I Voted

Today I voted for Barack Obama. The decision was difficult and I can honestly say one candidate did not overwhelmingly outshine the other in my observation. I really wish I felt so strongly about one or the other to the point that I could wear my button proudly and tell everyone who I think they should vote for; but I just don't. I'm disappointed in both candidates for resorting to such negativity. I am proud of them for their ambition and patriotism. If anyone is interested I thought I would explain my views on the current hot topics and in doing so you can see why (as a registered Republican) I voted for Obama. You will notice I agreed with McCain on some issues as well.

HEALTH CARE

My views on heath care are probably even more liberal than Obama's. I believe health care should be, dare I say socialist—just like how our police dept, fire dept, and school system are "socialist". Just as our public schools offer adequate, or even substandard education for free, health care should be the same way. As someone pointed out to me, it's not right that if a person gets in a car accident the fire department will use the jaws of life to yank the victim out of a car, the police will block off the roads at no charge, but once you enter the ambulance the billing starts. Those who oppose national health care argue that they don't want to pay for the freeloaders. The truth of the matter is those who have health insurance are already paying for the freeloaders in the form of higher premiums to cover the uninsured. Also, prevention is much more cost-effective than waiting until disaster strikes. Example: several routine mammograms are much cheaper than trying to treat breast cancer. Finally, as more people are covered, the number of low-risk participants increases. Example: Health care for a Utah State University student is over $2,000 a semester. I believe the reason it is so high is because the only people that pay for it are those that can't get care elsewhere. Because the university is required to accept these individuals, the majority of people who pay into this health care system are high-risk. Low-risk individuals have no incentive to join such a program. However if all university students were required to have coverage then the majority of people insured would instead be low-risk; thus driving prices down. I think Obama's health care plan is a step towards making health care available to all Americans.

WAR IN IRAQ

I know it's not popular but I support the war. Despite what the LA Times and NY Times print, I believe we are winning the War In Iraq. I am currently reading Moment of Truth In Iraq by former Green Beret Michael Yon. Yon is a journalist financed through donations and his own efforts who has been dubbed by some as the Ernie Pyle of this generation. Everything I've read in his book so far is contained on his blog. For example, if you want to know what kind of man General David Petraeus Ph.D. is read this post. I think Yon creates an accurate picture of who he his. I believe our troops are in good hands with this man. Our reasons for entering the war were justified, which was to bring those responsible for 9/11 to justice. Bush's approval rating after his famous speech was through the roof, not many were against the war at that time. However we soon learned there were no WMDs, Osama bin Laden was not captured, and the public opinion of both Iraqi and American citizens declined. Al-Qaeda did an excellent job of exploiting the fact that things weren't looking good for American soldiers. Then came the Abu Ghraib incident and the Haditha killings. These acts were inexcusable and in no way justifiable. We sunk almost as low as the terrorists and public opinion tanked. A couple years ago I would have said just bring the troops home and cut our losses. At this point I admit our we didn't have much of a reason for occupying parts of Iraq. Now I think the pendulum is swinging our way. This is a PR war just as much as it is a physical war. Al-Qaeda wants more than anything to show the Iraqi people they are winning so they won't have enough confidence to join the cause. It seems as though the Iraqi people are really trusting American soldiers now. Could we be in Sudan doing good as well? Of course. Because we can't be everywhere does that mean we should not help anywhere? No. As Americans we don't know what it's like to be so scared we can't drive out of our neighborhood. We don't know what it's like to live in fear of having our whole town murdered and left unburied. I am OK with losing a little retirement money to help innocent victims of those crimes. On this issue, I believe John McCain would be better suited as commander-in-chief of the nation's military.

