(no subject)
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you are well aware that this is an election year. And, if you bother to cut through all the bullshit: the vitriolic ads, the Fey-driven satire, the Hustler/Palin porn, and the polarized blogosphere, you come to a really frightening conclusion. Despite three presidential and one Vice Presidential Debates, despite both candidates-most likely-stumping within an hour or less of your hometown, your mind is no more made up now than it was about 4-6 years into the Bush Administration (or even sooner if you're a diehard). If you liked Dubya then, you probably like McCain now; likewise, if you hated him then, you're probably putting your faith in Obama. If you're uneducated, you might even be debating over whether you want your president elect to die from a gunshot wound or from natural causes. Or, if you're like me, you're decidedly undecided about this whole process.
So take this post as a sort of stream of consciousness way for me to compare/contrast things, rebut things my peers have written (some of them quite laughable in their naivete) about both of the candidates. I, in addition, will try to refrain from editorializing this post, though, in some cases, it will be necessary for me to inject my own personal opinions. First Senator Obama:
a peer relates her following issues with the Illinois candidate to me via email:
His middle name is Hussein:
my middle name is Taylor. Jason Taylor plays Professional Football. This must mean I can play professional football too. Sign me up!
His ideas have too much in common with socialism
I'll bet you 700$ billion dollars that capitalism could use a little reform.
Obama wants a relatively immediate troop withdrawl from Iraq
The mission has already "been accomplished," why do we need more troops in Iraq? In all seriousness though. McCain has stated that he is willing to keep troops in Iraq for 100 years if that's what it takes. Also, it's not like Obama is the first person to want a drawback. Bush himself called for a rollback of troops, saw violence in creasing exponentially, then called for a surge. My question to you is this? What exactly are we accomplishing in Iraq right now that couldn't be accomplished without us?
His support of abortion
ok, I'll concede that point
another peer, with whom I went to college has a picture stating the following on his Facebook page:
Obama: He says nothing better than anyone
on the contrary, a high school classmate writes in Barack's defense:
"god forbid john mccain gets elected and dies in office and that completely stupid arm candy he has for a running mate takes over. talk about trouble! and you thought bush was bad! here's the deal. believe what you want on your own time, but when it comes time to elect a leader, don't you want someone who has a greater grasp on the goings on of the world than you do? i know i couldn't run the country with the education i have, and neither could any of you. i believe in obama because he runs on calm, cool logic to make his decisions. if you don't like his policies, that's fine, but the sad truth is that most people probably don't even know what the differences in the policies are"
while another friend from Georgia write in her Xanga:
let's say McCain wins the presidency. John Paul Stevens' old tired ass is not going to be able to stick it out for another four years and he will be forced to retire, which means a Conservative justice will be appointed to the court. Even if McCain lives through his presidency, Palin, as Vice President, will still, presumably, have a good amount of input when it comes to determining who to appoint to the Court to take Stephens' place. If MCain does, God forbid, die while in office, President Palin gets to make this decision all on her own.
Sarah Palin is a strict believer in abstinence-only education. She also believes in no abortions, period, even in cases of rape and incest. I will not touch too much on the fact that Bristol Palin, her 17 year old daughter, is pregnant because Bristol's choices are hers and she is not the one running for Vice President so it's not too fair to attack her; however, it is definitely worth noting that the abstinence-only education that Palin favors, supports, and would no doubt attempt to enforce through legislation were she to rise to the level of either Vice President or President has failed miserably within the realm of her own home, and yet she expects it to work for our entire country.
Here is what I'm afraid of, what truly gave me a fluttery feeling in my stomach a minute ago when it all pieced together in my head and I really contemplated it: Sarah Palin in office, loading the Supreme Court with like-minded individuals who would help her try to strike down Roe v. Wade and related cases/legislation. Sarah Palin ascending to the presidency and, finding herself hopelessly out of her depths when it comes to most foreign and domestic issues, instead focusing her energies on getting abstinence-only education and intelligent design curriculum taught in schools and working with her pals on overturning abortion rulings. That scares me.
On the other hand, there are those who are so dedicated to McCain that they are willing to hand him the election with no pretense. One forum dweller goes so far as to write:
If anyone went through the torture John McCain did during wartime, I think we should just give him the presidency.
Another writes:
There are just some people in this country who aren't ready for a black president, and I'm taking that into consideration when casting my vote.
At this point, some of you are shaking your heads in disbelief, nodding your heads in agreement, or chuckling in bemusement. That being the case, let's look a little deeper. Here's what I know about Barack Obama:
He believes in…
Equal Pay for Equal Work, (regardless of gender or ethnicity)
Tax Breaks for Small Business owners,
Recruiting teachers from non-education backgrounds,
Communication with Global Leaders regardless of their standing with the U.S.
