Monday, September 29, 2008

The Patriarch's Pen: Election 2008, Article 1

I know politics and families do not often mix. Politics is, likely, a subject I should avoid in a family blog or newsletter. Yet, this year’s Presidential election greatly concerns me. Therefore, I want to express my opinion (albeit briefly) about the various candidates just to provide the “Patriarch’s” thoughts on the matter.

This entry concerns Senator Obama. The November newsletter, which will be published just before the election, will discuss Senator McCain as well as 3rd party candidates. Those entries will appear on the Wild Walker World blog during the early party of October.

Why I will NOT Vote for Senator Barack Obama

The following are many of the reasons why I will not and can not support Barack Obama for the Presidency. Apart from item #1, the reasons are listed in no specific order.

1. Senator Obama supports the killing of the unborn. Senator Obama not only supports the pro-death cause, he goes far beyond where most abortionists go. Senator Obama supports partial birth abortions. Furthermore, he supports not caring for aborted babies who survive the abortion attempt. He has denied the latter charge but the facts are clear that is his position. He fears caring for such children will result in a “slippery slope” discussion which might end abortions.

Personally, I need no other reasons than that. I will never vote for any candidate of any party for any office at any time when I know they support killing unborn children. How can I trust my life and my family’s lives to the hands of someone who has no problem murdering these infants?

2. Senator Obama will raise taxes. I know Senator Obama promises a tax cut to everyone who makes under $250,000. But I have also heard he will remove the cap on Social Security taxes, eliminate the Bush tax cuts, keep the death tax, and raise sales taxes. Furthermore, he’ll need money for his national health care program as well as other plans he has. He may send you $1000 as he has promised but I suspect that will not turn out to be a cut overall but just a slight reduction in an overall increase.

3. Senator Obama will pull out of the Middle East. Great, given Russia is working with Venezuela and Al Queda still intends to destroy us. Let’s bring the battle to our own front yards.

4. Senator Obama will reduce the military. He has especially noted his attempts to cut the missile defense technology. Well, President Clinton also cut back the military when he was in office. So, when we needed a military to fight in the Middle East, we had to spend tons of money to rebuild it. A reduced military in light of worldwide terrorism is stupid.

5. Senator Obama believes in redistribution of wealth. His “Robin Hood” philosophy of “taking from the rich and giving to the poor” has been clearly documented. This is not only Robin Hood’s slogan; it is also the slogan of socialism and communism. Where is the motivation for those who earn a lot of money and already invest that money into the lives of others via the businesses they run to continue to make money when the Senator and Congress intends to give it to those who will not work? Furthermore, where is the motivation by those who do not work to seek work when the government is giving them the money from the wealthy? I am not wealthy but I also don’t want the government giving me someone else’s money.

6. Senator Obama will raise the capital gains tax. Increasing capital gains will especially hurt small businesses. Such an increase will force companies to: (1) increase the price of their products (see 2 above), (2) reduce employee pay (see 2 above), (3) replace employees with cheaper foreign labor, (4) reduce staff (i.e., layoff), (5) any combination of the above or (6) close up their business. Furthermore, an increase in the capital gains will reduce the incentive to start new businesses (e.g., companies to find alternative sources of energy).

7. Senator Obama supports national health care. He wants health care for everyone, a health care system run by the government. Here is another socialist program we can not afford. Are the rich paying for this in addition to giving their money to others? Or, will there be some type of new tax (go back and reread #2) to help fund this program? Furthermore, name one program the federal government created and ran which was successful? Think about your trips to the local License Bureau or to a Social Security office. Do you really want your health care funded and directed by the federal government?

8. Senator Obama opposes drilling off shore and in Alaska. He supports alternative forms of energy as does any sane person. But, like it or not, we MUST have oil for the near term. However, he will not support drilling off our coasts or in ANWR meaning we must keep buying from foreign nations including some which are becoming less friendly to the United States. He would prefer taxing the “wealthy” oil companies and, somehow, force them to find alternative sources of energy. If additional taxes are placed on oil, the oil companies will pass them on to you by increased prices (see item 2 above). Furthermore, why is it the OIL companies’ responsibility to find ALTERNATIVE energy sources? They are in the OIL business. We need new businesses to deal with that problem. Oh, I forgot, the increase in the capital gains tax will make new business ventures more difficult.

