I'm stumped and a little scared for what is left of our democracy, regardless of who will be elected president. Looking at President Bush's record, how can it be that almost half the electorate plans to vote for him? This president has withdrawn from international treaties, and committed a war of aggression against Iraq in violation of international law.

A thousand U.S. soldiers are dead and counting, many thousands of innocent civilians have died in this needless war and $120 billion of taxpayer money has been wasted. This "unilateralism," as the media calls it, has made America hated across the world as never before. We are the world's bully, taking what we want because we can; but a bully has no friends, only enemies and a few hangers-on hoping for personal advantage.

But Bush is tough against terrorism, right? Bush let former President Clinton's fledgling antiterrorism programs languish until Sept. 11. Our "unilateralism" and the Iraq invasion have alienated the world, in particular the Muslim world, providing Al-Qaeda with countless new recruits: terrorism cannot be defeated with bombs, most of the work must be done undercover through international cooperation. Thankfully, Bush is a "compassionate" conservative. If you count compassion through tax cuts toward millionaires and large corporations, but tell that to nearly 1 million who lost their jobs during the past four years, and another 600,000 entering the job market.

So where do the votes come from? There are, of course, the single-issue voters: Bush is against abortion, nothing else matters; Bush is for "family values."

That leaves the large pool of Republican voters, who apparently will vote Republican no matter what. But this administration is not Republican, as Republicans define their platform. The Wall Street Journal has called the Bush administration "one of the most financially irresponsible administration in U.S. history." It scares me that so many people do not mind that we are the hated bully of the world, and that this administration drives us to financial ruin, but blindly vote for "their" party.