It has been a while since I commented on the recent election. As many of you know, I originally supported Ron Paul for his views on limited government and the Constitution of the United States of America. However, Ron Paul doesn't seem real "electable"… (note that he DID beat Rudy!) As a result, I have been looking around at some of the other candidates – mostly John McCain and Barack Obama.
In the interest of space, I'm going to list some of my likes and dislikes along with some links for folks to find more information.
[@more@]
John McCain
Like:
* Background with war and a divided nation (ie. Vietnam war hero)
* Good thoughts about the war. He doesn't like the way it has been handled. But he also is looking at what would happen if we pulled out to fast.
* Climate change – after his 2000 presidential bid, he decided to find out more about this issue. As a result, he traveled around the world and saw the hard, cold facts. Now he realizes that we need to do something soon to lower carbon emissions. Or we will be giving our kids a dead world.
* Pork – doesn't like them. He stated that he will veto any pork barrel bill that comes to him as President (note that he thinks all the pork bill has breed corruption).
Dislike:
* McCain he has missed 56% of all votes for the 110th Congress. Basically, he decided that he doesn't need to show up for work. If he was working any other job in the country, he would be fired.
I don't know about you, but I don't want a President who can't even show up for the job he was elected to. By the way, to put his absenteeism in perspective, Hillary Clinton has only missed 25% of all votes this term. Barack Obama has only missed 35% of all votes….
Sources: Washington Post and Dailykos.com
* McCain voted to remove Habeas Corpus. I hope this disturbs you….
For those of you who don't know what Habeas Corpus is, it is the "summons with the force of a court order addressed to the custodian (such as a prison official) demanding that a prisoner be brought before the court, together with proof of authority, allowing the court to determine whether that custodian has lawful authority to hold that person, or, if not, the person should be released from custody." (source)
In regular English, the USA government can legally hold any one accused of being an "unlawful combatant" forever without telling them or anyone else why they are being held. What is even scarier is that it only takes one person, the President of the United States, to label anyone an "unlawful combatant".
So when does the term "unlawful combatant" become attached to Christians? Or anyone who dislikes the polices of the current President? Slippery slope…
Sources:
Senate.gov – amendment to "strike the provision regarding habeas review" (McCain voted against it)
Senate.gov – Military Commissions Act (McCain voted for it)
Barack Obama
Like
* Obama voted against the Military Commissions Act and the removal of Habeas Corpus.
* He wants to open up communication to all nations, instead of "punishing" bad nations by refusing to talk to them.
* He recognizes that the problems with this nation is not one party or the other. It's a mind set – a way of doing things. He wants to change that – starting with himself.
* He wants to update our country's out of date military and foreign policy practices.
* Obama has lived among the poor and knows what it's like. In fact, his first job out of college was helping those in need in Chicago.
* He has an international feel having lived among the people of Indonesia. Currently he has a grandma in Kenya and sisters in Indonesia… While I know that this doesn't make a good president, I like the fact that he has experienced and understands other cultures.
* Obama wants to open up the government records to allow for people to see what is happening in congress minute-to-minute. If a congressman/women votes to add some pork to a bill, the people will know within minutes – not after the bill has already past.
* I also like he view on the environment. We need to take care of it and not throw away the very gift God gave us.
Dislike
* While I support the need to get out of Iraq (where we shouldn't of been in the first place), his current plan for pulling out seems a bit crazy. Basically he wants to pull out troops within 16 months. However, I think this may be an overstatement as part of his desire to distance himself from Hilary Clinton.
* I'm not one for "big" government – however, it has been my experience that both Democrats and Republican are big government parties so it doesn't really matter any more. For example, we had a "small" government party in office for eight years (ie the Republicans) and now the government is larger then ever before. Plus, the national debt is larger – we have given up our right to Habeas Corpus – and we now have a government who can legally spy on it's citizens. Case over.
Sources
New Beginning in Iraq – Part 1 & 2 (speech)
Summary:
I don't know yet – I'm still praying that God will give me wisdom as the election draws near.