I've been considering this question since Nov. 4 2000 and its probably taken this long to put into words what has been bothering me. Up till 2000 I was a life long Republican but am not a libertarian (note the little "L") with leanings to the left. I think that there are 3 main areas that bother me. They can be divided thus:

1. The rise of the conservative Christian right.
2. The lack of values and direction as well as the political prostitution of the left
3. The general ignorant, solipsistic, ethno-centric nature of the average American

In detail, this is what bothers me about each.

1. The rise of the conservative Christian right:

Let's get one thing straight right off:

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.

This is article 11 of the Treat of Tripoli, signed and read on the Senat floor in 1796. Contrary to popular belief. This US was not founded by religious pilgrims. Many of America's first inhabitants were fleeing FROM religious persecution.

It is my belief that anyone in the US should be free to practice their understanding of God (or not if you are an athiest) provided you do not legislate your particular flavor so that I must follow it. There is a reason that "congress shall make not law respecting the establishment of religion". For example....abortion. However you feel about this subject, the choice to have or not have an abortion is only for the person/persons directly involved PERIOD. If, morally, abortion is a wrong, sinful decision, only God and the persons involved are morally responsible. If Jane has an abortion, that's between Jane and God and no one else. No one else has a say in the matter. It kills me when I see the extreem right protesters whipped up into a fury about abortion yet
-many of them are too old to get pregnant
-very few of them are willing to adopt
-almost none of them are willing to be socially responsible about alleviating the issues of poverty.
-they are against abortion but are ok with carpet bombing other countries
-they are willing to "free" other countries i.e. Afganistan, Iraq so long as they have oil. The conservative right has done NOTHING regarding the Sudan's mass rape, the Nazi like ethinic clensing in the Balkans or the mass exectutions and abuses in China....why, no oil there, no money to be made. Don't you dare preach to me about our moral imperative in Iraq. We've killed by the governments own estimates 30,000 civilians in Iraq. A country that did not, does not have WMDs, never attacked the US and didn't harbor terrorism.
Also, I'm greatly aggrieved at the hypocricy of the religious right. See..sexual abuse by the clergy, the rape of the planet that God intrusted to us and prostitution of American liberty to support big business. Lastly, is GWB really the best we could do? This is the "best and the brightest" we could come up with? I got so mad in the last election when I heard the right speaking about Kerry's war record. Specifically, he probably "didn't deserve" his Silver Star. Well, he may or may not. But I do know that he also had a Bronze Star and 3 Purple hearts and did 2 tours. GWB didn't even go. He was in a National Guard unit and couldn't even bother to show up for that and the right is going to critisize Kerry? I couldn't figure that one out.

2. The waffling left:

On the other side you have the Left. The problem with the left (of which I am now one) is that they are morally vague, weak and directionless. I would love to have the smartest person in the White House but I don't want someone so cerebral that they are nonfunctioning. Eventually, you have to act. Also, the left needs to start cutting off every splinter group that is in the party. I am for the environment, responsible business and the alleviation of poverty. But still, you need to cut off the radical tree spiking anarchists in the party. You don't have to pander to every fringe element out there. I'm for people having to right to exercise their sexuality, but when you get the homosexual in the buttless leather chaps, wearing a nun's habit and cloths pins in there nipples, you may not want to include him in your party. He's probably going to alienate some voters. The left needs to get a clear platform. It needs to be populist, centrist, responsible and economically viable. Everyone wants to make money but lets not whore ourselves in the process or rape the planet. I don't think that's too much to ask. All Americans should enjoy equality under the law and protection from interference from their government.

3. America and its culture (or lack there of)....

In a discussion I had with someone online about SUV's and there influence on the environment and gas prices someone actually said to me "I can afford one, I want one and I'm going to buy one and I don't care what it does to the price of gas or the environment". That to me pretty much sums up what is wrong with this country. We are an ignorant country. We think we are the center of the universe and we don't have to know or understand anything about the outside world. Well guess what folks, we ain't......Paris, London, Peking....all these cities are at least 2000 years old. They might have learned something in that time. We are great at preaching about how we have the best form of government and freedom in the world. Democracy (in the modern American sense) is a product of Europe. (see John Locke and Voltaire to name a few). Out educational system sucks, No Child Left Behind is one of the most dramatic, consumately complete failures in the history of the US. I think it even surpasses Prohibition for the amount of damage it has done to this country, for its amost Aristitilian perfection of its failure.....
We American's have to get over ourselves. I think a little humility would do us good. (along with opening a book once in a while for God's sake) We need to STOP EXPORTING DEMOCRACY. How arrogant are we to force our form of government on the rest of the world. Democracy will not work for every culture. Democracy was a failure in Greece. Not all cultures can support it. It has cost the US too much in terms of money and US lives and the angst of other countries. American has NEVER been successful in exporting democracy. We've backed every looser from 1900 on. See Chilie, Cuba, Iran, Viet Nam, Venezuela, Haiti, El Salvador just to name a few. I think we should get the hint buy now...

This country needs a lot of help. What should be taught is tolerance, personal responsibility, fiscal responsibility, governmental responsibiliy and the libertarian mentality of "your right to swing your arm ends at my elbow".

Sorry, I had to vent....