EDUCATION

Let's face it, "No Child Left Behind" was a failure. I believe the original intentions of the program were good, that is, to hold teachers accountable. I don't think it provided the resources necessary to accomplish the daunting task of teachers to prepare their students for rigorous test taking. I like the idea that low performing schools would receive aid rather than punishment. I believe that teachers need to be motivated through salary, competition, and other means. Class sizes need to be decreased, and greater emphasis needs to be placed on individual students. College needs to be more affordable. I like Obama's plan to make the first $4,000 of college tuition free in exchange for 100 hours of community service. I believe as the nation as a whole becomes more educated, the economy will improve and incarceration rates will drop.

ABORTION

Although I don't think Roe v. Wade was free from errors in judgement, I don't foresee it being overturned anytime soon. As Barack Obama has suggested, having an anti-abortion politician in office doesn't cause abortion rates to fall. My views on abortion are consistent with the position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to which I belong. I believe more can be done to prevent unwanted pregnancies than elect a pro-life president. I think it's unfortunate that this issue can serve as such a distraction for considering a candidate.

GAY MARRIAGE

As a Christan, I oppose gay marriage. I am in favor of civil unions for gay couples. To clarify, I think the same visitation rights, tax breaks, etc that married couples enjoy should be extended to all couples, regardless of sexual orientation. My views on the family coincide with The Family: A Proclamation to the World. I believe that family values are the strength of society. Although I believe that a gay relationship is morally wrong, I still feel every citizen's civil liberties deserve protection.

IMMIGRATION

Our less-than-250-year-old country is made up of immigrants and the ancestors of immigrants. I think something needs to be done about illegal immigration, but not at the expense of breaking up families. I feel more can be done to make it possible for people to gain citizenship and enter the country legally. I believe employers have a responsibility to verify the legality of a potential hire and should be held accountable for violating these laws. Immigrants have a responsibility to contribute to the country that gave them a job financially, socially, and otherwise.

ENERGY

As John McCain has pointed out, something is wrong when we have to borrow money from a country to pay another country that doesn't like us very much. In the 3rd debate, it was pointed out that 70% of our nation's energy comes from foreign oil. We need to become self-sufficient. I don't believe that any president can significantly alter that percentage in the next four years. I am in favor of considering a wide variety of energy sources including off shore drilling and nuclear energy. I am also strongly in favor of people carpooling, taking advantage of public transit, and cycling. As in the case of other issues, but especially this one, we the people have much more control than one president does in bringing about change.

TAXES

I am not a small business owner. I do not make more than $250k. Therefore I am in favor of the money going straight to my pocket rather than my boss. In theory, if every business owner was a generous and responsible steward of his money I would be in favor of the trickle down economic theory. This fails when business owners outsource jobs overseas in exchange for cheaper wages. I realize this isn't the case in the majority of business owners but I'd rather see the wealth spread to me. I don't think that "Joe the Plumber" represents the average American. The average American isn't in the position to purchase his own business. The average American is working for the man.

VICE PRESIDENT

I think both McCain and Obama could have more carefully considered a running mate. I think that Palin lacks experience necessary to adequately perform the role of President of the United States should anything happen to John McCain. I realize what I'm about to say isn't politically correct, but I think there are still parts of the world in which a nation's leader doesn't have the same respect for a female leader as they do her male counterpart.

PERSONALITY

We live in a world where public relations matters. Some try to seperate Barak Obama's charisma, eloquence, and ability to raise money with his qualifications as President. I feel these qualities are part of being a leader and should be connected with his ability to be an effective President. I think we need a President that has the ability to remain calm in a stressful situation, someone who is humble enough to ask experts as well as the Almighty for help, and a person who can see the issues for what they really are. The above issues are important, but when I helped elect Bush in the last election, I did not anticipate an attack on the World Trade Center or a collapse in the housing market. This is when the personality of a President comes into play. We need a President who can look us in the eye and admit he messed up, rather than try to justify his mistakes or brush them off as insignificant. Intuition matters. I think that's why choosing a President is so difficult. The bottom line is will McCain or Obama live up to all the promises they've made? No matter how much research a person does, it really all comes down to that simple fact. I hope I made the right decision.