moral compass built on the golden rule that works just as well as the 10 commandments (minus that coveting thing). I hope that you don't think that makes me a bad person, as many people think like me - Einstein was didn't believe in God either - well not in the tradition sense.

I agree about debate being good for the country. One of the saddest parts of Bush's presidency was the tendency of Republicans to label dissent as un-American on un-Patriotic. I think this country was founded on the idea of checks and balances, and dissent among branches of government keeping the power of any branch from becoming overwhelming. This nation is strong when the government has to answer to the people with a real justification for it's actions, not blind faith.

It's time that the government re-learns that they serve the people, and not the other way around.

However, there are still issues that divide even the "purple" people that are in the middle. The biggest issues are pro-life/pro-choice, gun control, taxes, entitlements, and separation of church and state.

Republicans overwhelmingly are pro-life, pro-gun, anti-tax, anti-affirmative action, and pro-religion as guiding force for government - as long as it's Christianity of course.

Democrats are usually pro-choice, anti-gun, pro-tax, pro-affirmative action, and believe in a stronger separation of church and state.

So for me, my wife and I aren't planning on having an abortion, we are pro-gun, anti-tax, anti-affirmative action, and believe in a strong separation of church and state as we aren't religious at all.

Who do we vote for? What party do we belong to?

At this time we've chosen to vote Democrats even though more of our goals line up with Republicans. The reason is that we value certain issues more than others - namely separation of church and state and the desire to see the government out of personal/moral decisions like gay marriages. Those items outweigh our views on abortion or guns. For others their value equation will be different and they will associate with the parties accordingly

I think the parties have gerrymandered issues for base as it is, but religion has always been a big one for Republicans. However, Americans are abandoning religion in record numbers, and the Democratic party will take advantage of that and attain a majority moving forward I believe.

Just my $0.02. Might be worth less than that, who knows?