Allow me to introduce myself; I'm a man of wealth and taste.
Well, not really, and that's part of the reason I'm
here. You can call me Cappy, for now,
but I thought it was time to break free from the mold and speak to anyone who
will listen about the issues and policies that should be shaping the country
and the world. I am a registered Patriot
Party Voter as the name of the blog suggests.
I have voted in every presidential election since I turned 18. If you want to know where my votes have been
cast:
Bush
Perot
Perot
Gore… this was more of a vote against a fiscally
irresponsible tax cut than a vote for Gore.
Kerry... not officially yet but as of 10/20 I have moved
from the undecided column to the Kerry column.
On 10/19 after researching the options carefully I was
leaning toward Bush. One of the deciding
factors was who I would trust not to push the button until the other missiles
were already in the air. Really that's
what it comes down to. Neither one of
these guys really speaks to me directly, one is far too liberal, the other far
too conservative. So I think I'll pick
the guy who would rather talk than fight.
I can picture Kerry on the phone talking to another world leader until
the missiles were on RADAR. Bush on the
other hand would be hitting it like the thing was a whack-a-mole game and he
had a fist full of quarters.
I like the way Kerry thinks on domestic matters.
I’d like to see a return to spend as you go policies. You cannot run a deficit. I wouldn’t mind seeing a raise in taxes. The spending power of the American government
is a powerful thing. I see taxes as
charitable contributions. Balance the
budget, reign in the deficit. Make sure
my Parents are taken care of for the remainder of their days with Social
Security, Medicare and I’ll look out for myself.
I think health care needs to be a priority, I didn’t vote
for Clinton
either time, mostly because Perot was the right man for the job. Not so much the second time, but the first
time he would have cleaned house. I liked
what the Clintons
had to say about health care but I didn’t think they went far enough. I’d like to stress that I am not a socialist,
and I don’t believe socialist health care a la Canada is the answer. Socialized Medicine WILL stymie research and
development of cures. But I don’t
understand how conservative thinkers can say this, and then prohibit the
research on stem cells. I’m not saying
we should broker or harvest embryos but I don’t see any reason to waste frozen
embryos left of from fertility clinics. Bush’s ideas for health care are
prehistoric, and geared at the very rich and the very poor, like most of his
other programs. I can’t understand the
support he has in the middle class.
Trickle down economics has proven itself as a failure. Ron Reagan gave it 8 years to develop, and
all we got was a huge deficit.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a basic health care policy in place
so that everyone would have access to what is called Major Medical in some
circles. But what I’d really like to see
is very tight restrictions placed on Prescription drugs, and health care
costs. I used to audit unpaid medical
bills for a local hospital. You would be
surprised by some of the things that go on.
Yes, there are $12 dollar charges for aspirin. I think attacking the problem from a
different angle is key, but we’ll get more into my
proposed solutions later. For now we are
talking about my vote and what decided it.
I like Kerry’s stance on outsourcing a lot. In my opinion he is far more progressive on
the topic, and his views are very close to mine. As a victim of outsourcing on two fronts
after my wife and I both lost our jobs to outsourcing in the last 6 years, my
wife in April, this is an issue very close to home. You can’t talk about the economy in my opinion
without talking about closing the gap on the trade deficit, and
outsourcing.
Kerry’s MANBIC is a phenomenal idea, again far surpassing
anything Bush had to offer. Modeled
after SBIC, a proven winner, I think it will really
jumpstart the manufacturing sector.
Lowering corporate taxes and giving new job tax cuts are
also strong ideas to help put the economy on the fast track. I’m not really sure why people thought Bush’s
tax cut was that great of an idea. How
is giving rich people a tax cut going to stimulate the economy? Corporate tax cuts make more sense. The vast majority of purchases are made by
companies and the government, not individuals.
You give a rich guy a tax break he’s going to buy a boat. You give a corporation a tax cut and they will
increase spending across several sectors and probably hire more people.
Education is another priority for me and again Kerry was the
stronger of the two.
Homeland Security
On the whole I favored Bush on this subject. I thought he handled September 11th
as best as we could have hoped. Right up
until the invasion of Iraq. I’m not convinced that the whole invasion of
Iraq was not a covert operation (done right out in the open) to maintain a
military presence near Iran, and remove it from the Muslim Holy Lands in Saudi
Arabia to ease terrorist tensions, and protect our interests in Israel. But that is more Foreign Policy than domestic
protection.
After much deliberation, I had to lower the weight I gave to
this particular set of issues as a whole.
I think for the most part the fact that a Department of Homeland
Security even exists right now, is a huge step in the right direction. I would
feel very safe if John Kerry won the election and offered this directorship to
GWB. Never happen, but talk about the
best of both worlds. It is the one set
of issues that I give over to Bush almost in its entirety.
Foreign Policy & The War In Iraq
This is where I really made my decision. I think GWB is too over the top for Foreign
Policy and Kerry a shade too soft, but I do not like the Maverick Mentality of
GWB. I know that there is only 4 fewer
countries in this coalition than there was in the first Gulf War, but I didn’t
like the feel of how this all played out.
I for one would vote GWB in an instant, if we found stockpiles of WMD,
and a viable nuclear program, and a money trail to Osama bin Laden. But he struck out swinging. Next batter. If his
information was that bad, then he is to blame.
If the stuff was really there and spirited out of the country in the
dark of night right before we invaded and we cannot track it down, then he was
outsmarted by Saddam Hussein and he was to blame. If there was never any real threat and this
was revenge then he was to blame. Remember
the sign on Truman’s desk… The Buck Stops Here.
Conservatives ask “is the world a better place with Saddam Hussein
out of power?” On the surface the answer
to that is of course yes. And If Kerry loses
then it will because he didn’t answer this question correctly.
There is a deeper, darker side to that question. Did taking Saddam out of power, and all the
positives that go with that, when placed on a balance against the negatives -
make the world a better place? Are the
Muslim Fanatic’s cries of oppression by the great Satan that much harder to
deny? Did the harsh way we handled our
allies diplomatically tarnish the US image overseas? Did the posturing and grandstanding against
Russia and China increase tensions at a time those three countries needed to
form an alliance against nuclear proliferation and rogue states, whether they
be Al Qaeda, Chechnya, or North Korea?
Will it have a lasting effect on our relationship with China as we try to negotiate with North Korea? Did it go a long way towards proving Kim Jong Ills claims to his people of Americas Imperialistic ways,
eliminating the North Korean people as a possible ally should it ever come down
to military force on the Korean peninsula?
If we had found proof; and if we had finished the job, and
left no doubt, and if we would have protected the Iraqis from the insurgents
(far more of them have died than American Soldiers) then we could look the
world in the eyes and say we were sorry for stepping on their toes, but somebody
had to do something and there wasn’t any time to argue. But we didn’t and only some skillful tap dancing
by GWB left us looking any more foolish than we did. Can he keep up this song and dance for
another 4 years should he win?
And so I come back to when the pressure is mounting and the
nuclear threat is growing, do I want a Maverick Texas Cowboy or a Catholic
School Boy with his finger on the button.