Election - One week
So I'm 32 years old and FINALLY registered to vote. Don't ask me why I finally did but I'm trying to grow up maybe??? So yeah, I registered as an Independent (because my birthday is Independence Day of course!). Ok not really but it sounded good right? I registered as an independent because I have NO IDEA what party I want to be in. The "religious ( Read more... )
I am also registered as an independent. I've been registered to vote since I was 18, and have never registered with a party, because I do not feel that any of the available choices accurately represents my political beliefs all the way through. I have voted for both Republicans and Democrats, though in presidential elections, I have only voted for Democrats, and the same goes for this year.
As for my beliefs, and the candidates:
Religion -- I am spiritual, but not particularly religious. Looking at the candidates, I feel that both of them have a strong foundation in their faith, and have been particularly upset by the Republican Party's attempt at making Obama out to be a "closeted Muslim" or say that his faith was just for show, for in all the research I've found, that is not the case. (And, more importantly, in America, it shouldn't matter if one is Muslim or Jewish or Christian or Pagan, as those things do not make anybody more or less American.)
Fiscal matters -- I am a fiscal conservative. Obama is not. But neither is McCain. If you look at his financial plans, he too wants to raise spending and cut taxes (albeit in different arenas), so I took that out of the running for comparison. As for tax cuts, McCain wants to continue the trickle-down effect, with tax cuts for the wealthy and big business, while Obama wants to give the wealthy (not Joe the Plumber, but people who make over $250k/year) more taxes, while providing more relief to the middle and lower class. Will this work? I don't know, but I feel like we've given the Reagonomics of trickle-down over 20 years to work, and it hasn't, so I'm willing to try something new. Also, it will have an immediate and profound effect on my own pocketbook. (All of which, of course, is dependent upon any of this getting passed by Congress, which I'm also not dense enough to believe is quite so easy as presidential candidates would have the public believe.)
Health Care -- Caveat, see above re: congressional approval. Obama's health care plan, I'm not entirely sure of. I do know that it is mostly based on Mitt Romney's plan in Massachusetts. Which is not perfect, but from what I hear from my friends who live in Massachusetts, they all have coverage, they can all see their doctors, and it's more cost effective. This makes me happy. Getting health care to the lower classes and lower middle class so that they can have preventative health care and forestall those problems that will later cost the country quite a lot to keep them going is a big thing for me. McCain's plan, well. It makes me very angry. He wants to tax employer-sponsored healthcare and cut medicaid and medicare in order to pay for a health care tax credit -- which actually goes to your health insurance company to pay for your insurance. However (if I recall correctly; it's early in the morning and I'm pulling these numbers out of my head), the credit for an individual is $2500 and for a family $5000. My health insurance for me alone yearly costs approximately $20k. I am very lucky in that my employer pays for most of that. But under McCain's plan, I would be screwed. I have self-employed friends. They pay nearly that for their plans, or rather did while they could afford it, which they cannot any longer. The $5k is not going to help people like that. If he was actually able to corral the health insurance industry into being forced to provide reasonably priced health insurance (which he thinks he can, but then don't get me started on how Republicans are supposed to be anti-regulation), then I believe this would be a good option, but I do not have faith in his ability to do that, and believe that more people would be left without health insurance.
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The Iraq War -- I do believe we need to get out of there. I do not believe that McCain will do it. I am not anti-war, and the speech that got me for Obama since before he was running for President was the one in which he said "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars." And I honestly truly feel that he is the type of person who, as President, would give real thought before throwing us in somewhere that maybe we weren't even wanted (like Iraq). On McCain's side, there have been soldiers who were in the Vietnam POW camp with him who say he is hot-headed and rushes in to act before thinking, and they do not want him as their president. That is enough for me.
Gay rights -- I am bisexual, I am in a long-term committed relationship with another woman, and we want to start a family. McCain and Palin would like to take away the precious few rights we have, and -- Palin, at least -- would like to add further language to take more rights away. Obama has come out publically against DOMA, and has responded personally to LGBT Organizations in support of us. Specifically, there are over one thousand rights and privileges that married heterosexual couples have that are not available to same-sex couples. I don't feel that at this time it's appropriate for the Federal Government to impose these liberties (though that would be great), but the repeal of DOMA would at least allow those couples in states that have decided to grant marriage to all people to have not just the state but also federal recognition of their marriages, and the rights and responsibilities that come with them.
And the nail in the coffin -- not that I needed one -- was Palin. I think that the choice of her shows a lack of thought on McCain's behalf (if he wanted a female candidate, there are numerous female possibilities who, while I may not agree with any more than Palin, at least have experience and have shown themselves to be level-headed), and her stances and history on everything from fiscal issues to women's rights makes me fear the idea of McCain being elected and something happening to him.
If you want a very level-headed opinion, I'd google Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama. I think he did a very good job of explaining how they would both be suitable presidents, but that Obama is the president we need now.
Um, sorry for rambling, I hope this helped any. :)
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