Response to Obama Supporter

I got an e-mail from a good friend, who urged those on the e-mail list to support Obama. His thoughts were well-written, but we differ strongly on many of his points. In an effort to be fair, I would like to publish his letter along with my response, but I have not yet obtained his permission. My thoughts are in direct response to some of his points and may seem random. Nonetheless, here it is:

If Barack Obama is indeed elected, we will have a far-left liberal Democrat executive (who has consistently and vocally expressed his socialist "spread the wealth" ideals), a liberal Democrat legislature with possibly over 60 voting members in the Senate (with the House being run by the far, far left Nancy Pelosi), with the possibility of the Supreme Court turning far left liberal during the next presidential tenure. This spells DANGER and TROUBLE. Remember the what happened with the Republicans in this position during the 2000s? The difference is, they didn't have the numbers to avoid filibusters. I don't recall a single Democrat that liked it when they had control (and not many Republicans, either). This should scare the HELL out of anyone who believes in democracy. Blank check, anyone? No checks and balances? The ideals of the Democratic party are not shared by the MAJORITY of the American citizenship, which they are elected to represent, just as the ideals of the Republican party are not shared by the majority. However, whenever either party had complete power, they are free to do whatever they want unchallenged, even though their ideal may not be shared by ANYONE. This is one reason why you hear people express how dangerous it will be for Obama to take office.

I have not met John McCain, which is to say, I have not shaken his hand. The company I work for has done several events for his campaign, so I have had the opportunity to see and hear him speak, without all the campaign rhetoric (I have attended meetings with professionals, not campaign rallies). He is not awkward in the least, as he appears on TV. He really connects with people, just as so many claim to be true about Obama. He is intelligent and level-headed and his thoughts usually make more sense to me than anything Obama has ever said. He's not an elegant speaker like Obama, but he speaks with SUBSTANCE, something Obama lacks in my opinion. McCain IS a man of ideas, but the news won't show you those sound bites. They will run Obama speeches at length without commercial interruption, but only air brief, edited McCain clips that could appear incriminating. That being said, I am not happy with McCain on the Republican ticket. To begin with, I do not agree with some aspects of his personal life, such as his divorce and remarriage. However, that is his business, not mine. What really bothers me is how he has failed to uphold the conservative ideals that I believe in (politically speaking, not socially). The final straw was his weak attempt at immigration "reform" with that bloated, good-for-nothing Ted Kennedy, which did NOTHING to actually resolve the issue. I'm sick of the unofficial open-door policy that our country has toward ILLEGAL immigration. Until a candidate runs for office that is not afraid to speak out about this epidemic without fear of being labeled a racist (a childish and weak tactic), none will ever have my complete support. This is just one issue among many that I consider when sizing up candidates. Another major issue is out of control spending, which leads to another major problem I have with Democrats having so much power. Republicans have not fared so well in this area of late, and they are the ones that are supposed to be fiscally conservative. If anyone is naive enough to believe that Democrats can get us out of this financial mess we're in, you are only fooling yourself. They have had two years to make things better, but things have only gotten worse under their control. Members of Congress are all politicians, and they stopped looking out for their constituents decades ago.

The Constitution guarantees the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It does NOT guarantee the right to be wealthy, or even moderately comfortable. Why does it make sense to pursue happiness by working hard to be successful, only to have the government take much of it away, and give it to someone else ("Spread the Wealth")? The federal government has no business doing so. We already pay enough in taxes as it stands, but the feds can't spend only what they have, like we have to do as citizens. That's why we need spending cuts. Don't spend more than you have. It's elementary. Obama is appealing to those who want a bigger piece of the pie that they didn't work for. Whatever happened to working for what you have? Whatever happened to PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY? Or accounting for your own actions, or being held responsible for them (Ted Kennedy)? This is the platform that I want to see a candidate run on. We are each responsible for ourselves, our families, and our communities. The federal government should not be reaching into our wallets. The government has three responsibilities: national defense, protect us from one another and itself, and print money. Other than that, they do not have any business penalizing someone for being more financially successful than someone else. This was the whole point of "Joe the Plumber." While Joe is an actual person, he was used as an analogy. Instead of listening to the validity of the point, the media focused on the man and did whatever they could to discredit him, completely missing the point. All that being said, I believe that we should take care of those less fortunate. I have no problem with my taxes assisting the disabled. Beyond that, it is a personal choice to donate time and/or money to help the needy. It is the personal responsibility of citizens and communities, NOT big government. The job of government is to govern, NOT rule unconditionally. Unfortunately, we are headed toward an imperialistic government, especially if you are penalized for being successful. If Obama is elected, the proverbial "American Dream" is dead.

