Cutting Through the Clutter
The campaigning that continues over the airwaves majors in the minors. Political coverage on the TV networks is remarkably thin on actual candidate positions and biographies. Instead the coverage focuses on the back-and-forth between the campaigns on which candidate is more out of touch or runs the more unfair ads.
The surface comparisons are easy. McCain has more experience in politics, foreign policy, and life. Those facts can't be argued. He is out of touch with ordinary Americans by virtue of the fact he's spent most of his adult life in the Ivory Tower called the US Senate.
Obama is certainly inexperienced in all the ways McCain is experienced. He's also out of touch with ordinary Americans, with his Ivy League liberal education and adult life working in Chicago politics. His undeniable associations with the Chicago Democrat Machine, Bill Ayers (Weather Underground), and Reverend Wright leave no doubt as to his socialist/communist affiliations.
But the bottom line is policy. For those issues that matter most to me, the only choice is McCain.
Abortion Rights. I'm pro-life. Partly because of my Christian beliefs, but also because of the practical implications. The unvarnished truth of abortion is that it's used as a license for promiscuity. The license suggests that if two people find themselves attracted to each other, there's nothing stopping them from "hooking up". If the woman (or girl) gets pregnant, oops, just suck out that little fetus and pretend it never happened. That's wrong. And so is the related consequence of the spread of STD's in what may be epidemic proportions. McCain shares my pro-life views. Obama is not only on the other side of the issue, there is clear evidence of his actual support for infanticide if an infant happens to be born alive by mistake. That stand is pure evil.
National Security. The Russian invasion of Georgia and their threats to escalate their aggressive moves to rebuild the old Soviet empire showed a clear difference between the candidates. McCain showed a clear understanding and a toughness that shows he can deal with the issue. Obama proved he is uninformed and weak. Obama's popular campaign stand based on moving troops out of Iraq has become moot, as due to the success of the surge he opposed, plans are already going forward to pull the troops, effectively removing Obama's centerpiece issue.
Energy. I think we should do everything to provide cheap and effective energy to our economy. McCain supports exploiting all possible sources of energy, including domestic oil production, natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, hydro, hydrogen, and anything else that can provide our economy with cheap sources of energy and independence from foreign oil. Obama says wind and solar only, while somehow eliminating all oil in 10 years. He's either jaw-droppingly naive or lying.
Gay Rights. This issue is all about forcing the government and employers to provide expensive benefits to domestic partners of homosexuals. It means employers will have to cover gay "spouses" under their life and healthcare benefit plans at a greatly increased cost. This means that gays will get special treatment, with the only standard for qualification of a "spouse" being sexual relations. This facet of the agenda is discriminatory against all other non-sexual domestic relationships. The other outcome of full implementation of the gay marriage agenda is persecution of churches who do not support marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. They will be forced to either perform those ceremonies and hire homosexuals as teachers or become subject to revocation of their tax exempt status or possibly criminal prosecution. Obama supports that, so the clear choice on this issue is McCain.
Healthcare. Admittedly a sticky issue. I understand firsthand the difficulties involved for the self-employed or those working for small businesses who can't possibly afford today's health insurance premiums. Like college tuition, the poor are covered by the government, the rich can afford to pay for themselves, and those who work for companies with good health benefits are fine. It's everybody else left out in the cold. I think that if all health and prescription insurance were to be cancelled and replaced with only a major medical coverage, everyone but the poorest of the poor would be able to afford their own care. But Obama's solution of government-run healthcare means the government also controls who gets care. McCain's solution of moving toward a market-based system may not be the best solution, but it is certainly superior to Obama's.
Illegal Immigration. I believe if you're in the country illegally you should go home. I believe enforcement of immigration law and the border should be improved. My solution to the current mess is to seal the borders and give all people in the country illegally 90 days to return to their country of origin. They can then apply for legal admission to the USA, which would require sponsorship by their US employer and proof of English literacy. Those people can then be re-admitted with a temporary green card. Anybody that doesn't leave the country in the 90 day grace period is subject to deportation when they are discovered. Employers also are subject to punitive fines for employing illegal workers. Neither candidate shares my view here, but McCain is slightly better than Obama.
Judges and the Constitution. I believe our country is the greatest in history, largely because of the unique Constitution framed by our founders. Obama does not. Obama views the constitution as an obstacle to implementing his "change" agenda. Freedom of Speech, Religion, Property to Keep and Bear Arms, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are all endangered by Obama's promised Supreme Court appointments. McCain will protect the Consitution, Obama will not.
