Jerry Maguire is one of my favorite movies. I have seen it probably 1,000 times and I hope to see it at least 1,000 times more. Who doesn't love lines like "Show me the money!" and "You had me at hello". One of the less quotes lines, but also a favorite of mine is when Rod and Marcie are talking with Jerry and giving him a hard time. Dorothy comes in and says"...do you know he's broke? He's broke! Broke. Broke. Broke." I've been thinking of that line lately when it comes to politics. Because let's face it folks...as a country we are broke! Broke. Broke. Broke.
So when you hear either presidential candidate mention all of their plans. I just have to ask myself "How is that going to work?" We can't fix healthcare. We can't invest in infrastructure. We're broke! I don't want to pay more taxes, but I can assure you that we can't double the child tax credit or give a $1000 credit to middle class families off the top...we're broke!
When I hear Iran's leader talk with glee about the American empire beginning to fall. Or I hear about China wanting to create a one-world currency that does not include the US, I know our being broke is a real problem. When North Korea and Iran do what they want because they know our threats our empty (Oh yeah...how are you going to get us with your $9 trillion debt?!?!), I know that this is not simply a crisis of the economy, it is a crisis of national security!
This is not all Bush's fault either. There is plenty of blame to go around. Plus, I am not interested in who's at fault, I am interested in who can lead us and fix this. I do not feel like being a commonwealth of China!
So, strip away all of the plans of the candidates...they are not going to happen...or at least I hope not, we can't afford to go depper into debt. All you are left with is two men. I am voting for John McCain for many reasons, but in this context, I beleive his energy policy makes more sense and I think energy independence is a cornerstone to rebuilidng our economy. Instead of sending money to countries who hate us, instead we can circulate that money back through our own economy. We can't wait 10 years for that. We need to move now.
So, strip away the spending plans and tell me who you want to vote for and why. The only rule is it can't be because Bush sucks or Karl Rove is evil or Obama associates with terrorists. It has to be something positive about your candidate. Something that will get us out of being Broke. Broke. Broke.
8 comments:
Ok - here's my brief disclaimer - I don't do politics, at least not the indepth listen, watch and process kind. I know I know...how do you decide? (let me further defend myslef - I have no TV and don't listen to the radio)
That said, I do read platforms and listen to the tone of the candidate. In short - I'm for Obama.
I have to say that I love to talk politics, but being a guest at one's blog makes me refrain from speaking my entire mind.
I agree with Cara in that for me the presidential vote is about tone - about confidence and ability to lead, not come up with all of the solutions independently (that's what advisors are for). I place much more emphasis on my votes for Senators Congressmen than I do for President. They are the true decision makers of the country.
I'm with you...I don't care whose fault is, I just want to know who can fix it and realisticly how are they going to fix it.
I'm for Obama. Less taxing and less debt according to his plan.
The facts, from a non-partisan third party:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/a_new_stitch_in_a_bad_pattern.html
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411750_updated_candidates_summary.pdf
Neither would bring a balanced budget, sadly, but Obama's plan has much less debt. Sigh- whatever happened to the Balanced Budget Amendment?
Neither candidate is going to get us out of this. And let's face it -- anytime the government starts throwing our money around, bad things happen.
So I'm for the T. Boone Pickens' of the country to form some sort of plan (much like Paulson's) to buy up these bad loans for pennies on the dollar, maybe incented by the gov't. The difference is that the private sector can pull this off.
And here's a reality check: If you're looking at tone and platform, and ignoring voting record, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. I vote Baldwin.
These are some very thoughtful comments, and I have to say the campaigning is getting to me as there are real problems and no real solutions. I'm still deciding.
I lean toward McCain, but then he seems impulsive at times. I want to like Obama, but haven't seen substance to back the rhetoric.
If it's the national debt you're worried about, Obama's plan actually makes the biggest dent in it because while he'll be spending on infrastructure, he'll be taking in more tax dollars from the wealthy in order to pay for it.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/05/news/economy/mccain_claim_spending/index.htm
To reply to Michelle,
The problem is that the media only shows the edited down, dramatic version of candidate speeches.
It takes a long time to dig through the muck. However, you can watch his entire economic speech (that cites clear examples and a plan) here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlZt5iN96iM
I don't know how to decide. I feel like it's choosing the lesser of two evils. The debates are quite useless, and the rest of the noise of the campaign is just the candidates bashing each other. I've read through each candidates plans for tax reforms and am not impressed by either one. If I ever had any faith in our government, I have lost it. God help us.
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