Election Dissection

So - I have to thank the good folks at CNN for giving us a football like play by play of every single thing that goes on during the election. I know listen to talk radio every morning, noon and night that I am in my car and I last week I fell asleep watching Wolf Blitzer on Friday night.

I am forced to ask myself this. What happened to my youth?

Perhaps I am a late bloomer when it comes to idealism and wanting to save the world from disaster. That probably should have come ten years ago when I first started college. Ah well. I am thankful that I care enough about this country to pay attention to what is going on and I am a strong enough individual to not vote strictly down party lines. While I am a fierce Obama/Biden ticket supporter, I am choosing to vote for a moderate Republican for a House seat and plan to re-elect a Lake County District Board member who voted exactly how I would have. I find that people get so hung up on one, two or many irrelevant facts when it comes to picking candidates. I also find that people are only ever concerned with the Presidential picks, but could care less about Congress - BIG MISTAKE!

But, since we are on the topic of Presidential politics, I have a few opinions that I would like to share with my 3 readers:

• It is no surprise to anyone that Fox News likes to pretend like the roll down the middle, but they lean ( I mean lay down) to the right. Bill O'Reilly decided that since so many people in the country aren't "real Americans" that we would just start telling the terrorists who it was OK to bomb. That's right. He said that it would be OK to eradicate San Francisco because it wasn't part of the "real America". And they have the nerve to call Obama a terrorist? W.O.W. What's more frightening is that there are those out there who agree with this.
• I am tired of Republican VP candidates pretty much telling me that I am Anti-American because I am not voting for their ticket. Does anyone read history?? Republican government has historically catered to the rich and big business. Clearly giving tax breaks to those large corporations has not helped them create U.S. jobs, but it has helped their CEO's line their pockets. And to call someone who wants to spread tax breaks among the middle-class Americans a socialist. Ummmm.....Your President and Secretary of the Treasury just unleashed a nearly $1 Trillion bailout of Wall Street. Is that not socialism? Spreading OUR taxpayer wealth to the......oh yes. Wealthy. Gotcha.
• I applaud John McCain for removing the microphone from folks who call Obama an Arab and those that are "terrified" of him becoming President. (I think that is the real McCain. I do think that he is an honest and decent person, I just think he has horrible advisors and campaign managers and made a catastrophic mistake in Sarah Palin). HOWEVER, he denounced the fact that Obama is an Arab, which he is not, but did so by saying he's a "good family man" as if being Muslim or Arab is a bad thing. Is there nobody who has a problem with this? What if Muslims ran this country and were talking nonsense about Christians on a national stage (I'm talking to you Rush Limbaugh)? Oh, but that could never happen right? Tell that to Jesus. He was a minority believer once too.
• Taxes. Stop talking about them. We live a life of luxury here in America no matter how you slice it. Somebody has to pay for it. I think those that live in more luxury should have to pay more for it. If you are wealthy enough to own multiple homes, have private jets and spend $25k night for a private island vacation, then you can afford to chip in a little more for our national infrastructure. Nobody is telling the wealthy to make less money or taking away something that they can't live with out.
• Last but not least. I certainly hope, that no matter who anyone votes for, that they are doing so because they think that person is the best hope for getting this country out of the colossal craphole that we are in. Not because they are black, old, a woman, Arab, a Christian, pro-life, pro-choice, or because they like the tie they wore at the last debate. Focus on the issues at hand. Too bad there wasn't a decent third party candidate....
• Ron Paul '08

Thanks for reading my rants. I am just feeding into the negativity that I see out there every day. One word misspoken and everyone erupts! This has become a world where we have to Fact Check every single comment made. Truly guilty until proven innocent. I imagine our forefathers are rolling around in their graves at the moment.

Please vote. It's your right that was so hard fought for. Have some respect for our predecessors.

Peace.