Posts Tagged politics

So what really is my problem with this year’s Democratic campaign? I’ll try to think it out here.

Disclaimer: I am not a registered Republican. I think of myself as an independent. I weigh the issues, reality, tone and context of the candidates.

In the past I’ve talked about how Obama doesn’t say anything and he’s spawned this hipster, popular, indie following. It’s true. I stand by it.

Well okay, I’ll back off on the “doesn’t say anything” comment. He has in the couple of months started outlining his plans, fantastically idealistic as they may be. And some non-hipster people are following him too.

My real issue this year is the falseness of it all. It’s ridiculous. It’s gloss and polish and rhetoric. It’s (sadly) the same way I communicate with visitors to the agapefest website. I don’t speak the same way I shape the tone of my posts there. And Obama does the same thing. He connects on one level but underneath that’s not what’s going on.

His money plans don’t work. He wants to lower taxes for the middle class. Except his idea of the middle class is a lot lower than what most of us would think. So low that my parents who couldn’t afford to send me to college yet made too much for me to get government aid would not make the cut. Instead, their taxes would go up. My taxes would go up. And I make jack. Really. I work in Christian higher ed. They don’t pay so much.

Energy is cool. Let’s be conscientious with our resources. Except in the meantime, over the next 10 years while we’re researching this technology, let’s raise taxes (which will decrease jobs by the way), let prices continue to go up on good, not drill so our gas prices continue to rise, and make government bigger. So says Obama.

While we’re at it, let’s continue to inflate the government and pass legislation on everything. When such legislation is passed, our rights are taken away. And when our government grows bigger and bigger, our money goes into their pockets and our freedoms go away. That is what Obama is for.

I have a problem with increasing funding for welfare, UHC and other similar forms of aid. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not against helping people. But I am against giving people handouts so they can just continue to live their messed up lives. The democratic party would like to increase those forms of aid and claim that it’s about helping people and making society better. On the topic of Universal Health Care, do we really want to be forced into a mediocre healthcare program? Do we want every person put on the same level? Do we want to get rid of the notion of an “American Dream” where any man can raise himself out of his current position and climb to new heights?

Is it even the government’s job to provide for those people, many of  whom are taking advantage of the system? Ask nurses who work in healthcare – they see those people everyday. Instead of programs being created to reform these people, programs are created to give them just enough money to be comfortable with abusing the system.

And so society doesn’t get better. It’s like pouring our money down the drain. If that money instead went into the programs to help people get jobs and lives it’d be different. If it wasn’t an encouragement to the majority of these people living off of government aid to stay on government aid I’d feel different. But it’s a waste. Especially when it’s at the expense of more jobs and lower taxes for everyone else.

Ask yourself a question: Are you lazy? Do you not want to take responsibility for yourself?

Obama will try to put that grandfather’s dream of a utopian world where the workers unite. Yes, everyone will be put on the same level. The rich will be punished for being rich and poor will get their money to raise their plight. He will violate the sound core of capitalism for the sake a proven failed system that always looks good on paper and always sounds good to young, idealistic ears.

Our markets will be closed off to other markets. Our goods prices will even go higher. Our bureaucracy will regulate trade strictly. This will harm the global economy. “Fair” trade is a myth. There is no such thing as “fair.” Someone is always discriminated against because a human is dictating the meaning of fair.

Our dependence on foreign oil is a fact right now. A fact that not only affects our economy but our safety. Obama wants to release this dependence. So do the Republicans. The difference is what each wants to do in the meantime. Not surprisingly, the Democrats opt for the position that will not only make the consumer poorer, but will also make the country itself poorer. If we do not drill here, we are either stuck being dependent on foreign oil over the next ten years while new energy technology is researched and developed (because we are not as far along as one might think), or we will have no oil and will be sitting on under developed energy tech that dimply does not work. And that means higher prices all around.

If you think that we need to pull our troops out of the middle east you need to broaden your context. Widen your view. With Russia already making eyes at us, the Evil Empire could very well rise again to challenge the US. And not amount of smooth-talking is going to fix that. You can delude yourself about that, but first, take a look at history.

Instead of getting worked up over the perceived issues, we should look at the big picture.