9. Senator Obama has no proven leadership characteristics and has accomplished nothing in the political world. In neither the Illinois Senate nor the United States Senate, Barack Obama has done nothing of importance. Many of his votes in the Illinois Senate were “present” rather than “yes” or “no”. A leader has to be able to take a stand and Senator Obama has not proven he has that ability.

10. Senator Obama has questionable personal ties. His life and political background has been repeatedly tainted by the close associates he has had: hate spewing preachers, a known and proud terrorist, a crook, Wall Street tycoons, etc. Who will he have to advise him while in the White House?

11. Senator Obama will appoint liberal justices to the Supreme Court. One or two justices will certainly retire during the next administration, maybe more. Senator Obama will appoint and the Democrat Congress (see # 12 below) will approve justices that are liberal in philosophy. This will result in a Supreme Court which creates law rather than interprets law and will do so long after Senator Obama is out of office.

12. Senator Obama would put the Federal government under the control of one party. His election, barring some miracles in the House and Senate races, will give the Democrats firm control of the legislative and executive branches of government. Given the far left philosophy of Senator Obama (called the most liberal man in Congress; by the way, Vice President candidate Joe Biden is listed as the 3rd most liberal man in Congress) as well as the far left bent of many in Congress, such a scenario will result in a far left turn for our nation, a turn from which we may never recover.

In my opinion, Senator Barack Obama is a very dangerous individual for those who love our country and the freedoms we have.

2 comments:

Mustang Matt said...

I don't like Obama either and I do not want him to be our next President but to be fair:

Item 2: Any President is going to have to raise taxes. With our nation building, bailout of the world's banks, and national debt so far through the roof it's no longer fathomable it would be impossible not to raise taxes. Anyone that believes we can recover from this mess without raising taxes is not in their right mind.

Item 5: Is the bailout not redistribution of wealth? So far it's been shot down and I praise Missouri reps Hulshof and Akin among the rest who voted "no" on the bailout as can be seen here:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll674.xml

In addition I think it's important to remind every American voter of the 2008 GOP party platform:

http://www.gop.com/2008Platform/Economy.htm

"We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself."

Most of the other points I'm not opposed to. The Russia/Venezuela situation is very bothersome to me. Chavez is a fly on the wall and as annoying as he is he is harmless. Energy independence will solve this problem but it will destroy the Venezuelan economy as they are completely dependent on our addiction to oil. (Venezuela is currently our fourth largest oil provider.)

Bringing our military home would allow us to increase spending in defense as it cuts our support costs and it cuts our nation building fees. When Iraq wants to pay for our services with cash or oil, then we'll discuss a contract that involves us staying there indefinitely.

TheSaxonHus said...

A brief response to your comment:

Item 2: "Any President is going to have to raise taxes". Hmmm, maybe, depending on the type of package Congress puts together this week. But my point in the original post is that, despite what Senator Obama claims, most of the 95% he claims he will give a refund to will actually pay more in taxes BASED ON HIS PHILOSOPHY AND POLICIES. Given all the programs he wishes to initiate, our taxes will go up. Senator Obama is not telling us the truth.

The philosophy of John McCain is NOT to raise taxes but to cut them where he can. McCain certainly is for much smaller government than Obama, hence, less taxes.

By the way, I am in my right mind (at least I think I am) and believe there may be answers to our problems without tax increases.

Item 5: Absolutely a redistribution of wealth. Senator McCain could shine quite brightly here if he came out against the deal. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear he's going to do that.

Capitalism not only provides for great successes, it also permits great failures. In this particular situation, though, the failure may mostly be placed at the feet of our government which demanded banks and other credit agencies give loans to those who could not afford them. Capitalism works much better when the government gets out of the way. That's not what Congress is pushing today, though.

I do believe you are correct relative to Iraq paying the United States for our help, specifically in terms of oil. While I distrust politicians, I am HOPING there are background discussions between our government and the Iraqis about future reimbursement for our military assistance. If such talks are not taking place, they should pronto.