Well obviously this blogging thing hasn't really taken off here in my world, but every now and then I'm inspired to share my thoughts with the world on matters both important and unimportant. Let's be honest, most of you knew I'd ultimately use this blog to spout off on my little soap box whenever I felt the need.
Well, here you have it - I'm waxing political this evening... Read on if you care!
(You can blame the following on my siblings if you know them, since they've raised political questions on their blogs...)
I don't want to push one candidate or bash one candidate, I just want to comment on what I see in each of the candidates about which I feel like commenting. I'm not going to discuss Hillary, because I quite honestly believe she could be the worst president that America could get. She's not worth my time. However, I also believe that Ron Paul could be a disaster for our country, but I'm still going to comment on him because his ideas intrigue me. So, in no particular order, here goes...
We'll start with Barack Obama, who won Iowa. I'm quite honestly glad that we finally have a viable candidate for President who finally breaks away from a long history of racism in our country. I strongly believe that America has been in a place to accept this for quite some time, but until now we simply haven't had a candidate for people to take seriously (no, I don't count Allen Keys). However, I think that Obama is still one of the least qualified candidates running to be the 44th president. As a single term US senator, he hardly can claim the "experience" gained from being in Washington. His education was at Columbia University (Very liberal school) and he got his degree in "international relations", which might explain the complete ineptitude he has displayed to date over issues of foreign policy, such as stating he would hold talks with dictators of Iran, Cuba, and North Korea and then swinging to the opposite extreme and discussing possible invasions of Pakistan. In regards to this issue, Jennifer Dyck (director of public relations for the CIA) had this to say:
"...So not only did he exhibit a serious deficiency in judgment the first time round. It seems he still has not learned his lesson. The key here is Obama’s judgment and that is something that will be scrutinized in the upcoming months. If his Pakistan policy is any indicator, he has one of two problems…he either lacks the experience to have good judgment or he just lacks judgment in the national security arena."
Oboma constantly discusses "change" that he will bring, (remind you of all of the democratic candidates for Congress last election?), but just like in the past, nobody seems to know what "change" will really consist of - his popularity is surging because people are tired of the current state of Washington, but unless he actually starts outlining some real policies (other than universal health care), I'm not getting my hopes up.
Finally, he claims to be a Christian, but any "Christian" who supports abortion like Oboma doesn't see eye to eye with me on morality which should be strongly influenced by his faith.
...don't get me started on his tax ideas - liberals and their taxes...
Next comes tonight's winner in New Hampshire, John McCain. McCain has caught a lot of attention lately as a straight talking Republican "Maverick" with strong support for our troops. I'll be very surprised if McCain actually gets the nomination, but if it comes down to that, I'll hold my nose and vote for him - I just won't like it. Let me explain...
McCain has painted himself as a "Maverick", but if you really look at his positions, he's just siding with democrats. McCain's campaign finance reform and, most recently, McCain/Kennedy's immigration reform bills have clearly departed from the republican line of thinking. Any senator who has not only voted but stepped up and pushed these bills is going to have to work hard to gain my trust as a legitimate conservative candidate. Also, I don't think McCain has any room to be criticizing other candidates for changing their positions, since he's clearly changed his positions on immigration in just the past few months...
Some who have worked with McCain have come out and said that he has a rather impressive temper - an allegation which I believe should be taken into account, since the American Presidency and a hot temper probably don't mesh well together. McCain also has his age against him - at 72, he'd be the oldest president since Reagan, if I'm not mistaken. Though I may not have a problem with that, today's younger generations would look at him next to Obama and I don't think there would be much of a contest!
Mike Huckabee has made waves coming from behind and winning a significant victory in Iowa with very little money and pretty dismal campaign organization. As a Christian, I should probably be really excited about this "Baptist Minister from the south" coming and beating all these big men from the political establishment, but, quite frankly, I'm not. In fact, I hope his momentum dies out very quickly (which it already may have, since he only got 11% of the vote in New Hampshire today). Again, if he becomes the republican nominee, I'll vote for him, but that doesn't mean I have high hopes for a Huckabee presidency.
I have serious concerns about his actual record. I understand that his tax increases may have been affected by court orders, etc. but as governor of AK for more than a decade, I feel like if he really wanted to decrease government spending, he could have made a little progress. His idea of a "fair tax", as nice as it may sound, is ridiculous - I strongly agree that America's tax system needs to be revamped, but there is enough question raised about the FairTax and its actual ability to keep the government "revenue neutral" while not hurting the economy, I can honestly say I don't believe it will ever pass congress. (with just a little research, you can find some interesting things about the fair tax - like that the government has to pay taxes. If the military buys a $1 million tank, they have to pay an extra $300,000 to themselves in taxes. This falsely boosts the revenue from the tax system...)
More significantly, he has a record of pardoning criminals. I don't know this for sure, but if his willingness to "forgive" violent criminals comes from his Christian faith, I believe he should read through the Old Testament again. I believe that in his position of authority, it is his job to protect those who elected him. Would he be willing to forgive terrorists if they attack this country, instead of pursuing them to protect the United States? Some of his statements on foreign policy might lead one to believe so... Another position which worries me is his desire for a federal ban on public smoking. Last time I checked, true conservatives stand for smaller government, not bigger government. Plus, maybe he should see how much of a hit his FairTax would take when you remove the significant revenue that the government receives from cigarette taxes right now...
Huckabee does have a strong, consistent, and unquestionable record as a pro-life politician. I can appreciate and praise that, but beyond that, I cannot support him. I honestly believe his campaign will end after South Carolina, where he should get a strong showing, since SC has the highest percentage of homeschoolers per ca pita. Does anyone honestly believe he'll stand a chance in states in the west? I'd rather not elect another Jimmy Carter, and I don't think I'm the only one.
