Thoughts on Politics

[hadji_hajek]

So I'm still a Ron Paul supporter.  Yes, he has no possible way to win the presidency.  Yes, some of his ideas are extreme.  Yes, many of his supporters are crazy people.  But government is not the answer to problems; it simply causes more.  He realizes that, he states it honestly, and he proposes viable alternatives.  He has written at least 8

Comments

[hadji_hajek]

First of all, I worded the marriage amendment wrong. They are both against a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and woman.

Second, the war in Iraq is a touchy issue. I would absolutely love to get troops to come home from a war that, no, should not have been waged. Ron Paul had a similar idea to Obama - as soon as he's elected, get the troops home. Morally and economically, that makes the absolute most sense, and I would be in favor of it if they had viable plans. But they don't. Obama's website on this issue is full of vagaries and doesn't take into consideration that if we left, the country would lose whatever cohesion it has now. McCain has real, solid plans.

That's where I have to stop myself and ask, is the government we set up the best government for Iraq? Is it worth fighting for? If that government were overthrown and replaced, would that be a bad thing? Is our meddling in Iraq giving us a bad name? In a way this is like Vietnam, where we fought so long and hard for freedom (freedom back then = to keep our enemies' influence from spreading) and lost. So it's a tough call here, and I'll be listening to them for the next 5 months to see what they have to say.

As for Iran, well, you're right.

In regards to health care, I really like Ron Paul's ideas, because it's a way of giving health care to everyone without the inefficiencies and bureaucracy caused by universal health care: "Paul rejects universal health care, believing that the more government interferes in medicine, the higher prices rise and the less efficient care becomes. He points to how many people today are upset with the HMO system, but few people realize that HMOs came about because of a federal mandate in 1973. He also points to the 1974 ERISA law that grants tax benefits to employers for providing insurance but not individuals; he prefers a system which grants tax credits to individuals. He supports the U.S. converting to a free market health care system, saying in an interview on New Hampshire NPR that the present system is akin to a "corporatist-fascist" system which keeps prices high. He says that in industries with freer markets prices go down due to technological innovation, but because of the corporatist system, this is prevented from happening in health care. He opposes socialized health care promoted by Democrats as being harmful because they lead to bigger and less efficient government. Paul has said that although he prefers tax credits to socialized medicine, he would be willing to "prop up" the current systems of Medicare and Medicaid with money saved by bringing troops home from foreign bases in places such as those in South Korea."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Ron_Paul#Health_policy
(He's also got some novel ideas on malpractice insurance, which causes medical costs to skyrocket)

McCain supports enlarging the military, which I actually don't have a problem with. But he also supports continued status quo and policies of intervention, which really irks me.

In any case, Obama's views on foreign policy are definitely what I agree with the most. I'm just trying to balance that with other issues.

[ryokou_robo]

I would much rather have Ron Paul running for the Republican side than McCain. I would not mind so much who wins then, although I still might vote for Obama... I would have to research it more.

I guess the most important issue to me is foreign affairs and the war, so that is why I am leaning toward Obama. (And I like the fact that he cares about the environment too) haha

But we are facing some problems at home (ie. the recession) and I would hope that our next president focuses on fixing some of our problems at home before trying to solve the problems for other countries.

If we have tax cuts, like McCain wants, where are we going to get the money for the expanded military he wants? So many American companies are going down (I hear Ford is suffering some huge losses), people are donating less than before because they can't afford it (ie. we couldn't provide as much help to China as we could before), and so many middle class families are in danger of losing their homes (because they have overwhelming debt). I just don't think more war is good... morally or economically (I think you feel the same way). Anyways, that's why I prefer Obama to McCain.

And thanks for clearing up that same sex marriage thing. Haha, it threw me off guard.

I am nervous though that Obama might not have enough experience and he might make foolish choices, but if he is given strong support from his cabinet, the senate, and so forth, I think he would listen to reason. I am also nervous that all his charming-ness might be hiding some of his flaws... but we will just have to wait and see what gets exposed.

Like Ashley said too, I don't hear about everything that is going on in the election. I don't want to be uniformed and vote blindly. I want to hear different opinions; right now I am living in a house that mainly supports Obama, but its good to hear the other side too.