Double Journey

Is it me or is there a little bit of hypocrisy with Tim Geitner announcing Obama’s tax plan to cut down on tax evasion by wealthy individuals and corporations?  I understand he is the treasury secretary and might be the proper person from a protocol perspective to announce this, but still.  On this one, you might have wanted to send Tim Geitner on some important mission  somewhere else and have someone else in governmnet introduce Obama.

I did want to say Congratulations to Obama.  Although I don’t agree with all his politics, I do believe him to be an honorable man and a good leader. One thing that struck me in this campaign was that I really did believe that both candidates were good people.  I disagreed with parts of both parties platform, but in the end, I didn’t hate either candidate.  This was a welcome relief when compared to someone like George Bush who I just couldn’t believe ever rose to the highest office in the land.  Even in defeat, I thought John McCain was pretty gracious.

I think Obama will be a good President.  I am happy to witness this watershed moment in American History.  Let there be no mistake, this is a truly historic moment that I wasn’t sure would happen any time soon.  A black man will be President of the United States.  A minority has made a meteoric rise against some pretty big odds.   It fills me with some pride that we as a nation have gotten to a point where this is even possible.  I just hope he treats this opportunity for what it really is and rewards the American people for the faith they have bestowed upon him.

I’m sitting here on the cusp of an Obama victory.  Although not all the polls are closed yet, it is pretty apparent that he is going to win the Presidency.  Congratulations to him.  Also, the Democrats look to be gaining seats in both the House and the Senate

Although I am not a Republican, and I am not sad to see their downfall, I find their fall from the ranks of power to be very very interesting.  In theory, I should be a Republican.  I strongly believe in small government, a hallmark of Republican policy.  But this is NOT what the Republican party is about now.  Actually quite the opposite.  I find it ironic that the last time we saw a budget surplus was when we had a Democrat in the White House.  And the worse budget deficits we have ever seen were when a Republican was at the helm.  So what is wrong with the Republican party and what do they need to do to fix it?

• Realize that the Demographic of the United States is changing.  Not every one is a white, middle aged, male
• Get back to their roots.  Can they honestly say they are the party of fiscal responsibility?
• Stop thinking the United States is the center of the Universe.  The Iraq war killed you.
• Stop denying science.  Are you seriously going to tell me you don’t think Global Warming is actually happening?
•  Stop pandering to the Religious right.  While clearly an important part of your base, it strongly turns off a large number of fiscal conservatives.

The Republican Party just got their ass kicked.  They have to take a hard look in the mirror, and figure out how they became so detached from the rest of the country.

I for one am glad to see this election over.  I’m tired of hearing about it on the radio, TV, and everywhere I go.  This will hopefully be the final Political post I have for a while.

I have voted Democratic in the last two Presidential elections.  I have done this not because I believe in Democratic politics but because I simply can’t get behind the affiliation that the Republican party has with the Religious Right.  You see, I’m an arrogant son of a bitch.  I’m pretty sure I know what is best for me.  Notice I said for me.  I believe others know what is best for them.  I can not stand the idea that others think they know what is best for me.  This includes who I decide to sleep with and if I decide to have kids.  Now John McCain had been more in the middle for lots of these social issues, but he has had to move decidedly to the right to appease this faction of his party.  This act does not sit too well with me because I believe a leader has to stand for what he believes in and have others follow, not the other way around.

The other problem I have with McCain is his age and his health.  However awful that may sound, it is a serious concern for me.  It wouldn’t normally be except for one thing, Sarah Palin.  This women seriously scares the hell out of me.  I can’t imagine her being the leader of the free world.  We would be one heart attack from her in the Oval Office.  She is simply not qualified to be there and there is no way I’m going to put her that close.

Unfortunately for me, in this country, I have a problem with the other side, the Democrats.  While Republicans want to tell me I’m evil for my moral beliefs, Democrats tell me I’m evil for my financial beliefs.  One party wants to tell me how to live my life, the other wants to tell me how to spend my money.  If you know me, you know that these are pretty much the same thing to me.  Obama’s plans to put a punitive tax on the oil companies, to tax “the rich”, and to eliminate taxes for a large group of Americans.  All these ideas just drive me crazy, and put us down a very slippery path to a managed economy.  I might be able to overlook these except for the last one.  I strongly believe in broadening the tax base, not shrinking it.  This does not mean tax the poor, but it does mean that we are all in this together.

Even given these major problems I have with Obama, I still might give him my vote.  He is, at the very least, charasmatic and a strong leader.  For someone to be a great leader, you don’t necessarily have to believe in  everything they believe in.   None of the third party candidates really excite me.  The Libretarian Party is the one that is closest to my beliefs, but I’m unaligned with them on other issues as well and I just don’t know enough about them to be convinced they deserve my vote.  The biggest benefit of me doing this would be to throw my support behind a third party to hopefully show that a third party is actually viable in this country.  I think we would be much better off if we had three major parties rather than two.  The way we have it today forces the candidates to pander to the middle and often give us what we have today, the choice of whichever is the lesser evil.

I would love to not cast a vote for any candidate, but that would be the easy way out, and I don’t like taking the easy way out.