Last night, I reviewed several 2008 presidential candidates. On Feb 5, I'll be voting with other Missourians in the primaries, and I don't want to vote blindly.
I usually vote Republican, but I'm open to voting for other parties. However, the Democrats' view on several issues completely turns me off (i.e. Democrats support more government involvement in domestic concerns...the big question is...who is going to pay for this? We all will, so even though it all sounds free and cheap, it won't be.) So, I'm not voting Democrat. Sorry, Obama, I would like to have a black president (a woman would be nice, but not Hillary.)
So, that leaves mainly 4 Republican candidates. Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney. I base my opinions entirely off of their campaign web sites. Albeit the sites are definitely biased toward that individual candidate, I also view it as the best way to look into their opinions of issues without the bias of the media.
The Republicans share several views on issues: they want to increase American independence of energy resources, they want to decrease national spending and decrease taxes, they want the troops to stay in Iraq until it is stabilized in an effort to stabilize the region, and they want to strengthen the borders to hinder illegal immigrants. I agree with most of this.
Huckabee--I like that he's a religious guy, even though he's heavily using that to promote his campaign. However, the guy sounds like he doesn't know what he's taking on. He seems like a guy full of empty promises. He's always saying, "The first thing I'll do as President is this...." and he says that about a dozen different issues. Yeah, where's he going to have the time to do all that? He also would like to make several new amendments to the Constitution. I'm sorry, but you don't mess that much with the Constitution.
Giuliani--I like his bulldog style. He seems to be the kind of guy bad guys wouldn't want to mess with. He's been the Mayor of New York. He's reduced crime a lot--by enforcing laws already on the books--and he's improved education. He the kind of guy who would protect our country. I don't know how he would be with foreign relations, but I would trust him in domestic affairs.
McCain--He's been in the Senate for 30 years and he's a Vietnam POW veteran. I like his sense of Patriotism and vision to improve America. Looking at his position on issues, he knows his position, but he doesn't have any specific ideas on how to solve them. To me, that just seems weak.
Romney--His web site demonstrated a sense of assurance and strength in his views on the issues. His ideas on improving foreign relations and policy are great. For a lot of domestic issues, his idea is to decentralize the national government's role and place the responsibility on the states (like in health care and education). I don't know how strong of a person he will be with foreign relations, but with his experience in the Olympics, my confidence in him is boosted.
Anyway, I just thought I would share with you what I found out. Good luck to each of you in deciding who you feel like best represents you.
4 comments:
Nice post! Yeah...Huckabee just seems really annoying! It's good to go into an election prepared.
That's the best blog post I've read in a long time. Thanks, Ang.
Actually, many democratic candidates have made clear suggestions for how they will pay for certain things (such as health insurance) and it actually doesn't involve raising taxes, at least not for most people.
Also, you can be pretty sure, that no matter what the issue, no matter who the candidate, nothing is free. Tax cuts, and tax deductions don't make life "cheaper" either. The expenses are just coming up differently. Maybe you don't have to pay as much in tax, but you may have to pay more for possibly schooling or health care.
The fact is, life will cost you probably about the same either way. The question is, what do you want to spend your money on.
I personally don't care about educational money cuts to build another super-tank that costs billions. I'd rather have that money go towards students. So, if I voted for Democrats, I may see improvement in that area, but someone, maybe even me, has to pay up somewhere else to cover our defense expenditures.
Bottom line: Someone will always pay. Nothing is free. Nothing gets magically cheaper.
P.S. Also, if you oppose cash-hand outs where it's not clearly defined how they are financed, you may not be so interested in Huckabee, who wants to create a flat 23 percent tax on all sales, except education for everyone, and then help the poor with cash hand-outs to cover those taxes.
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