Patricia:  Each time I visit this site, I hope to find conversations where I can gain some insight into what others care about. I understand the passion that people feel about their opinions, but I have been surprised about the lack of tolerance and the negative language used in many of the postings. I keep hoping to find people who will offer differences of opinion without resorting to derisive "nicknames" for public leaders or to patronizing or defensive postures toward others who are posting. 

I assume there are few people on this site who actually know each other personally, so why would we interject personal opinions as to the characters of those who may disagree with our politics or beliefs? We should be able to share our ideas without denigrating those who disagree with us.

I personally believe that President Obama has the best intentions when it comes to leading our nation. I can do this while still disagreeing with some of his decisions. It does nothing to bolster my argument if I call him names or belittle the people who support his efforts. 

There is a danger for us as a nation when "taking" sides becomes more important than "joining" sides as we work to solve the grave political and social problems that we face.

Thanks for your kind response to my post.

Thanks for your kind words, Phyllis.

I believe that President Obama may well be a one-term president if the economy does not show strong signs of recovery by the third year of his presidency. I do not believe the war in Afganistan is "winnable", and I do not feel qualified to make a judgment as to what military or political actions will best serve our country in the long-term.

I also believe that any president who makes decisions for the long-term benefit of our country is in danger of being voted out of office. I have little  confidence that the majority of our citizens have the patience, the applied intelligence or the courage it takes to consider the hard decisions that long-term solutions for an entire nation might require.

If the solutions that people are clamoring for are so easy to come by, why didn’t previous administrations (both Democrats and Republicans) and previous members of congress govern in such a way as to prevent  the current condition of two wars, a fractured economy, and a failing health care system? 

Elected officials from both parties have failed us miserably, with few showing the resolve to solve our problems for the "long-term". There seems to be a plethora of "experts" perfectly willing to attack every action taken by the "opposition", with no allowances for the thoughtful and laborious measures that are required to make decisions that will have lasting positive results.

Maybe all of us on this site should examine one successful aspect of our lives and consider how long it took to accomplish positive results. Now extend that to the challenges facing the leaders of our nation, and decide how quickly we think they should be able to deliver the positive results we require in order for us to vote to keep them in office.

"It is time to do together what we cannot do alone." Well said, Jim. Your response to Ms. Hill’s article is right on. I emailed my Congressman, yesterday. He is opposed to the Health Care reform bills coming out of committee, saying that it’s "too much government involvement, and there are better ways to inact needed health care reform". My question to him was, if you believe that reform is needed, why, in eight years, didn’t you propose a bill to address the problem? 

What good are "baby steps" if you don’t stand up and take the first one?

"Most of the Democrats I know are fairly good people". What makes a person, in your opinion, fairly good? Does one’s political affiliation tip the scale from "fairly good" to "pretty good"?

I am proud that my fellow Americans stand up for what they think is right, whether they agree with me or not.

Crowd estimates, from the DC fire department, which historically reports such gatherings, were between 60,000 and 75,000, not 2 million. The hand made signs that used racial slurs to make the sign carrier’s point deserve no boast as to origin.

The documentary was excellent and touched on many realities of aging that my family and friends are coping with in our own lives and in the lives of our parents.

I just watched the President’s address to Congress. He convinced me that the reform he is proposing for heath care is worth supporting. As an independent, I have voted for republicans in the past who I thought had credible platforms. But I believe that the republican party that I respected in the past no longer exists. 

I am amazed that good republican leaders have been willing to allow far right extremists to highjack their party. I’m saddened that the republican voices that I have often respected seem to have no hearing in today’s political conversation. Our country deserves to be governed by good men and women who, even in disagreement, will work together to reach compromises to solve our nation’s problems.

We don’t deserve the hateful, vengeful rhetoric that has become pervasive in the media, in town halls, in schools, in churches, in homes, and yes, here on wowOwow, where I had hoped to find women who could have civil and meaningful conversations about the issues and concerns we share in our lives. 

What a foolish and dangerous waste of intelligent resources this national discourse on health care reform has become. I have no hope that it will be any different in the months to come on this or any other issue.

Unfortunately, the disrespectful exchanges on this site, more often than not, mirror the rhetoric driving the national conversation. It’s a shame.

To Katywon LA: Thanks for your excellent comment. I appreciate the information you shared, based on your work in the health care industry. I don’t remember having before read the point that those who cannot afford to pay for health insurance or health care create risks of illness or disease for all of us.

Surely, there are reasonable compromises that can be made so that health insurance and health care can become more affordable for everyone who has the resources to pay, while, at the same time, providing some option to those who do not have the money for an insurance policy or the access to alternative support systems.

I’m ready for the heated rhetoric to end and a plan to be offered for debate and a vote. In the past, people were adamantly opposed to Social Security and Medicare, but there are millions of people who have benefited from both. No health care reform plan is going to be perfect, but doing nothing to change the system we now have is, in my opinion, a perfectly terrible option.

Senator Kennedy was greatly loved by his family, his friends and, from all accounts, was greatly respected by his constituents and fellow legislators.

His legacy as a citizen and a politician will, no doubt, be both defended and derided in the coming days.

Out of respect for his family and for those who will mourn his passing, those commenting on this site might consider either sharing words of sympathy or remaining silent. Surely there are more appropriate times to debate the merits of a man than on the day of his death.

Four of us went to see Julie and Julia last night, two women and two men. We all loved it!  Meryl Streep was amazing!

Diana T: I understand your frustration. I’ve left this site several times, vowing not to spend time trying to sort out words of healing or wisdom to help me make decisions about what programs to support or what causes to champion. But here I am again, seeking some common ground, hoping for some measure of cooperation. The conversations on this site are truly not what I expected to find, and it’s disheartening that there is so much discord instead of thoughtful give and take.

Deber B:  It seemed to me when I read the comments of both Diana T and Elizabeth R. that they were genuinely weary of the rancor coming from many who post their political opinions on this site. I understand their weariness. I feel the same way when I try to sort out all that is said here, when I try to find common threads among women who have different perspectives based on their personal circumstances and beliefs.

Maybe the truth is that polarization could be rightly placed at the feet of anyone posting on this site who can’t resist the need to bolster her own opinions by denigrating those who would differ. 

There are those who post on this site whose opinions I find admirable. There are those who post on this site whose opinions I find unfathomable, but I have yet to read a single post that lead me to the conclusion that the person posting should be vilified or ridiculed for what they believed. 

If the women who choose to share their opinions on this site can’t disagree without demonizing those whom they are responding to or talking about, what hope is there that the greater forum that makes up our neighborhoods, cities or nations has any chance of finding solutions to the challenges that we face together. 

Sorry, Ms. Reed, whoever you are, I meant Ms. Peek…

"the insurers…have been on board with reform from day one…"

We’re supposed to be impressed with this statement? Why not before day one?  Why not an honest business model that didn’t require reform?

As a person who struggles to pay a monthly health insurance premium that represents 24% of my monthy salary, I find it difficult to muster sympathy for the "beleagured" health insurance executives who are only trying to make a fair "profit".

When you take advantage of someone weaker than yourself, you could rightly be called a bully. I would submit that the ones being "bullied" are not the insurance companies, but the customer base that is paying  unaffordable health insurance premiums. 

Health insurance executives, on the whole, enjoy hefty compensation packages because I, and millions of others like me, didn’t get too sick this year.

My deductible wouldn’t buy those same executives a night out on the town, so you’ll have to excuse me, Ms. Reed, if I have a different opinion about who is getting sand kicked in whose face.