Which Way Do We Go George?

With his popularity ratings at an all-time low and Republicans facing tough congressional elections in the fall, President George Bush took a step Monday clearly aimed at conservative voters in a desperate hope of getting them to turn out at the polls.

Speaking at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, Bush reaffirmed his support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The president said an amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman was necessary because too many “activist judges” had tried to overturn efforts by voters in several states to ban marriages or civil unions between same-sex partners.

Ignoring the fact that he has stacked the United States Supreme Court with judges ideologically in synch with his own agenda, Bush said, “Marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilization, and it should not be redefined by activist judges,” he said.

To become law, the marriage amendment would require approval by a two-thirds majority in each house of Congress and would have to be ratified by three-fourths of the states. All but one of the 44 Senate Democrats � Ben Nelson of Nebraska � have voiced opposition to the measure, as have some moderate Republicans, a result that would kill the measure for the year.

With all of the many important issues facing the nation, the Senate will now devote the next three days to debating this issue. Most people in both parties believe the amendment has virtually no chance of becoming reality, which got me thinking; just what are America�s priorities? What should Congress and the White House be focusing on right now?

I don�t begin to know the answer but I invite you to give your opinions.

Below is a list of national issues in no particular order. Given this list, put them in the order you think they should go from most important to least important.

WHAT ARE OUR PRIORITIES?

1. Solving the escalation in gasoline prices and the possibility of oil company price gouging; searching for alternative energy sources and creating new modes of transportation to decrease dependency on the automobile.
2. Privatizing Social Security to give Americans the right to choose their own retirement options.
3. Ending the war and bringing stability to Iraq and developing an exit strategy to facilitate US troop withdrawals.
4. Lowering the federal deficit, now at $8,368,100,944,079.05 and counting.
5. Preventing same sex marriages and defining it as the union of one man and one woman.
6. Putting a stop to electronic eavesdropping on innocent American citizens by the federal government under the guise of national security.
7. Making health care affordable for more than 50 million Americans who currently live without any.
8. Making it unlawful to burn the American flag.
9. Eliminating human rights violations employed in carrying out the War on Terror and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and stopping the use of torture and unlawful imprisonment without due process for those accused of being insurgents.
10. Creating policy to address global warming and joining international efforts to deal with it.
11. Establishing independent investigations to prosecute the numerous corruption scandals at the highest levels of the Bush administration.
12. Reversing the outflow of American jobs to foreign nations, the loss of our domestic manufacturing base, the drop in employee wages and the discontinuation of retirement benefits for many workers.
13. Stopping the use of steroids in Major League Baseball so that young people can once again have positive role models.
14. Ending unlawful immigration, including building fences at the border with Mexico and deporting 11 million undocumented workers regardless of the possible impact on the U.S. economy.
15. Cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans so they will spend money and stimulate the economy.