I voted!

I dropped off my ballot at county elections, and sadly my vote was more a vote against Obama rather than a vote for McCain. (One of these days I want to feel compelled to vote for a candidate!) At the end of the day, I’ve accepted that the country may be headed for Jimmy Carter’s second term, but right now isn’t the right time to go silently into the night. Let me make one thing crystal clear, if Obama wins I will make out like a bandit! I’m a married 30 year old unemployed student who receives socialized health care. I expect to pocket thousands of dollars in cash and additional benefits from the Feds under a democrat controlled White House and Congress. My problem with that is that I haven’t earned it or paid into it for years. I paid under $1000 in Federal income taxes in the last two years. How is it fair for me to receive all these benefits from Uncle Sam when I’m not paying anything in to the system? Thanks, by the way, for all the hard work you do on my behalf.

I’ll still do okay with John McCain in the White House. I just won’t have as much of a windfall. With that said, I’ve been spending a lot of time researching Obama’s “Blueprint for America”. I’ll be posting a series of responses to his remaking of America. Many have already compared the two candidates ad nausea, but for some reason undecided voters are still in the double digits and voter turnout is lower in Oregon than one would expect for such a hyped vote. Could that be because we’re hoping for one of these two to really hit it out of the park?

The simple fact is that John McCain is a Democrat masquerading as a Republican and Barack Obama is a socialist masquerading as a Democrat. So I ask myself, just how far left do I want the country to swing? Should we correct to the center compared to the hard right of the current administration or should we swing to the opposite extreme of the political spectrum? Obama represents a hard left swing. The answer for the United States is not another extremist in the White House. What we need is a relative moderate. On Tuesday, I hope you’ll join me in voting for John McCain because our country doesn’t need another extremist in the White House.

If not him, who?

I don't like John McCain. I'm sure he's a fine man, and I certainly appreciate his sacrifice in the name of our country, but his politics in the last few years have really rubbed me the right way. Here are a few examples just off the top of my head. I'm uncomfortable with his record on illegal aliens. I really don't like that he wants to close the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and bring the enemy combatants into the U.S. where they'll receive Constitutional rights. I think his opinion on human's contribution to Global Warming is politically motivated. I also think he's a little gruff and his administration leaves something to be desired.

But I think I have no choice but to vote for him. I've asked a number of people why I should for Obama and to paraphrase the two recurring answers I get, he's not George Bush and he makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I really need to know that answer to my question because there are a number of things about Barack Obama I just can't get past.