I'm not sure how you get your articles to show up here, so I'm just posting my first blog article. If this is bad form I apologize. I'm still learning.
Introducing Cappy
Or In this corner the downtrodden American Voter
By Cappy1507
Posted Sunday, October 31, 2004 on A true alternative to the red and blues
Discussion: Welcome
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.