Unless you’re among the very small handful of people who read and comment here regularly, it’s unlikely that you’ll enjoy this post. It’s nearly 3,000 words long and probably not all that interesting. But it’s information that I think needs to be put out there for the sake of reputation management.

But first, to Nat - It’s been pointed out to me (mainly by me) that although I have a hard time discussing important issues with my father, I can become him when discussing important issues with others. My intent was not to belittle anyone. My apologies for making you feel that way. It’s my hope that this long-winded post will explain more fully my position on everything I can think of, and why I lean the way I do, and why I’m soul-searching for my choice this time around.

@Nutmeg - You should learn to take someone at their word. That you’d call me a master manipulator stings. A lot.  Why would I bother making political posts about figuring out my choice if that’s not what I was doing?  I’m smart enough to recognize I’m swimming in a sea of Obama supporters, so if I feared blog backlash for a McCain vote, I’d have just kept my yap shut.  Nobody knows where you stand if you don’t tell them.

So here we go. This is where I fall on as many issues as I can think to mention, and my thoughts about how each party aligns with those issues.

IRAQ

I have no evidence to prove it, but I’m of the opinion that G.H.W. Bush was made the fool when he fought against Hussein and was not able to remove him from power after Iraq invaded Kuwait. I didn’t think so at the time we first invaded, but now I think G.W. Bush was looking for an excuse to finish what Dad started. I think that’s morally bankrupt. And “victory” is going to just about be impossible to quantify. But no matter how it started and how we classify it’s success or failure, we’ve totally fucked this country, and it’s incumbent on the United States to return them to at least the standards of living they enjoyed before we went in and messed things up.

I think John McCain is an idiot for saying we’d need to be there another 100 years. But not for the reasons you might expect. We still have troops in Japan, Germany and South Korea (and 36 other countries, apparently). So it should not come as a surprise that even after the “war” part of the war is over, we’d still need to have a presence for years. Because like I said, we screwed up that country. Hanging around ’till it’s fixed is the least we could do. But with the angst of our troops fighting and dieing against an enemy that chooses not to show it’s face, telling Americans we’ll need to stick it out for a century tells me McCain doesn’t have a finger on the US pulse. And Senator McCain? Unless doctors can put your head in a Futurama head container and they change the rules for being President, you won’t be in office in even 9 years, let alone 100.

Blood for oil. If it’s true, where’s my oil? I know the biggest petroleum companies in the US are over in Iraq helping them to get the most from their operations, no doubt in the hopes they’ll curry favor from Iraq some time down the road. But that’s a very big maybe that’s far down the road. Calling it blood for oil today is irresponsible.

But on the Democrat side of this issue, pulling out violates my earlier point - we made this mess in Iraq. We need to clean it up. If we pull out before they can stand on their own, they’ll be overrun in short order, and maybe someone even less concerned about his people will rise to power. I think Obama has realized that a sensible withdrawal is more responsible, albeit less popular to the folks at home. Good on him. It’ll be his ass if he pulls our military out and things go to hell over there.

Told you this was going to be long and would suck hard.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

I get the idea of second chances and that every life is worth something. I get the idea. I don’t necessarily agree with that idea. I think there are people on this planet that are little more than animals, who would just as soon run you through with a shiv as shake your hand, respecting a pack of smokes more than your children growing up with a mom or dad. I don’t want people wrongly put to death. By I’m fine with that small segment of the population being killed for their crimes. I don’t quite get why this issue has become part of the religious right, because hello? It’s the Religious Right, right? Judge not, lest ye be? Thou Shalt Not Kill? But whatever. This isn’t a hot topic for the campaign, so I have no idea where either candidate falls on the issue.

ECONOMY

I wish President Bush would stop playing with GAO numbers about the economy like they’re play-doh. The economy is terrible. The next president will need to figure out how to right the money ship. When Bush was first elected I was a firm believer that you didn’t need to be the smartest guy in the room to run the room well. You just needed to be able to select great people to do the jobs that need doing. Either Bush didn’t select good people, or you really do need to be the smartest guy in the room. And let’s face it: he ain’t it.

