The (Forever) Unbalanced Budget
I’ve been sporadically following some of the (ridiculous) US presidential campaign, with the help of sites like the indispensable factcheck.org. It seems to me that McCain and the Republicans are freely telling lies outright, while Obama and the Democrats are just avoiding talking about things they’d rather not lie about. Neither approach is particularly reassuring, but both are business as usual for politicians. Just like the tired old joke, “How do you tell if a politican is lying? His lips move.” Or her lips, these days.
And for the sake of my thoughts today, I’m going to pretend that “single issue voter” issues don’t matter. I’m going to ignore how one party supports my civil rights, while the other hates them. I’m going to ignore the abortion debate, and immigration rights. Because the majority of the people in America don’t deserve civil rights, and moral issues can’t be solved by passing laws. I’m going to think instead about what candidate is going to help make America strong, powerful, and healthy.
In other words, I’m thinking about who I can trust to handle our country’s money and foreign policy.
What’s really interesting to me is both candidates have budgetary plans, and neither comes close to being what you might call “balanced”. Why is it that the only two viable candidates for president have no plan for our country’s financial security? If I went to a financial planner with a budget like that, they’d gently “help me” to find ways to reduce spending. But no, in our bureaucracy, it is completely impossible to cut spending in any area whatsoever, except possibly for sex education, or for that matter for education in general. The Democratic plan will still leave a deficit, but the Republican plan will leave an even bigger deficit. Tax and spend? Borrow and spend is more like it.
Of course, the endless Republican pro-war speech is getting on my nerves, too. It’s one thing to defend yourself, but a completely different thing to be a bully and force little kids to give you their lunch money. When they say “We Need A Strong America”, which of these do they mean? They leave it to you to decide, don’t they? So you think what you want, but it’s clear they cater to the “let’s cleanse the world of dirty foreigners” group as much as the true patriots. On top of that, they’re turning our bloody oil war into a Christian Jihad. You may not think so, but a lot of Christians do, and many openly support “cleansing the world of Islam.” On top of this, their candidates aren’t afraid to lie on national TV in direct contradiction to easily-checked facts. So, my only (so-called) conservative presidential option is a lying war-hero and war-monger.
And then there’s the Democratic party. I like Obama just fine. But, I also have to consider that he’s a Democrat and a party man. It may be a stereotype, but Dems really do pander to the “throw money at problems” approach to government. I’m fairly liberal on the social side, but the fiscally and politically conservative side of me doesn’t care much for throwing money at problems without first solving the problem of not having any money to throw.
And voting for any other party is throwing your vote away. I truly wish this was not true. I wish I could vote for a politically conservative party that held true to American values of noninterference, minimal government, and freedom, but apparently that is not an option. Anyway, these things are not priorities in modern America–safety, obedience, and freedom from difficult decisions are the new American principles. We are controlled by fear and ignorance.
But I digress. The real difference between the parties is this:
Holy War, or No Holy War.
Which do you prefer?
September 14th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
McCain should have picked Obama for his running mate. Then you have the old guy with the vast experience, and the new guy with the new, but untested, ideas. What scares me about McCain is that the christian right wing will likely hijack his Administration – and we’ll end up with crap like Creationism being taught in high-school science classes. Roe v. Wade overturned. Your individual rights further curtailed. What scares me about Obama is the essence of his platform – that is: If you’re not out of work, or lacking health insurance, or losing a home – then you are, by definition, the enemy. He never has a kind word for anyone who is successful – because, basically, his plan, when stripped of all the lofty langauge, is just wealth distribution.
So, for me, the question is: Fewer rights? Or fewer dollars? It is a real tough choice – bacause I like both.
September 15th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Let’s all panic and give up our rights. That’s 21st century America, right?