Seeing Through the Election B.S.

First of all – the happy news: the dead horse smiley from the previous post was brought back this morning due to overwhelming number of requests. Not all is lost for this country yet.

I don’t really like to write political posts they are tedious and not funny. So as briefly as I can I will try to reflect why I don’t care for Obama and all the hoop-la about the change surrounding his candidacy. I’d like to preface that by saying that in my book Obama gets zero points for being black just like McCain gets no points for being a war hero and a POW. I will subtract few points from Obama for being inexperienced and from McCain for being too old and very likely one-term president. Now that race, military service and experience are out of the way, I’ll try to address Obama’s stance on some issues copied from CNN by a local Obama supporter.

  • Abortion: Supports abortion rights.

My Comment: I support abortion rights and I suppose that will be a change from the current president. However, although saying that he is pro-abortion as a candidate will most definitely cost him votes, I’d like to know what is he going to do to preserve said rights, which are under constant assault from rabid pro-life citizens. For example, I support many ideas in theory but I am not doing anything about it. Where is a plan?

  • Immigration:Supported Bush-backed immigration reform legislation, which would have increased funding and improved border security technology, improved enforcement of existing laws, and provided a legal path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants. Voted to authorize construction of a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

My Comment: This immigration plan is ridiculous and unworkable and the fence idea is beyond stupid. Over 5,000 people got through much shorter and much better guarded Berlin Wall, so how can anyone expect a 700-mile fence to do the job. I am all for illegal immigrants (make them legal) as long as they 1)Pay taxes, except for Social Security since they cannot collect it; 2)Do not receive any taxpayer-provided assistance no exceptions;3)Obey the law. If they still want to come here and work I don’t have a problem. On the other hand if I were Obama I’d try do make everyone forget I voted for that joke of a plan and come up with something short, loophole-proof, frugal and usable. He can use my plan above for free. Not much change here.

  • Iraq:Opposed use of military force in Iraq. Voted for war spending bill that would have withdrawn most U.S. troops by March 2008. Supports phased redeployment of U.S. troops. Opposed Bush’s plan to send additional troops to Iraq. Had once called for troop withdrawal to begin by the end of 2006.

My Comment: Not only I am against the war in Iraq, I predicted that it cannot and will not be won before they even allowed the president to start it. And yes, the blame lies with the Congress as much as with the President, no matter how much they feel they were duped. If you are easily cheated -quit the Congress you are not qualified. However, I am not so sure straight troop withdrawal is such a good idea and not because of my concern for the Iraqi people of which I have none. Iraqi people should care about themselves and do with their country whatever they feel like. I just don’t want it turned into something similar to the last days of Vietnam War. Someone smarter than me should devise a working plan to get out without putting American lives and property in danger. After that Iraqi’s can blow themselves up or resurrect Saddam Hussein. They had a chance even if they didn’t ask for it.

  • Same-sex marriage:Opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposes a constitutional ban. Supports civil unions.

My Comment: What kind of non-position is that? I don’t care about gay marriage as it is a non-issue for me. Gays could have had civil unions years ago but they insist on being able to marry, so obviously civil unions don’t go far enough. Opposing a constitutional ban is not really a big deal since it’s highly unlikely to happen, which, conversely, allows anyone to say they support it for the same reason -not gonna happen. In other words, no change and looks like it will happen through courts anyway.

  • Social Security:Opposes Bush plan allowing workers to divert some Social Security payroll taxes into private retirement accounts.

My Comment: Workers of my age have been all but officially informed that were are not getting Social Security. Why not let me manage a tiny amount of my own money, mismanagement of the funds is one of the reasons Social Security is going down. Who says some government schmuck can do it better. Obviously Bush’s plan is poorly thought out and harmful (according to whoever wrote the linked article),but the idea of taxpayer controlling in a controlled way some portion if his/her payroll tax is not so crazy. Opposing Bush’s plan is good if you have your own plan. Show me the plan or stop the bullshit until you have one.

  • Taxes:Opposed extending 2003 Bush tax cut law through 2010. Supports eliminating marriage penalty and extending child tax credit. Supports scaling back capital gains and dividends tax cuts and re-examining tax benefits for the top one percent of earners.

Raising taxes again. Not very smart but sure to please a lot of people. No change here, same old “tax the rich” song and dance. I am not rich and you shouldn’t be either, reminds me of some place where this was the foundation of the whole state. Where would that be…? Oh, I remember!

As you can see, besides saying the word “change” multiple times there is not much being offered. Another repulsive tactic on both sides (not new but very pronounced in this election) is picking a candidate to please a race, a demographic or a gender and not on merits. As XO discussed here a strategically selected winning ticket may contain a black guy, a woman and/or a Hispanic. Just like, for example, Abraham Lincoln was picked in 1860 to capture the vote of stovepipe hat wearers over 6 feet tall while his vice-president Hannibal Hamlin was picked to attract the votes of shorter people.

This is precisely why I don’t vote.

To be continued…