What are your personal and or professional opinions in regards to many of the present political issues being argued today?

This is about as broad a question as you could ask and would take hundreds of words on each topic you listed. A more focused question on a single topic might yield a better result.

You are right, there is a lot of heated rhetoric. Very little light but a lot of heat. The media is mostly irresponsible in it's coverage and takes sides rather than reporting news.

I personally feel that the media, in conjunction with the internet, causes a lot more heartache in our country than anything else. People have always hated others and have always done evil deeds. That will never change. Politicians have always been corrupt (not all mind you, but it isn't a new concept). Racism, sexism, and every other "ism" has always been here and is here to stay.

The difference today is that the media seems to need conflict in order to boost ratings so conflict is created where it doesn't exist. Rumors are started and fear is instilled in the masses. The truth isn't as important as ratings anymore.

The other difference is the internet. While not bad in and of itself, it does give people on the east coast the ability to be outraged about an incident on the west coast. And vice versa. Riots can begin in cities that are thousands of miles away from some seemingly random incident. People are hurt and property is damaged by throngs of angry people who were able to get the information almost instantaneously and from the media who fuels the fire (see above).

Don't get me wrong, some news needs to be spread. But when a cop shoots a guy during a traffic stop in Seattle, WA there is no possible way for me in Mississippi to have any idea about the facts. And while people getting killed is bad, and unjust killings are even worse, these things happen every single day all over the world. But our wonderful media, armed with the internet, somehow gets everyone wrapped up in one or two of these things and rides the wave as long as it can regardless of what it does to divide our society.

Most of the hot topics aren't even real issues in this day and age. They're myths created by politicians and the media in order to create a firestorm and cause division or they're dying issues that have had gas poured on the few still burning coals.

As far as war goes.. I don't think that this country has made it through a whole decade without being involved in some sort of armed conflict since it came to be.

Healthcare, the government has no business getting involved in that.