coolmite

I listened to Gov. Sarah Palin’s address tonight, and hacky barbs at Sen. Obama aside, she was pretty impressive. I’ve always liked John McCain, even since 2000 when he got punked by our current President in the Republican primary.

So why won’t I vote for them?

Good question. I think for me, it boils down to one thing right now. I don’t believe either of them. I don’t believe they’ll change Washington. I don’t believe their efforts to lower the taxes of the wealthy are going to make me more prosperous. I like what they have to say about entrepreneurism and lowering corporate taxes. As a parent, I understand what it means to be able to send your children to an achieving school and not a failing one. I also understand how education funding works and that it’s not that simple for every school to be successful just by lowering costs. A lot of what the McCain team–or the Obama team can do relies on federal funds and their limitations. So, I don’t believe them, as a parent who chooses to send his children to the public school system, when they say that online, or charter or private schools are or should be my first option as a parent. It almost seems like they’d rather education not be public at all. So I don’t believe they would do anything more than create standards that would be underfunded at the federal level to begin with.

As for our national defense, I would tend to lean toward someone who has been through a war, like John McCain has. His courage and fortitude in the face of adversity are two of the attributes I like about him. I think; however, that he has chosen to throw his lot in with the neoconservatives who wanted to attack Iraq five seconds after the second plane hit the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. His view of America is one where we set up shop and defend our interests in all corners of the globe, especially those in which we aren’t really welcome. I believe, after hearing Sen. McCain say that the US should be in Iraq for 100 years, that the invasion was simply a means to guarantee that we’d have bases and military ready to defend those interests, whether they be oil or otherwise. I wish I believed that our role as a nation is to spread freedom and sovereignty through military might. Guess what? I don’t. Mayor Rudy 9iu11iani (typo?) said that America should always be seen as a shining beacon on the hill (quote from someone else, I know. It’s late). You can’t franchise America’s beacon and force it on others. Russia is trying to do that now in Georgia. No one sees the irony here?

Sen. Barack Obama was not my first choice. I actually wanted John Edwards to get the nomination, but I’m thankful he didn’t in light of his own personal problems. Once I got to learn more about Obama, I came to respect his thoughtfulness, his ability to inspire others to do things that were larger than themselves. He has helped steelworkers who have lost their jobs to rebuild their lives on the South Side of Chicago. He has fought to end domestic violence and abuse in the Illinois legislature. He has worked–like all Senators do–with Republicans like Richard Lugar in order to stop nuclear proliferation. I believe him when he tells me something. I used to believe John McCain. Then, he caved in on the definition of torture. He planned for 100 years of our military in Iraq–like the Marshall Plan! Except that Germany was an industrialized nation that was equipped to turn itself around and didn’t rely on us for every single thing and tens of billions of dollars to rebuild their country–that we destroyed–instead of rebuilding our own country.

I believe Senator Obama cares about little people like me. I like that he’s open to meeting with other leaders without preconditions to try to find common ground. Sen. Biden is a bit of a blowhard and is in the pocket of the credit card companies. He does know foreign policy though and will be a good negotiator and stand-in for President Obama, should the need arise.

Well, that’s where I’m at around midnight on Sept. 4 as I think about Gov. Palin’s speech. It certainly helped me get my thoughts in perspective. I believe Senator Obama. I don’t believe Senator McCain.