On why I'm voting republican this year.
I haven't voted since I voted for Gore in 2000. This year, I had to change states, change last names, and change party affiliation so that I could vote, but I'm voting republican. I feel strongly about this, and I'll tell you why.
Forget the war. Forget pro choice or pro life. Those things are usually rolled out every election, and then they may or may not really change once the candidate does get in office. Forget whether Obama's preacher is anti-American and forget whether Palin is trying to re-populate the world with unwed teenage mothers and downs babies. That's all just so much political noise.
What worries me are two things: taxes and health care. You see, I work in the health care industry and nothing makes me more nervous than hearing someone say that they want to nationalize health care. You know what that would do to the health care industry?
#1 it would greatly reduce the number of practicing doctors. Few doctors become doctors to help people (no matter what they say), and the ones who do are usually working overseas in missions for little money. Instead most of them become physicians so that they can drive sports cars and live in nice houses. Socializing health care would take away all the incentive for people to become doctors. Then what you have is an increasing number of patients (because hey! It's free! So let's all go get a Z-Pak every time we have a sniffle.) being seen by fewer and fewer doctors.
#2. It would increase the amount of unnecessary physician visits. Have you ever seen a freebie table at a convention? It doesn't matter what cheap little knickknack is being given away, people will take it because it's free. And the folks who genuinely need it? They're the ones who usually don't get it because the three dozen other folks who didn't need the knickknack took it anyway because it was free.
#3. Putting the government in charge of health care is like asking a total stranger to reach into your pocket, take your wallet out, and buy you a sweater. If you buy your own sweater, you're going to give a lot of thought to quality. If someone else buys you a sweater, they're going to get you the cheapest sweater on the market, and since they don't know you, they're not going to care if it only has one arm.
#4. Before I got into health care, I heard for years (usually on TV) about how great Canada was, because they have free drugs and free health care. The other side of things is that they pay high taxes (Just because you didn't pay for something doesn't mean it's free. It's just that someone else got the bill), and it's hard to get in to see a doctor (Long waiting lists. Rationed health care -- which means that often the old and the sick don't get quality health care at all -- And God forbid you have an emergency.)
Now on the subject of taxes. Politicians always sell higher taxes because they say that they're 'taxing the rich.' But have you ever put in an extra 20 hours overtime? Or maybe 40 hours overtime? Have you ever gotten your check, and thought it would be higher? Only it's not because of all the taxes taken out?
Congratulations, you are now the rich that everyone talks about taxing.
(for the record, my husband and I each work a full time job and own two small businesses on top of that. Hubby is contract-to-hire, so we pay for our own medical insurance right now. We tithe 10% of our income to our church and give another 5% to charities. We're trying to find a way to increase our charitable giving. It's our goal to make enough money to donate 90% of our income and live comfortably on the remaining 10%. We feel that a single, motivated individual can do much more than the government could ever dream of.)
So why am I voting republican this year? Obama's domestic policy includes universal health care, and not taxing retired persons who make less than $50,000 a year. (for a little bit of perspective, during the last election In 2004 which was a more prosperous time, the median income of most individuals in Arkansas, where I live, was less than $15,000. The Median Income of most two-person households was less than $20,000. The median Income of most two-person households in Illinois where Obama was the junior Senator was still under $30,000.)
Now, let's examine why lifting the tax burden for Baby Boomers is a bad idea.
Last year, the first officially recognized baby boomer applied for social security. Overall there were seventy-six million boomers born in America. Time magazine has said that this is a generation that has avoided long-term planning for their retirement. So where does that leave many of them? Either working longer, or making less than $50,000 a year. (Forget the housing problem, for years economists have predicted an economic slowdown as the boomers start retiring.)
And here's where the universal health care comes in. Most of these boomers are going to have issues that require long term health care. Where is the money coming from to pay for the aging health care? Who is going to pay for all of this? Since most of the boomers now live tax free under Obama's plan, that leaves the burden to fall on your shoulders (because remember, you are the person they are referring to when they say they're going to tax "The wealthy")
So as a member of "The Wealthy", I object to having to pay for the health care of a generation that didn't bother to plan for their own retirement. As it stands now, I have to work from January to April to cover what the government takes from me through taxes. I don't want to have to work from January to October just to cover the tax burden. And more than that, I feel that socializing medicine is going to bankrupt this country. So when I vote Republican, I'm saying no to bankrupting the country. I would rather be able to afford to keep a roof over my own head and food in my own stomach than to pay so that folks who didn't plan to ever get old can now get free drugs.