Relinquishing national power regarding gay-marriage, giving power to states
Secure border, but make illegal aliens pay fine, learn English and pass Citizenship test
A 16 month, phased withdrawl (1-2 brigades/month) from Iraq
In addition to these ideals, it's also well known that Obama has a seemingly endless amount of money with which to propagate his message. I dare say he could almost buy seven houses with all that money were he to have the desire. Among the things he has done with the dough are booking an entire channel on Dish Network to tell Americans about his plans. This channel is on 24/7 until November 4th. Obama also took out a chunk of airtime pre Game 6 of the World Series. No, commercials for baseball don't cost as much as they do for something comparable like the Super Bowl, but I'm guessing they're not cheap. Where does Obama get all this money you may ask? Well, mostly from private donors, but his main contributors come in the form of the following people:
Goldman Sachs (investment banking) $422K
Ubs Ag (Global Finance) $297K
Lehman Brothers (Global Finance, filed for bankruptcy in 9/08) $251K
National Amusements Inc (media & Entertainment, not porn) $246K
JP Morgan Chase & Co (Global Finance) $244K
Harvard University (Higher Education) $172K
University of California (Higher Education) $143K
Google Inc. (Electronics; Google's CEO is also Obama's technical advisor) $153K
So there's a little bit about Mr. Obama. Let us turn our attention now to Mr. McCain. By doing some digging, here's what I know about the AZ Senator:
McCain:
thinks the War in Iraq should be fought to a "successful conclusion" (whatever that means)
Graduated 894th out of 899th in his Naval Academy Class.
Considered the senate's most outspoken critic against unnecessary spending
Is an advocate of free trade (and NAFTA)
Employs, as advisers , 2 individuals crucial to implementing the Iraq war "strategy"
Believes embryos should be afforded full human rights
Supports inclusion of Intelligent Design in schools
Opposes Gay Marriage and adoption by Gay Parents.
Supports Stem Cell research (as long as the embryos are not cloned)
and, for good measure, let's get to know a little about my own personal political standing(s). I was raised by two parents who, for the most part, didn't discuss politics to any great length. I am aware that my mother is Pro-Life, Pro-Education, and Anti-Gun. I also know that my father supports the Anti-Stupid/Lesser-Of-Two Evils Party on a regular basis but tends to straddle the fence and lean to the left at most times. Likewise, I consider myself to be a left-leaning moderate. This is not because, as a fellow student government member in college put it, "people are moderates because they are too chicken-shit to take a stand on any issues," but rather because I believe most political problems are caused by our current system being incredibly entrenched in small-mindedness and polar partisanship. Generally, I'm prone to believing the following:
* being a military leader doesn't mean you'd automatically be good at leading our country. Look, I appreciate our servicemen and women. I even have family and friends serving in the Marines, Army, National Guard, and Air Force. Nonetheless, I wouldn't want ANY of these people being Commander in Chief, wartime or not. I'm sure if you asked most of them, they would tell you that they don't think most of their commanding officers should be in charge of a country either. I particularly feel this way because of our current standing in the world. The army has an "I said it, now do it" attitude with things and this has permeated the American mindset (though not so much now as it did in 2003). We don't need a hawkish leader who sings "bomb bomb bomb Iran." We need a leader who listens as much as he talks.
* McCarthyism be damned, I don't believe that Capitalism and Democracy are the be-all, end-all answers that the United States of America makes them out to be. Capitalism, just like Communism and Socialism, has its faults. Personally, I chuckle at people who claim that a free market economy is the best-thing-ever. Well, a free market is dependent on both the buyer and seller engaging in proprietary business practices. I also don't feel one can argue the advantageousness of Supply/Demand at this point. Demand is down, but prices aren't going down accordingly. This is what we call "getting bitch slapped by the proverbial 'Invisible Hand' "
* I abhor.. ABHOR.. the patriot act. I can't disagree more with the sentiment of "if you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about." My retort to that being, "if I'm not doing anything wrong, why do they need to watch me;" the thought here being that I have the potential to do evil, anti-American things at any point. Well, technically, any of the 305 million people in America are capable of doing something deemed "Un-American." I mean, certain parts of the country approved by Sarah Palin are less likely to do that, but still… they have potential. In essence, I simply think that it's quite hypocritical for a government to require complete and total disclosure of any and all information under the guise of "it's for your own protection" when they aren't willing to disclose a large majority of what they do lest it fall into the "wrong hands." Please, like governmental hands are the safest and most efficient hands out there? Give me a break.
