An Open Letter to My Sister Regarding McCain and Obama
“The greatest argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter…unfortunately all other forms of government have been tried.”
~ Winston Churchill
I love getting these kinds of emails. They almost always begin circulating by people who seem confused as to what actually constitutes a “fact” vs. an opinion. When they do happen to hit upon a fact with a certain degree of accuracy they almost always stop short of getting to the real truth behind the matter. Overall these kinds of emails are misleading regardless if the person sending is liberal or conservative.
Take Obama’s record on offshore drilling. Yes, he has voted against it. It is easy enough to check a senator or representatives voting record. What isn’t as simple is getting to know the candidate and understanding why they may have voted the way they did. In our culture of sound bites we think we have the answers. We think we are better informed than we really are.
While Obama has voted against offshore drilling, he supports increased gas and oil leases in Alaska as well as a construction of a new pipe line. Offshore drilling is a complex issue and there are environmental concerns involved that need to be considered. Even the Bush administration - which supports offshore drilling- concedes the environmental risks and further believes that statistically a catastrophic accident will occur. I agree with Obama that “we cannot drill our way out of dependence” on foreign oil.
Obama, like many of his liberal compatriots believes that increased drilling is a stop gap measure that is putting off development of new technologies and fuels. I disagree with Obama on ethanol. Ethanol is a bad solution, which we can discuss another time. But suffice it to say in the meantime that I agree with McCain on this issue as I do on his stance that nuclear power must be ramped up. France - our much maligned frenemies - rely heavily on nuclear power throughout their country and they do so safely.
This brings me to another point. Just because I prefer Obama does not mean I agree with everything he stands for. The challenge is to make a decision about who is right for our country right now. It gets down to analyzing the issues and deciding which ones you think should be priority.
Another fact from your email that needs checking is on the subject of Gay rights. Yes, Obama is in favor of allowing gay couples the benefits of marriage. But, according to On the issues.org Senator McCain voted NO on the congressional ban against gay marriage. He is cited as calling the matter, “Unrepublican.” In 1999 McCain said he would be comfortable with a “gay president.” Don’t take my word for it you can check this out for yourself.
I find this particularly interesting because he has a poor civil rights ratings from organizations such as the ACLU and NAACP (Yes, I know they are Liberal. But, so am I - what are you going to do?)
McCain is absolutely correct about gay marriage bans as being “unrepublican.” You aren’t old enough to remember what a real Republican is. Once upon a time before the rise of the so-called Religious Right and Neo-Conservative movements the libertarian leaning fiscal conservatives were the Republican Party bosses. They believed that the federal government should remain small and stay out of the personal lives of its citizens. It believed in low taxes and the separation of Church and State. Gay rights and abortion were not a matter for the government because it was none of the government’s business. They were also proponents of minimal government regulation in our financial and other business institutions.
Ronald Reagan was the king of deregulation and perhaps the last of the true old guard (Ronald Regan broke up the AT&T monopoly in 1984) Republicans. The detestable Ralph Reed was quoted at the time of Regan’s death as saying that religious conservatives didn’t care for the late president all that much as they didn’t feel that he was “conservative enough” (read: social conservative) yet they all are now quick to claim that they are successors to the great communicator.
The problem is that thanks to the likes of Ralph Reed and The Christian Coalition and the late Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority religious conservatives began using their pulpits to further their political agenda and their membership rosters for collecting political contributions. Now religious conservatives make up the bulk of the Republican Party’s power base which has swung from a libertarian perspective to an authoritarian perspective. In fact Neo-Con ideology has more in common with fascism (although it isn’t quite fascist) then democratic socialists have in common with Marxism.
Issues such as abortion and gay marriage which the government should stay out of has often taken precedence over more pressing issues, and on a final note regarding economic policy the AIG scandal and Wall Street meltdown offers a staggering argument against both deregulation and supply side economics.
Both senators McCain and Obama concede that health care is in a crisis state. However, I am of the opinion that neither candidate has a very sound platform for fixing it. It’s amazing how quickly conservatives have a knee-jerk reaction every time a Democrat talks about fixing health care. They immediately spread the fear that they will institute a socialized health care system.
If Obama is elected president he couldn’t do that. Any health care solution would have to be approved by congress. Don’t forget your U.S. History lessons about the three branches of the United States Government and the checks and balances that are inherent in its structure. Bush has been unfairly maligned as “dictator” type president. But reality Congress let him get away with this shit for quite awhile.
I tend to favor some form of a single payer health care system which is not the same thing as socialized medicine even though conservative opponents will lead you to believe otherwise. Neither candidate supports this.
McCain, by his own admission, has claimed to support Bush 90% of the time and just about 10-15 days ago he was telling the American people that the economy was strong and it was growing. Both McCain and Palin attacked Obama for his less than cheery outlook. Yet, at least in this regard, Obama has the “I told you so advantage.”
Another fact stated in your email is that “McCain will appoint judges who will interpret the law and not make it.” I am not sure how true that is. First of all the president nominates and congress approves. Our present President has attempted to stack the Supreme Court with socially conservative justices who lean heavily toward pro-life.
Given McCain’s admission regarding his overall support of Bush and McCain’s own voting record it is hard to believe he will be objective if he should have to nominate a justice. We also have McCain on record as saying that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. It is very clear that McCain like most conservatives are working towards this. The logic is just faulty.
I am concerned as you are about tax increases under Obama if he were elected president. But, I am not sure you fully comprehend the types of programs McCain has supported. Not to mention that with the record deficit we are facing in the wake of the Iraqi war and a potential government bail out of Wall Street that any president could cut taxes and effectively balance the budget. We may as well sign the deed over to Beijing now and get it over with.
McCain likes to tout that the U.S. has the highest business tax rates in the western world and he would be correct. However, that is just on paper. There are enough loopholes that many corporations slip past them. Then there are the tax breaks companies get for outsourcing overseas. Isn’t that ass backwards? What about tax incentives to keep companies here?
There is certainly a lot of conservative pontificating that Obama’s proposed tax plan will increase taxes. But there is also some support from and independent think tank that Obama’s plan will actually increase the after tax earnings of the average American household, and if we define average household as those of us making less then $250K a year then they may very well be correct. The analysis linked doesn’t make Obama’s plan to be the killer solution but it at least demonstrates a higher average savings then the one McCain proposes.
The same organization also exposes McCain’s untruthful statement that Obama voted to raise income tax on individuals who make as little as $32k per year. It simply was not true. However, to be fair Obama has his challenges with truth. Factcheck.org offers a cheeky little observation saying that Obama stuck to the facts except when he stretched them.
But that is the problem with “politics as usual” isn’t it? Each side spins, twists and distorts the facts until the truth is no longer readily discernable. All we are left with is rhetoric that too many voters try to interpret as fact, rather than doing the real work of finding out the actual facts.