Looking for change *I* can believe in.

[hymnia]

So last time I posted, I was in the 60% range for McCain and still in love with Sarah Palin. I still like Palin (and *really* don't want to hear any more criticism of her, esp. since she's not the real issue), but I'm having doubts about the ticket. This week all my political quiz results are coming out 50-50 again.

BTW, my hypothesis on the quiz

Comments

[warrioreowyn]

6.) Environment. I prefer Obama's focus on renewable energy to McCain's on drilling and 'clean coal' - but I'm also comfortable with the idea of nuclear energy. (Obama also supports clean coal and, once they've found a way to deal with the waste, nuclear energy - but they're not the cornerstones of his plan.) He has targets of 10% of energy coming from renewable sources by 2012, and 25% by 2015 - and ultimately reducing emissions by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050, the same target that is in the Kyoto Accords. (Wish my government would do the same!) Rather than a carbon tax, he (as well as McCain) has got a "cap and trade" system, which (I've heard from several environment sources) is considered more effective; I don't understand either plan well myself and wish they were better explained, but you can check his website and try to figure it out. General principle is you cap the total amount of emissions that can be produced, and industries that can reduce their emissions can sell their "rights" to pollute to more carbon-intensive industries, creating an economic incentive for companies to pollute less.

He's going to increase fuel economy standards for cars 4% each year, and convert all government cars to plug-in hybrids or electric cars by the end of his term. He supports tax credits for hybrids, and a $7000 tax credit for buying 'advanced vehicles.'

His plan also connects to poverty in the committment to "weatherize" a million homes of low-income people each year - substantially reducing both their heating bills and their energy use.

I also really like his idea of a new international forum of the G8 plus China, India, Brazil and South Africa (the main developing-nation carbon emitters) to work on how to fight climate change. It's about time we started dialoguing with the developing world as equals.

7. Health care.
I think Obama's very close to you here. His plan is nothing like "socialized health care" (or 'public health care' as well call it here in Canada; government-run, is the essence). It just gives people the option to buy into a government health insurance plan, while the health-care providers remain private; it's a good mix for the US, I think, where people in general seem more independent and less supportive of large government programs than people in Canada are. He also wants to get more generic drugs on the market, as they're way cheeper (and I have hope this will extent to his anti-AIDS policy, as one of the biggest challenges to saving lives is the exorbitant cost of the drugs and the restrictions on developing nations producing generics. Come on, most of the people who are dying won't get the antiretrovirals - dead people doesn't make money for the pharmaceutical industry!) Obama's also going to spend money supporting businesses and programs that promote healthy living.

8. Tax cuts. Go angua! - I'm passionately anti-supply-side and have always considered it basically a way for the government to scam the lower and middle classes into supporting tax cuts for the rich. No luck for you here - both candidates have big tax cut plans, but Obama's is target more towards the majority of people. Essentially, if people make under $110,000/yr (which is ~90% of Americans), they will benefit more from Obama's plan; if they make more than that they will benefit more from McCain's.

9. Gay marriage Totally agree with you on grouping it with abortion - one is an issue of preserving human life, the other an issue of imposing religious values on the wider society. Again, here I think you're closer to Obama, but the issue seems to be low-profile on the Republican ticket and is mostly being hashed out on state-level referenda.

10. Iraq. I personally expect Obama to be cautious about this - more so than I'd like. I expect him to be better than McCain because McCain supports permanent bases, which would only inflame Iraqi and general Muslim opinion against the US, while Obama does not support the bases. And my view is, if the Iraqi government says you should have a timetable to leave in around two years, you should do as they say - it's their country.

Whew! That was long - hope I didn't put you to sleep!