You know the one I'm talking about. The election that is consuming news channels, the blogosphere, and much regular discourse in my life both with McCain people and Obama people. One thing everyone seems to agree on is what a crazy, eventful election it is.
I'm engaged now whereas I wasn't before. Was it the Palin pick that woke me up? Probably. Or maybe it's the constant inundation of election talk and wanting to be a part of it. Or maybe it was taking a wrong turn downtown last Friday and seeing McCain's motorcade drive by and then, later, seeing the McCain campaign's airplane. Whatever the reason, I am solidly in the McCain/Palin camp whereas a few weeks ago I vacillating between voting for McCain and abstaining.
Why? Again, I don't really know. Maybe it's because I've really started listening to Obama and every time I hear him talk about the programs he wants to implement a voice inside my head overtakes his and it screams, "Higher taxes, higher taxes, higher taxes!!!" I can't get one of his quotes from one of the Democrat debates out of my head when he was asked about the capital gains tax. Obama acknowledged the truth that lowering capital gains tax rates actually increases revenues but went on to say he was in favor of raising the rates, despite the decreased revenue, because it was "more fair."
I can't decide if I'm happy I'm engaged or not. Between the tabloid media coverage and the vitriolic blog posts on all sides I think I'd almost rather go back to not caring.
13 comments:
I know what you mean....All the more reason I am happy that I don't get cable TV anymore...When major events come up, I watch stuff on live stream (conventions, election nights, etc.).
This is the most pumped I have been about an election since 2005, when Jennifer and I were pumped about Scott Walker running for Governor.
Unless you're rich, McCain's plans aren't going to help you. Maybe you should listen to both sides and realize that if you're part of the middle-class, Obama's plans are more likely to help your financial situation.
McCain and Palin will only keep with Bush's policies of making the rich richer and the poor poorer. With that being said, I'd rather give my son the chance to get a college education without a mountain of debt, give my aging parents quality health care, and buy a nice house with my husband.
You need to look closer at the issues and solutions. Obama has different solutions and McCain is simply following the path of Bush. I say, "no thanks"
What absolutely amazes me about American politics (I come to it later in life than the average voter) is that most people here, on both sides of the political spectrum vote out of fear, and against their self interest. That the more affluent (eg Hollywood) vote against their self interest is one thing (they can afford it), but that the middle and lower class voters do this again and again is, to me, truly remarkable. I cannot understand it.
Ah, political discourse; something to divert me momentarily--yay!
Nina, I can't decide if it's a good thing to vote against self-interest or not. Certainly it sounds very noble but as a reader and sometime enthusiast of Ayn Rand I do see how, quite often, looking after our own self interest can actually be a virtue when looking at how it impacts society as a whole (economically speaking).
However, I cannot claim any noble cause or supposed virtue of voting against my self-interest. No, I don't believe McCain will do much better for me personally than Obama will necessarily, anonymous, but I do think the spending programs Obama wants to implement have the very real potential to, quite literally, break our economy, and here's why.
Obama won't just be a president with big spending ideas he'll be a president that wants to create more programs than any recent presidential candidate in recent memory... and he'll have a House and Senate full of like-minded Democrats who will create numerous new bureaucracies (at least if you take Obama at his word). The money for these programs has to come from somewhere and that's where my doubts about the economic soundness of Obama's plans come into play.
My self-interest at this point is self-preservation both of our own small family but also our country's economy as a whole and the recognition that all of these programs Obama is proposing will cost a heck of a lot more than he's suggesting that they will and when you consider the recent bailouts of the big two mortgage lenders one has to wonder where we're going to also find money for these tax cuts Obama is promising.
So there you have it. My selfishness has been exposed! :)
Think about Exxon profits, highest in its history. Why Exxon didn't bail out Fannie and Freddy? This crisis is Enron's aftershock. And we know that aftershocks can be stronger than a quake. Bush referred to Wall street as being drunk. It was not; it was greedy. There are people who are greedy, they can be very reach and still have no breaks. Bush's 8 years of tax breaks for the reach brought no power to our economy. My family didn't receive any breaks, we pay more for our health insurance plans (yes, it's health insurance, not health care), we had to reduce our benefits to keep up with costs. What is the difference between bureaucrats representing HMO and the government? Why our court system is slammed with suites against insurance companies, and what about hedge funds?
Americans should begin to understand that the government is them, USA is a republic, not LLC.
If you don't like government, look at Afganistan: there's no government there or very little of it. Are you envious?
I am much like you Cait. But now I am energized, as is many of the people in our party. I have no doubts on whether to mark the McCain/Palin box on election day.
Profit exists in a capitalistic system. It's nothing to be ashamed of.
"engaged" is a pretty good word for what I'm feeling too. It's going to be an interesting couple of months.
Ugh.. this is absurd. I don't see how anyone can possibly believe McCain's plan to follow the policies of the last 8 years will fix anything.
Obama does have a plan to pay for everything he proposes. You have to do the research to see that (which isn't exactly hard since you can just look at his website).
Honestly, I think the majority of Americans are just plain too lazy to do the research and just vote their party affiliation or listen to other people. It's ridiculous.
Obama does have a plan to pay for everything he proposes. You have to do the research to see that (which isn't exactly hard since you can just look at his website).
Yes, he has one on paper. What I take issue with the how the numbers don't add up. It is my belief that there is no possible way Obama will be able to create all the government bureaucracies and programs he wishes to create and also lower taxes for a certain segment of society. I know he says he wants to and, vaguely and generally explains how, but the numbers don't add up, and that's what I was referring to in my previous posts.
Obama supporters need to do their own homework on THEIR candidate. Check out O's voting record in the State Senate-- where he supported a bill that would permit Kindergartners to learn sex ed....Check it out
Bob -
You do your homework. He wanted to teach children how to know when possible pedophiles were taking advantage of them so they could tell their parents! He wasn't teaching them how to have sex.. geesh...
"Anon"
I never said that about Obama. I just think it's too darn early to teach kindergartners about sex-ed, before they even learn to read!
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