Gaining massive support amongst college students (and white supremacists), Ron Paul has managed to raise a significant amount of money, and he managed to win a whopping 0 delegates in New Hampshire today. In my mind, Ron Paul is by no means a serious candidate, but some of his ideas catch my attention, and I completely understand why others my age have gathered behind him in support. We are tired of watching our hard earned money be taxed and then miss managed in countless ways and spent to fight wars everywhere from Eastern Europe to Africa, to the Middle East. Billions of dollars of aid are sent to countries which squander it, and countless billions are spent on military actions overseas.
Sure, I understand why we don't like it, but Ron Paul's nationalistic, "seclusionistic" ideas just don't pan out in the real world. It might be easier to at least dream about just pouring money into our economy and protecting the American people within our borders if it still took months to sail from Europe to America, but in today's world it just doesn't work.
As far as the questionable associations between him and neo-Nazi/white supremacist groups, today he came out and said he "took responsibility" for not paying close enough attention to what his name was attached to, and that some of the articles he never saw or edited. That might be a good argument if it was just one or two articles, but the association is pretty wide spread, and rather obvious. Do a Google search for Ron Paul and look at some of the hits...
Quite honestly, however, I'm glad someone is out there touting smaller government and controlled spending and the importance of strengthening our economy. At least there's someone...
But wait - maybe there is another candidate who cares about the economy! And Mitt Romney might have the experience to back it up! My favorite thing about Mitt is his business experience. I'd rather have a businessman than a politician in office any day. His experience buying businesses in trouble and turning them into profitable companies speaks volumes about his practical experience in the world of economics and tells me he could stand a chance of shaping up Washington's spending spree.
Being a good solid capitalist, however, makes Massachusetts' health care system seem rather odd, but Romney has said he's proud of it. Part of me wonders how much of that is just political, since you pretty much have to be in favor of health care in politics today, but still... Also, in a more general sense, I find myself wondering how a state as liberal as MA manged to elect a "conservative" to be their governor.
Regardless, he's a committed Mormon, and when you look at Mormon's commitment to family values and overall morality, I believe that we would see eye to eye on most moral issues, which is more than I can say for the rest of the republican candidates. (I know people say he's flip-flopped on abortion, but I view it more as a "flip", since he hasn't changed back. I'll accept converts! He has also made clear that he personally never supported abortion, but felt that as a political issue, he should leave it up to the state.) His (sizable) family, which includes 10 grandchildren, gives me the hope that he cares enough about America's future to want to do something about its present.
Even if Mitt seems more like a polished politician on the campaign trail, I like his experience and he's my first choice right now...
Finally - Rudy Giuliani. First off, his name is hard to spell, and that's always a hassle in the case of a president. Take that into serious consideration when you cast your ballot.
Seriously though - if Romney continues to lack the support necessary and if Giuliani's support picks up, I will have very little problem supporting him for president. I do not see him as a strong moral leader, and his positions on abortion certainly don't agree with mine, but he has promised that he would appoint strict constitutionalists to the courts, and that's really all we can ask. I'm honestly not even sure Bush did as much!
I would certainly feel much more comfortable having Rudy as a commander in chief of our military than Huckabee or Obama - Rudy places a very high priority on American security, and I'm grateful for that. He has demonstrated a strong ability to lead in New York and I have high hopes that he could turn out to be a good president of these United States. I know that as a Christian it may seem strange that I would support him (or Romney) over Huckabee, for example, but I'm voting for a president here, not a pastor - lots of presidents (like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton) have said they're Christians, and that hasn't gotten us very far now, has it?
I've left a lot of issues out, since to a great extent this is "stream of consciousness" as I try to make sense of all the thoughts in my head. One is federally sponsored embryonic stem cell research, which is very important, so let me explain. I think that this issue will largely solve itself - Bush vetoed bills that would have allowed it, and science has since shown that stem cells can be cultivated without the use of embryos. With that knowledge, I think that this will become less and less of an issue on the federal level, but I can't say that for sure.
Immigration is another one - frankly, I don't have high hopes that the government will ever get around to doing much to fix this issue. If there's one out there, I'll be most hopeful about Romney. Huckabee's record is pathetic, and Giuliani's and McCain's are questionable at best. Ron Paul's just a nut.
One final point - some have raised issues with Romney's "Negative Campaign". I don't watch TV, so I haven't seen his ads myself (plus they haven't played in CA anyways) but I'm not sure I agree that "negative" campaigning is such a bad thing. This isn't a beauty pageant or a popularity contest, it's an election. If someone thinks that an opponent is wrong about something, has a bad record, etc. then by all means tell me about it so I can look into it. Yes, the candidates still have to tell me about their ideas, but I don't have a problem with them taking the gloves off and throwing a few punches.
I'll leave you with these interesting stats (from before New Hampshire), showing the delegates won by each candidate so far. Keep this in mind when the media only focuses on the winner!
Barack Obama (16)
Bill Richardson (0)
Hillary Clinton (15)
John Edwards (14)
Fred Thompson (3)
John McCain (3)
Mike Huckabee (17)
Mitt Romney (12)
Ron Paul (2)
Rudy Giuliani (0)
...obviously McCain and Hillary got a little boost tonight, but Romney still came in a strong second, so I wouldn't be surprised if he at least ties with Huckabee after tonight. Hillary and Oboma stayed neck and neck as far as delegates go, but Edwards dropped way back...
I don't even know if any of this makes sense, but I'm going to go read in bed now with my wife. Sorry if it's all a jumbled mess - it's not like I'm an authority on politics anyways. Take it or leave it, but it's the best I've got for now!