Feel free to de-friend me over this if I've offended you. If you disagree with me, I respect your right to do so. I did put it behind a cut for a reason.
Forget the war. Forget pro choice or pro life. Those things are usually rolled out every election, and then they may or may not really change once the candidate does get in office. Forget whether Obama's preacher is anti-American and forget whether Palin is trying to re-populate the world with unwed teenage mothers and downs babies. That's all just so much political noise.
What worries me are two things: taxes and health care. You see, I work in the health care industry and nothing makes me more nervous than hearing someone say that they want to nationalize health care. You know what that would do to the health care industry?
#1 it would greatly reduce the number of practicing doctors. Few doctors become doctors to help people (no matter what they say), and the ones who do are usually working overseas in missions for little money. Instead most of them become physicians so that they can drive sports cars and live in nice houses. Socializing health care would take away all the incentive for people to become doctors. Then what you have is an increasing number of patients (because hey! It's free! So let's all go get a Z-Pak every time we have a sniffle.) being seen by fewer and fewer doctors.
#2. It would increase the amount of unnecessary physician visits. Have you ever seen a freebie table at a convention? It doesn't matter what cheap little knickknack is being given away, people will take it because it's free. And the folks who genuinely need it? They're the ones who usually don't get it because the three dozen other folks who didn't need the knickknack took it anyway because it was free.
#3. Putting the government in charge of health care is like asking a total stranger to reach into your pocket, take your wallet out, and buy you a sweater. If you buy your own sweater, you're going to give a lot of thought to quality. If someone else buys you a sweater, they're going to get you the cheapest sweater on the market, and since they don't know you, they're not going to care if it only has one arm.
#4. Before I got into health care, I heard for years (usually on TV) about how great Canada was, because they have free drugs and free health care. The other side of things is that they pay high taxes (Just because you didn't pay for something doesn't mean it's free. It's just that someone else got the bill), and it's hard to get in to see a doctor (Long waiting lists. Rationed health care -- which means that often the old and the sick don't get quality health care at all -- And God forbid you have an emergency.)
Now on the subject of taxes. Politicians always sell higher taxes because they say that they're 'taxing the rich.' But have you ever put in an extra 20 hours overtime? Or maybe 40 hours overtime? Have you ever gotten your check, and thought it would be higher? Only it's not because of all the taxes taken out?
Congratulations, you are now the rich that everyone talks about taxing.
(for the record, my husband and I each work a full time job and own two small businesses on top of that. Hubby is contract-to-hire, so we pay for our own medical insurance right now. We tithe 10% of our income to our church and give another 5% to charities. We're trying to find a way to increase our charitable giving. It's our goal to make enough money to donate 90% of our income and live comfortably on the remaining 10%. We feel that a single, motivated individual can do much more than the government could ever dream of.)
So why am I voting republican this year? Obama's domestic policy includes universal health care, and not taxing retired persons who make less than $50,000 a year. (for a little bit of perspective, during the last election In 2004 which was a more prosperous time, the median income of most individuals in Arkansas, where I live, was less than $15,000. The Median Income of most two-person households was less than $20,000. The median Income of most two-person households in Illinois where Obama was the junior Senator was still under $30,000.)
Now, let's examine why lifting the tax burden for Baby Boomers is a bad idea.
Last year, the first officially recognized baby boomer applied for social security. Overall there were seventy-six million boomers born in America. Time magazine has said that this is a generation that has avoided long-term planning for their retirement. So where does that leave many of them? Either working longer, or making less than $50,000 a year. (Forget the housing problem, for years economists have predicted an economic slowdown as the boomers start retiring.)
And here's where the universal health care comes in. Most of these boomers are going to have issues that require long term health care. Where is the money coming from to pay for the aging health care? Who is going to pay for all of this? Since most of the boomers now live tax free under Obama's plan, that leaves the burden to fall on your shoulders (because remember, you are the person they are referring to when they say they're going to tax "The wealthy")
So as a member of "The Wealthy", I object to having to pay for the health care of a generation that didn't bother to plan for their own retirement. As it stands now, I have to work from January to April to cover what the government takes from me through taxes. I don't want to have to work from January to October just to cover the tax burden. And more than that, I feel that socializing medicine is going to bankrupt this country. So when I vote Republican, I'm saying no to bankrupting the country. I would rather be able to afford to keep a roof over my own head and food in my own stomach than to pay so that folks who didn't plan to ever get old can now get free drugs.
Feel free to de-friend me over this if I've offended you. If you disagree with me, I respect your right to do so. I did put it behind a cut for a reason.