How to reference your argument (and not just spew propaganda)

In order to have a valid argument, you have to prove or at least support your points with either accepted fact, such as: the US Declaration of Independence calls for the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; or questionable facts that need independent documentation/verification, such as the Taliban now uses weapons provided by the USA to the Mujahideen during the 1980s:

"Among the weapons the U.S. government sent or had delivered to the Mujahideen were Soviet-origin SA-7 Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs), FIM-92 Stinger SAMs, AK-47 assault rifles, and other small arms and light weapons.

"Suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden was apparently able to procure a number of SA-7 SAMs and Stingers, which he could use to target civilian aircraft in future acts of terror. [3] [this is their footnote for THEIR source]

"The Taliban ...are now armed with weapons left by the Soviets, weapons left over from the U.S. arms pipeline of the 1980s, and arms recently sent by Pakistan, which has leftover stores from the 1980s and acquires other items on the international black market. Pakistan has allegedly continued to provide the Taliban weapons in violation of the UN arms embargo put in place in December 2000. [4]" http://www.fas.org/terrorism/at/index.html

This is the same Pakistan, btw, run by Military Dictator Pervez Musharraf, whom the US has supported for many years. "Since 2001, Pakistan has become one of the largest recipients of U.S. security assistance, including arms transfers; from FY2002 to FY2006, Musharraf's regime has received nearly $1 billion in Foreign Military Financing (grant aid provided to foreign countries specifically for the purchase of US weapons), and has signed government-to-government agreements for nearly $4.34 billion in U.S. weaponry, according to the Defense Department.* http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2007/11/us_arms_sales_to_pakistan_new.php

That's what is meant by referencing your argument.Read. Study. Learn. Listen to Bill Moyers, Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, etc. Listen to people you don't agree with. Engage.

Listen to the Thomas Jefferson hour on Tuesdays on NPR to get an educated and informed perspective on what the founders of this country really intended. Jefferson's view was MUCH closer to Ron Paul's than to George Bush's or even Ronald Reagan's.