I know the McCain quote about him not being well-versed in matters economic is accurate. I think it may have been a quote from 8 years ago, but I would expect little has changed since then. I read the quote about $5M being rich. In context, it doesn’t read quite as black and white as one might think. The interviewer could have pressed by asking if $4M/yr was rich, too, to qualify the response, but he didn’t. So I’m throwing that out. What I won’t throw out is how we handle this current piling-on of investment and insurance companies going bankrupt.

So far, Obama has a more developed, thorough plan. McCain’s economic plan sounds like nothing more than hints in a scavenger hunt. Point Obama.

BUSINESS

This is a more personal issue than an overarching one. I own a small business, and sometimes I feel like I’m being attacked from all sides. For the first too many years I was in business, each of my employees made more money than I did. I worked 80-100 hours per week, took out loans for equipment that I had to personally guarantee (the bank would take all my stuff if I couldn’t pay for the equipment), marketed the business, designed the work, sold it, played the primary role in the work execution, collected the payments and did the paperwork. And for all that work and all that risk, I got paid peanuts. Still do (but the peanuts are bigger now). Yet to most of the government I had contact with, their first assumption in an employee disagreement (regarding unemployment, whatever) is that I’m the one to blame. I’m the bad guy. This lazy ass punk does something stupid and I’m the bad guy. Or he quits and then files for unemployment, and when I try to fight it, the assumption is that I’m the underhanded one. I always have to build the paper trail while a shithead employee just does what he does and can cry foul whenever the mood strikes. And because the Democrats are always “fighting for the little guy,” that most often means they’re fighting against me. But I’m also a little guy. A workaholic, risk-absorbing little guy who doesn’t appreciate being treated like a scumbag. So for this issue, Republicans of any stripe who say they want to reduce government’s presence in business issues are going to have my ear more than Democrats.

TAXES

In light of recent developments, any candidate who claims that taxes are going down in the next term are smoking crack. The money to be spent on these bailouts has to come from somewhere, and unfortunately the Money Ass was broken in the 70’s. Taxes will have to go up. I’m just waiting for that Dilbert moment in 2009 when McCain or Obama says “I’ve got some bad news. I had no idea things were this bad. We’re going to have to increase everyone taxes by a lot to fix this.”

ABORTION

If you read my bias page, you know where I stand.

STEM CELL RESEARCH

I couple months ago I had to look up what the deal was with the religious right and why they were so against stem cell research. The only argument I heard at that point was that it would make an abortion an almost drive-thru event, something easily rationalized, making abortions the new form of birth control. Again, read my bias page. And from that I can say that is the dumbest argument on the planet. After my research it appeared that the primary argument was that it puts that science on the “slippery slope” to cloning a human being. I would think Republicans would want this, because then, the richest bluebloods could have a younger version of themselves made, and have their old brain transplanted into the new body, all fit and trim. I can see where a cloned human being might present some moral and ethical issues, but what about people who desperately want a child and this is their only option? Is it wrong then? I’m not so sure.

And with the potential stem cell research has for curing disease (though some important scientists say the potential is way overstated), this seems like a no-brainer. Point for Democrats.

HEALTHCARE

After Diane left her job and we had to find our own medical coverage, we discovered how scary buying your own coverages can really be. Right now we have shitty medical (we paid $1,600 for 6 stitches for DJ) and no dental. But I cringe at the thought of national healthcare for several reasons:

In the capitalist society where you can become the world’s best brain surgeon, earning the pay that comes with the title, there’s incentive to get better. (Sure there’s the whole “helping people” thing, but that hasn’t really catapulted Russia’s medical care, has it?) If every brain surgeon would get the same standard (and probably low) rate (and yeah, this is most likely what would happen), a big incentive to become the best goes away. In fact, there’s disincentive to do anything but the bare minimum, because nothing beyond the bare minimum receives compensation.

Stories abound of Canadian and British healthcare where patients wait for months for CAT scans or MRI’s. Hope you weren’t in a big hurry for that cancer screening.

At the same time, if Diane or I were to fall ill with a cancer of some kind, our premiums would probably go so high that they’d be unaffordable. And our American Dream would come to a close. As would our children’s dream of college. Or breakfast.

And in a nutshell, Dems want it, Repubs don’t. I have reasons on both sides of the issue.

