Battle of the Lessers

Jacob Sullum of Reason writes a great article summing up which of the two major party candidates is actually the lesser of two evils. Link

The extent of the president's powers, although hardly mentioned during the general election campaign, is probably the most important consideration in choosing between McCain and Obama. It is tied to all the other major issues, including the Iraq war, the fight against terrorism, and the government's response to the current economic situation.

The crucial question is which matters more: a president's theory of executive power or the political environment he faces. If the former, Obama is the less risky choice. If the latter, McCain is, since he would face a less compliant Congress.

I agree with Mr. Sullum's assesment of the choice that is presented to the American people this election. One thing I would add is that a vote for McCain is also a vote for the continuation of President Bush's "politics of fear". Where the main tool that is used to accomplish political goals is manipulating the inherent fear that people have of things that are unknown or different. I think this factor is ampliphied even more if you assume that Senator McCain will not complete his full term in office due to his age and that Sarah Palin will take over at some point.

If I happened to live in a swing state the combination of executive power and politics of fear would be enough to swing my vote for Senator Obama and against Senator McCain. Luckily, I live in Illinois, where Senator Obama is sure to win, so I'll be voting for Bob Barr this presidential election.

Welcome to Crazy Town.

Maybe it was a feature in past elections and I just wasn't paying close enough attention to notice it but there seems to be a large segment of the American populace that expects the country to collapse into ruin if their chosen presidential candidate doesn't win and, in response, have developed deeply emotional feelings towards the "other guy".  People saying things such as "Obama will turn us into a Muslim country" or "McCain will destroy our country" seem far more common place than what I've seen in the past.  

While I expect statements such as these to come from political operatives of all the parties, it amazes me when I hear it from a 20 something college grad or a 65 year old grandmother.  People who seem perfectly reasonable and to have at least average intelligence suddenly drop any semblance of logic and spew off hateful statements with no basis in reality.  To be sure, sentiments such as these have always existed along the extremes of American society but in the past year they seem to have found their way much closer to "main street".

Of course it could just be that this emotionally based, logic deprived hatred has always been a component of the average Americana's political views and is simply more visible now due to the internet giving anyone with a computer and a camera their own little world stage.  I'm not sure if that possibility makes me feel better or worse about the current situation.

Trassin

- I'm holding out, not giving an answer.

Change of Mind

I happened to notice today that all of a month ago I had posted that I hoped John McCain would win in the upcoming election.  I had actually completely forgotten about that post and was even surprised a bit when I read it.  While the reasons for my supporting McCain over Obama at the time haven't changed, I no longer want Senator McCain to win.  

One of the things that I was happy to see with this year's campaigns, at least now that we are out of the primaries, is that the use of blatant hate as a tool for winning the presidency was greatly reduced compared to the Rove/Bush elections in the two previous presidential campaigns.  Neither of the major party candidates were standing on stage bashing away at a minority group, such as was done towards gays during the Bush campaigns.  Not only did they personally stay away from this type of rhetoric, but they kept their campaign's away from it too.

Over the last month however, that has changed in the McCain campaign.  Now they have Sarah Palin out there, acting like a junior Bush, trying to stir up hate and fear towards their chosen minority, anyone perceived as different than "Joe the Plummer".  As Colin Powell pointed out this weekend, they have also unleashed the surrogates, Republicans in congress, to reinforce the idea of Obama as a "secret Muslim".  Indirectly implying that some how being a Muslim automatically disqualifies a person from being a "good American".

I'm beyond sick of hearing hateful speech spew forth from the White House towards various minority groups in order to gain political points.  I also have zero tolerance for the idea that some how having either a Muslim or Arab background inherently makes someone unpatriotic.  

So I've changed my mind, despite thinking that both Obama's health care plan and judicial choices will be wrong for this country, I would rather have that then the risk of Sarah Palin ending up as President and forcing me to endure eight years of Bush 3.0.

Quick thoughts on the election

As this election cycle drags on it becomes more and more obvious to me just how close Senator Obama and Senator McCain are on a wide range of issues.  And while I certainly don't support either of their campaigns for the presidency, I am an independant with strong libertarian leanings after all, I think I have made up my mind as to which one of them I want to win, McCain.

There are two reasons for this.  The first is that in all likely hood three supreme court seats will opent up in the next 8 years, if not the next 4.  My libetairian idology forces me to be a much stronger supporter of justices who tend to support a more conservative interpritation of the constitution, as opposed to those who would have a more liberal interpritation.  Based on that I believe that Senator McCain will appoint far better justices than Senator Obama.

The second reason I want McCain to win is because of the current hot issue of universal health care.  While I believe that every American should have access to health care, I am strongly opposed to the government being the vehical through which it is provided.  With the current democratic attitude towards this issue it would be disastorous to have both a democratic controlled congress and a democratic president at the same time.

So while I won't be voting for Senator McCain or Senator Obama, there are 3 or 4 other candidates for President on the ballot after all, between the two of them I really do hope Senator McCain is able to walk away the victor come November.