McCain isn't the guy I would choose for president if I could choose anybody. But in a choice between McCain and Obama, there is no contest.
The surface comparisons are easy. McCain has more experience in politics, foreign policy, and life. Those facts can't be argued. He is out of touch with ordinary Americans by virtue of the fact he's spent most of his adult life in the Ivory Tower called the US Senate.
Obama is certainly inexperienced in all the ways McCain is experienced. He's also out of touch with ordinary Americans, with his Ivy League liberal education and adult life working in Chicago politics. His undeniable associations with the Chicago Democrat Machine, Bill Ayers (Weather Underground), and Reverend Wright leave no doubt as to his socialist/communist affiliations.
But the bottom line is policy. For those issues that matter most to me, the only choice is McCain.
Abortion Rights. I'm pro-life. Partly because of my Christian beliefs, but also because of the practical implications. The unvarnished truth of abortion is that it's used as a license for promiscuity. The license suggests that if two people find themselves attracted to each other, there's nothing stopping them from "hooking up". If the woman (or girl) gets pregnant, oops, just suck out that little fetus and pretend it never happened. That's wrong. And so is the related consequence of the spread of STD's in what may be epidemic proportions. McCain shares my pro-life views. Obama is not only on the other side of the issue, there is clear evidence of his actual support for infanticide if an infant happens to be born alive by mistake. That stand is pure evil.
National Security. The Russian invasion of Georgia and their threats to escalate their aggressive moves to rebuild the old Soviet empire showed a clear difference between the candidates. McCain showed a clear understanding and a toughness that shows he can deal with the issue. Obama proved he is uninformed and weak. Obama's popular campaign stand based on moving troops out of Iraq has become moot, as due to the success of the surge he opposed, plans are already going forward to pull the troops, effectively removing Obama's centerpiece issue.
Energy. I think we should do everything to provide cheap and effective energy to our economy. McCain supports exploiting all possible sources of energy, including domestic oil production, natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, hydro, hydrogen, and anything else that can provide our economy with cheap sources of energy and independence from foreign oil. Obama says wind and solar only, while somehow eliminating all oil in 10 years. He's either jaw-droppingly naive or lying.
Gay Rights. This issue is all about forcing the government and employers to provide expensive benefits to domestic partners of homosexuals. It means employers will have to cover gay "spouses" under their life and healthcare benefit plans at a greatly increased cost. This means that gays will get special treatment, with the only standard for qualification of a "spouse" being sexual relations. This facet of the agenda is discriminatory against all other non-sexual domestic relationships. The other outcome of full implementation of the gay marriage agenda is persecution of churches who do not support marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. They will be forced to either perform those ceremonies and hire homosexuals as teachers or become subject to revocation of their tax exempt status or possibly criminal prosecution. Obama supports that, so the clear choice on this issue is McCain.
Healthcare. Admittedly a sticky issue. I understand firsthand the difficulties involved for the self-employed or those working for small businesses who can't possibly afford today's health insurance premiums. Like college tuition, the poor are covered by the government, the rich can afford to pay for themselves, and those who work for companies with good health benefits are fine. It's everybody else left out in the cold. I think that if all health and prescription insurance were to be cancelled and replaced with only a major medical coverage, everyone but the poorest of the poor would be able to afford their own care. But Obama's solution of government-run healthcare means the government also controls who gets care. McCain's solution of moving toward a market-based system may not be the best solution, but it is certainly superior to Obama's.
Illegal Immigration. I believe if you're in the country illegally you should go home. I believe enforcement of immigration law and the border should be improved. My solution to the current mess is to seal the borders and give all people in the country illegally 90 days to return to their country of origin. They can then apply for legal admission to the USA, which would require sponsorship by their US employer and proof of English literacy. Those people can then be re-admitted with a temporary green card. Anybody that doesn't leave the country in the 90 day grace period is subject to deportation when they are discovered. Employers also are subject to punitive fines for employing illegal workers. Neither candidate shares my view here, but McCain is slightly better than Obama.
Judges and the Constitution. I believe our country is the greatest in history, largely because of the unique Constitution framed by our founders. Obama does not. Obama views the constitution as an obstacle to implementing his "change" agenda. Freedom of Speech, Religion, Property to Keep and Bear Arms, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are all endangered by Obama's promised Supreme Court appointments. McCain will protect the Consitution, Obama will not.
McCain isn't the guy I would choose for president if I could choose anybody. But in a choice between McCain and Obama, there is no contest.
posted by Dan S. at 6:22 AM
0 comments
