Posted by
TheRationalRight on Saturday, November 01, 2008 8:39:01 AM
Someone I highly respect sent an email mentioning how great it is that we have two candidates people can vote for this year.
Can someone please educate me on what reason I might have to vote for Obama?
I'm serious about this. No bashing, please. I've already early voted, so it's too late to "save" me, but I would really like to know what actual reason people have for voting for him. I've only heard platitudes like "hope," "change," "transform America," and the like. The only concrete things I've heard from him directly are "get out of Iraq now" and "spread the wealth." What I hear from his supporters is "he's not a Republican" and "I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage."
I can -- and I have -- voted for democratic candidates for president and other positions in the past. I will concede that Obama, like McCain, wants to uplift the poor and middle class. However, McCain's policies punish no one. Obama's promises have been tried and have failed each time because they punish success rather than encouraging it, and they reward laziness rather than discouraging it. It seems to me that if Obama is elected and enacts all of his promised programs, I could make a conscious decision to stop working and he would ensure that my standard of living remains unchanged. (And by the way, I earn far less than the $250,000/year, so I would not be one of the "punished.")
What am I missing? I have pledged to support whichever candidate wins, and I intend to honor that pledge as my patriotic duty, and as my duty as a parent who wants to teach patriotism to my children the way my father taught it to me and my siblings. The citizens get to decide by the rules created long ago, and I respect that process.