* I'm also FOR gay marriage. Yes yes, Leviticus and all that bullshit give fuel to the Religious Right and give them a reason to say "God dislikes gays!!," despite the fact that virtually any strict constructionist with a talent for empty rhetoric can use scripture to his/her own bidding. Even in the antebellum age of the 1850-1860s, a large majority of the religious world was using Genesis 9:25-27 to justify how God tolerated slavery because of Noah's curse on Ham and Canaan. I think it's funny that when you ask many self-proclaimed righteous people if they would tolerate segregation and separate drinking fountains, bus seats, or restaurants, they give you an incredulous "of course not," though, when asked about gay rights, they are incredibly willing to start drafting Jim Crow laws all over; the Homo-Crow laws if you will. Opponents of gay marriage argue that it will ruin the sanctity of marriage. Well, the divorce rate's at about 50 percent right now, I think the sanctity of marriage is pretty bad with the hetero crowd too. Furthermore, the gays I know (which is quite a few, I did work for a non profit) are much more likely to be in a monogamous relationship than many of the heterosexual people I know.
This is not to say, however that I don't have my own share of "Elephantine" opinions.
* I am pro-life (except in cases if rape). Yes, this is minimally influenced by my mother's stance on the issue, but more so with the fact that I've held babies in my hands who have been the victims of things like crack, smoking, and FAS and it's a horrible feeling to know that someone can do that to a child. Hypocritical as it may sound given things I've done in my past, I really believe that in any sexual encounter you go into it KNOWING there is a chance, even an infinitesimally small one, that a baby could be a result; using a condom is basically just playing Russian roulette with a cap gun… if you put it up to your head and fire, it's still going to hurt. My views can be summed up like this: if you don't want anything coming OUT of your vagina, don't put anything IN your vagina. There are lots of other ways to be a feminist aside from killing something: protest for equal pay, don't shave your legs or armpits, do whatever… but I think your ability to be a woman starts and ends with your responsibility for yourself , and if you can't be responsible enough to weight the risks of your actions, then you need to deal with the consequences.
* I also think America needs to get tougher on Immigration and making English the National Language. This is not to say I'm a racist. Foreigners have a very distinct place in the amalgam that is America. However, I don't believe that we need illegal aliens here in America. Some political candidates would have you believe that these people are an integral part of America because they do the jobs that "normal" Americans don't want to. Let me tell you this then; in the 2 months in which I was unemployed after quitting the science museum, Temp Agencies I visited were flooded with people willing to work 60-80 hours a week for 8$/hr just to pay the bills. Somewhere out there, there is an American willing to do almost any job for almost any wage to feed his/her family. Politicians simply aren't willing to look hard enough because of the incredible amount of aliens already in America working. Likewise, it right pisses me off that I have to press a button for English or print a sign in 2 languages. This is American, speak English. Other countries have adopted national languages (even 2 -4 in some cases) without a large national outcry. I'm not heartless here, feel free to speak Chinese or Spanish in your own homes as a way of preserving the culture of your homeland, but when you come into this country you do so knowing that the vast majority (though, yes, it is shrinking) speaks English. You, as a simple common courtesy, should be able to construct a basic sentence in English. Subject-Verb-Object… it's not that hard. Knowing English might even help get you a job that doesn't involve picking produce or operating a deep fryer.
Taking all this into account, I'm not really sure who to vote for. Admittedly, I'm leaning toward Obama. But I feel that I'm NOT voting for McCain rather than voting FOR McCain. I really wish there was a way to vote with a -1 for a candidate instead of a +1. (yes, yes, some of you will argue that an Obama vote is like a -1 vote for McCain… but it's really not) . I don't necessarily believe that McCain brings with him another 4 years of Bush-like economics, but I certainly don't think McCain gives a rat's ass about the middle class. It also worries me that his pro-war stance will thin our troops out to an almost unsustainable level while his unwillingness to cut governmental spending will lead to an even bigger recession. This is not to say that I'm a banner waving Obama supporter either. I do think that lots of people are jumping on the bandwagon because Obama can do something we're not used to after 8 years: speak eloquently. Obama is a politician, no matter how much he makes us try to forget that. He changes his mind about issues (off shore drilling), refuses to take a stance of issues (gay marriage), opposes some of my own personal views on things, and relies on cliché keywords just as much as the next candidate. All that aside, I somehow think that he won't fuck up the country quite as much as his opponent, but I'm not really sure if that's reason enough to pull a lever in his favor quite yet.