Thursday, October 28
Bytehead's choice
The reason against voting for President Bush.
Taken from the Columbus Dispatch's own endorsement of President Bush.- The President's fiscal policies, the tax cut that didn't do for Bush 43 that it did for Reagan 40, and the record deficits that are sure to follow
- The totally misguided invasion and continuing war in Iraq. The plan was great up to the point of kicking Saddam's ass out of power, although actually worrying about saving some of the poor American soldiers lives didn't seem to be too important. But now the nation building begins, and there's not a real plan in progress. The war has not been won, the resources to actually do any kind of job of actually rebuilding Iraq aren't there, the cost of which are totally unknown because nobody really knows what it's going to take, or they just aren't talking about it.
- President Bush and his entire administration are unable to admit that mistakes have been made, which is very misfortunate. Admitting that mistakes have been made is the first step in correcting those mistakes. Instead, we have a President that will continue to plod along and only by great forces will his line of thinking and acting change.
- President Bush started the Iraq War based on a lie. When this administration is over with, and the people that actually know what the hell was going on retire from government work, the memoirs written to illuminate this Presidency will make it a wonder that this election was ever this close.
- President Bush proclaims to be a Conservative, but pushing through the Medicare drug program, a huge increase in entitlement spending, and passing the No Child Left Behind Act which gave the federal government a very large nose into the business of education proves that he is not.
- President Bush has promised to cut the deficit in half. The tax cuts have not had their intended effect, so taxes will increase for somebody and I have a feeling that disproportionate share of that is going to come from the middle class, and not from the rich that he gave most of the tax breaks to start with. He promised 4 years ago to be a uniter and not a divider. That's a good one, considering how divided the electorate is now.
Let's go on with a few more.
- The blatant powergrabs that have been done against our liberties, most notably the PATRIOT Act which was passed, and the PATRIOT 2 Act, which hasn't.
- The push to stop open government, hiding data that used to be freely available, secret laws that are passed that we have no idea are what about.
- The damage that has been done to this nation's alliances that will take decades to rebuild.
- There is also the likely outcome where both houses of Congress will remain Republican. I'd really prefer to see Congress one party, the President another. Things that get passed as law then might make sense.
The list could go on and on I suppose.
The reasons for voting for Bush?
- He has to clean up the mess that he would have left behind.
- The people that voted for him and supported him from 2000 and in 2004 are going to get things thrown back in their face when the true reality, not the made up reality of the administration, hits the fan.
- With Bush still in power, the divide that is already evident deepens further, throwing the country closer to its next civil war
- If you believe that making America an Empire is a good thing.™
I don't think the above is that strong. Bush has shown his cards, and they are ugly.
I like Kerry. He has shown that he can work across political lines and get good things accomplished, such as getting Senator McCain with him to start trade relations with Vietnam. Kerry will truly try to be a uniter.
Who really gives a shit about the Swift Boat Vets against Kerry? Slick packaging, but who in the hell can really tell what the truth is, 35 years later? Medals, medals, who gives a shit about medals. They were passing out medals left and right like candy. Hell, if they were offered to me, and I really didn't think I deserved them, I'd probably take them myself. Somebody gave them to Kerry, and it wasn't Kerry!
I've heard that people don't want to vote for Kerry, because they dislike what Clinton, a Democrat, did in his 8 years. I would think it would be about the personal indiscretions, which seem to be silly. No, they're pissed because he dared to cut millitary spending. They seem to be blind to the fact that he couldn't have done it by himself, it also took the Republican Congress to cut that spending. Besides which, what the hell do we need to be spending that much for? Nevermind, that's another blog entry sometime.
Of course, I'm ready to write off the Repubs with the tactics that they are daring to do this election. Cest la vie!
I see Kerry as the best chance that we have for turning this country around, both domestically and internationally. Permanent link posted by bytehead @ 10/28/2004 06:19:00 PM
0 comments
Links to this post
