Annunaki and Mort Corey:
I feel the obligation to vote that was instilled in us since we were kids, since we live in a democracy and have that privilege. Throughout our history, a lot of brave people have died to make sure we still have that privilege and if you don’t use it, you dishonor their sacrifice. Even if you don’t know what you are doing when you vote (i.e. Bush was elected twice), you should still vote on principle.
If you don’t vote, you have no moral right to speak out about what happens in the future because you couldn’t make the choices or didn’t do your research to wade through all the crap and see what each candidate was proposing. Voting is not just about the president either. There are a lot of other government leaders to vote for too. The president is only one out of three of the branches of government. Voting for the House of Representatives and Senate leaders is equally important because they equal a president and surely you might find someone there to represent your views. If not there, then maybe state governor or state representatives, etc.
We all need you to vote this time because we are balanced on the edge of a potential great depression and everyone could be adversely affected if the wrong economic policies are put in place. As I have explained, I see McCain taking $3,750 per year out of my average middle class income, and nowhere have I seen any proposal of a stimulus package anywhere near that for the middle class and poor. I don’t think sucking the lifeblood out of the middle class and poor is going to stimulate consumer spending to save the day. I think it is a recipe for a great depression. Combining that with the lazzie-faire, free-market, non-interventionist philosophical bent of McCain and the Republican Party, we could be facing another Herbert Hoover (a staunch republican) great depression scenario. The republican approach is to passively watch everything melt down so they can toast marsh-mellows on the fire while they wait for the free-market to magically come along and save our country’s wealthy elite.
I am also not in favor of the republican tinkle-down theory, where all us little people get a golden shower from the wealthy elite, unless they miss a little and it all runs down their leg. The Democratic Party is not handicapped by the same philosophical economical flaws as the republicans and the therefore stand a good chance of averting an economic meltdown. The democrats have Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) as an example of what their party can do when the going gets rough. FDR came in after Hoover’s republican policies put us in the first great depression in the thirty’s. He was an innovator who got policies put in place on the fly and pulled us out of a further economic nosedive as well as running our country successfully through most of WWII. The Democratic Party permits such a man to lead and that is what we need now. I think Barrack Obama is a proven innovator. He revolutionized the way campaign finances can be raised independent of the Washington lobbyists and that is no minor accomplishment. If he can do that, and being a rational person with an even temper, he can lead our way out of this economic situation as well as our other problems.
I haven’t focused on Obama much because I knew from my average economic situation, everyone would be better without McCain and the republicans - for our country as well as the middle class and the poor. The wealthy elite will always be the wealthy elite. To them, money is an abstract scorecard where it is a game to see how many zeros you can put behind the first digit in your net worth. They have either never known or long since forgotten what it is like to live from paycheck to paycheck. They don’t comprehend what $3,750 a year in increased taxes means to an average or poor family. They don’t have to choose between buying food or paying utility bills.
You don’t have worry about the wealthy elite; you can rest assured they will always be getting more than their fair share. The wealthy elite control the businesses, the money, the lobbyists and a lot of the leadership in our country. For the first time in a long time, we may get to elect a leader that represents the common people in our country. That is why you need to vote.
At least if Obama owes anyone a favor for campaign financing, it’s the common people and not the Washington lobbyists. For their financial and political support, McCain owes lots of lobbyist’s favors. So if you are really tired of the same old politics, I suggest you give Obama a vote this time around and I think you might see a positive change. It’s a lot to hope for, but there is a lot to lose.