Something I have grown tired of hearing is how unjust the current wars we are involved in are. To begin with, the conflict in Afghanistan was completely justified, due to the fact that they were giving support to the terrorists that struck us. I admit I had my doubts about invading Iraq when Bush first mentioned them in the "Axis of Evil" speech. However, as the evidence came to light, I supported this effort as well. Now, there are those out there that have the benefit of hindsight to point out that the evidence was faulty. I will counter with this FACT: in the many years between Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, there were endless reports on the mainstream media about Iraq resisting the presence of UN weapons inspectors, which was a condition of the treaty they signed in 1991. I vividly recall a lengthy news report on one of the NBC primetime news shows, when the reporter accompanied UN weapons inspectors to a chemical plant. They were not allowed in and were kept at the front gate by guards. Low and behold, mere minutes later, several tanker trucks exited from the rear of the plant; this was caught on camera and well documented. The reporter and inspectors were not allowed to leave to investigate. After the last tanker truck left, they were finally allowed to enter the factory many, many minutes later. The development of weapons of mass destruction was not solely the speculation of Bush, Rove, and their "oil cronies." There were many reports filed that were similar to this. This was all during the CLINTON administration. I also remember seeing warning after warning from the person in charge of inspecting Iraqi weapons: 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson. Now, the "no oil for blood" buffoons will try to rewrite history about how these wars were waged out of the clear blue. I know my history. I remember. Those in their own ranks that now decry the unjust wars were on board until the party ticket in the White House changed from a donkey to an elephant.

The greedy oil companies that are allegedly the base of the McCain-Palin ticket do not control the price of a barrel of oil. You can thank OPEC, commodity traders, and bad environmental protection legislation for that. You can also thank our legislature and car companies for not being fore-sighted. You can also blame ourselves for not pushing the issue of oil independence. It is a fact that the big oil companies pay the majority of the national budget with their taxes. You can thank them for keeping your personal taxes low. If Congress decides to enact a windfall tax on the oil companies (an almost certainty with a liberal Congress), you can thank the politicians for even higher gas prices and lost jobs. It is important to point out that the oil companies are in bed with BOTH parties, yet all we hear about is their tie to the current administration. News flash: they, as do most big industries, donate to candidates that they think are going to win. This includes donkeys. I think you will recall that one of the biggest oil companies, which I cannot legally name, was recently at our work. We were not allowed in the rooms that they occupied unless we were accompanied. Well, I happened to enter one of the rooms after one of the meetings because only two men were left, and they were walking out. I overheard one of them telling the other of his many meetings and rounds of golf with Barney Frank. Yes, THAT Barney Frank, Massachusetts member of the US House of Representatives. Oh, and he's a DEMOCRAT and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. This committee oversees the Federal Reserve, US Department of the Treasury, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. You can thank Mr. Frank for his lack of oversight, which lead to the current financial crisis we are facing. You can see that all the issues of the country CANNOT be solely attributed to the elephants.

It is so easy for each of us to rally others to our cause because, frankly it is OUR cause. We want others to join us in our opinions because the future is ours to lose. In our eyes, we see everything as crap, and the opposition is completely wrong. We each attempt to claim that America is ours and those who differ from us are just plain wrong. Well, the fact is, we are all wrong. Simultaneously, we are all right. Those who fail to understand this point are the minority that try to inflict their will on the majority. Most social issues would be solved if individuals would take personal responsibility (it always comes back to this point). If we kept our noses in our own business, we would have a more peaceful society. Instead, there are those divisive types that want so badly for their noses to be in our business, yet threaten legal action if we stick our noses in theirs. These are the people that ruin it for all of us. They feel that their voice isn't being heard, so even if no one else in the entire country shares their opinion, they force it on us. They have turned our courts into one giant circus, and victimized our Constitution. They are selfish and weak. Not one person has the legal right to impose their views on anyone else. When they fail in their attempts at persuasion, they take it to the courts and force their will on the majority. Whether the issue is taking any mention of God out of the public consciousness, illegal immigration, or gay marriage, a minority is dictating what the majority should accept. However, should the majority merely suggest that they be a little more open minded to other's opinions, the minority becomes vicious and attacks them with false and damning accusations of bigotry. Unfortunately, these attacks are far too successful and the majority becomes silenced. The specific issue becomes moot and it instead becomes about wild accusations. This is completely un-American.