GAS PRICES

I’m not a tree hugger, but I do my part. I’m not sure that I’m in favor of drilling in Alaska, but my reasoning is different than the popular ideas of the day. It’s not ’cause of the seals. Or the trees. Or green stuff.

It occurred to me that using combustion engines in automobiles has been going on for, at most, 150 years. Man-made records, by people, of people living on the planet date back about 4,000 years (I think). Estimates of how much time we have left to use oil-based products? 36 years. So in 5% of the time that the human race has been organized enough to have villages or cities, we’re going to burn through all the world’s crude oil. As an energy source, oil is pretty limited. Drilling is not the answer. The problem is, I don’t know what is. Big Oil can’t force Big Automobile to build a car out of whatever energy source they come up with as a replacement, unless it can do all the same things gas can. Like a biodiesel. (Don’t get me started on corn.) And Big Auto has enough problems on their hands right now. And with all the safety restrictions that a new car must meet before it can be sold commercially, there is no way an upstart company is going to be able make a new car with a new energy source and successfully market it to profitability. (Good luck, X Prize winner.) It’s going to have to come from Big Auto. Which means it won’t be coming for awhile. Big companies move slowly.

So count me as against wrecking the environment in the name of one more year’s worth of gas.

GAY MARRIAGE

Looking at it strictly pragmatically, I’m not sure I understand the difference between a hetero couple and a gay couple. They would each enter a union intending to remain a couple forever and some would make it while others would not. It would make healthcare easier for gay couples without there needing to be an additional burden on insurance companies (I know insurance - future stories coming on this topic), and attorney’s fees for divorces and such would add to the economy. It doesn’t affect me. I can see how it could affect children of gay parents (I think every child should have a male influence and a female influence), but two loving parents is always going to be better than one.

HOPE

I think a lot about the economy is dependent on the dumb human animal. If we think things are going to get better, despite evidence to the contrary, we’ll act as though it’s getting better. If we think it’ll get worse, we’ll act accordingly. I think Obama is a better peddler of hope these days, and if hope = economy, then Obama is the better choice.

DEMOCRAT vs REPUBLICAN

So here’s the deal. I think my aversion to donkey has less to do with the party’s ideals as much as the party’s followers and the perversion of good ideas. My examples:

Unions. I’ll mail you a cookie if you don’t know a story about a union guy shitting into a vat of canned beans or sleeping his shifts away in hiding, all the while getting paid. Unions served an excellent purpose in the days of the company town, when you bought company goods at company prices with company dollars. Those days have long since gone by. Now, people with less than a high school education are able to dictate business policy despite being dumb as a bag of doorknobs, because as a group they can cripple any employer’s business by refusing to work (and remember, I’m an employer).

Welfare. Giving someone a leg up when they’re down on their luck. I can see where I could need this if the economy doesn’t pick up. As an ideal I think it’s great. The ideal’s application, not so much. In a previous job I had the pleasure of entering some of the scariest fucking houses and apartments in Detroit. I’m talking bullet holes in the walls. But with the people I met there seemed to be a pervasive opinion that they deserved ‘the welfare’ simply because they were alive and breathing. Gimme money ’cause I’m entitled. I bristle at the idea of some of the money I work so fucking hard for going to someone who spends their day figuring out ways to not work and get paid doing it.

Protectionism. I don’t like it. If a product is overpriced, artificial supports should not be employed to allow that product’s manufacturing inefficiency to be rewarded. Dems tend to be for it (”No jobs overseas”) while Repubs are not (unless it affects them).

I’ll hit on the candidates themselves eventually.

So you can see I have tendencies in both directions, and have had a change of heart, of values in the last few years, causing me to re-examine how and why I vote. You’re wrong Nutmeg. Not everyone is stuck in their track. Sometimes people hit junctions and have to decide whether to get on a new track. I think that I may have made a mistake in looking for answers among people who already have their minds made up. They’re already invested in their candidate and will see all things through that candidate’s eyes. I think I’ll stop doing that, and stop reading all political blog posts altogether.

Okay, that’s about all I have the energy for. This post has not been checked for typos. If you made it this far, please wipe the drool of boredom from your chin.