Choppy Political Water?

Written by North Lilly

An old high school friend recently asked me why I've chosen to suppor Obama in this election.  I thought I'd voice my thoughts...  From the first time I voted till very recently I would have characterized myself primarily as a conservative libertarian. By this I mean that I feel that as far as possible social issues for which there is no consensus should not be fodder for legislation. This is not to say that "You can't legislate morality!" This assertion, so commonly used, is patently absurd. The laws against theft, murder, rape, etc. are clearly attempts to officially encode moral values into law. But in those cases society as a whole clearly has achieved consensus and agrees that they are bad. Rather there are numerous "hot button" issues today, abortion, genetic engineering, to name a few for which our society has not only NOT achieved consensus but is clearly divided; and it is these areas where I am uncomfortable establishing restrictive laws. I feel that in these issues, until clear agreement (or at least a clear majority) is achieved, personal responsibility should be the guide. The result of this world view led me to become a staunch Reagan Replublican in the 80's. His stance of let the individual keep his money as much as possible along with his unwillingness to push a moral agenda (save anti-communism) was very attractive. When Clinton was elected, I was also content (even though I didn't vote for him) as he was also relatively liaise-faire in his approach with a few exceptions. At the time I opposed the idea of national healthcare as it wasn't clear to me that the existing system was unsave-able (I've begun to change my mind on this after having seen the healthcare system in action since then). My issues arose with Clinton on a personal level: The Monica Lewinsky purjury. Not the affair itself for while I found that shameful, it didn't have to impact his presidency directly. In fact I believe if he'd just fessed up immediately it would have been a non-issue. My disgust for his moral cowardice led me to vote for Bush Jr. the first time. Here was a candidate that seemed obviously personally conservative that espoused the same rhetoric of Reagan. Unfortunately once he got into office he immediately began to attempt to enact his conservative moral agenda and further was willing to use seemingly repugnant tactics to do it. There is something seriously wrong when a president writes and imposes (by several orders of magnitude) more Presidential orders than ANY previous president; even with a sympathetic congress. This is a clear sign that the things he wants to do have clear and considerable opposition in society. Then came 9/11 and this catastrophic adventure in Iraq. I truly believe that he and his administration tried to exploit this American tragedy to establish or at least further an agenda of a sort of American Hegemony. As a result the world is a far more dangerous place and more explicitly hostile to America than it ever was before. Added to this the fact that this disastrous war is literally bankrupting all of us, from a national to a personal level. All of the last 6 years or so have forced me to re-evaluate what I expect of a president. What I want: A man or woman of personal integrity. An individual willing to truly listen to and work with those of opposing viewpoints; even if this means that their personal agenda could not be achieved. An individual who critically evaluates the outcomes of previous actions and is willing to change course if necessary. A desire allow personal responsibility where practical to be an individual's guide. A desire, where some sort of reasonable consensus can be achieved, to use the power of the government to protect, help and uplift the people, world, and country in that order. My hope for this person would be that they would aggressively pursue a course of working towards: some form of national healthcare a very aggressive green program that would promote green technologies, significantly up car milage goals (dropping exclusions for consumer trucks and SUV's), provide tax incentives for the development and use of green technologies. Re-establish some REASONABLE level of regulation on the banking industry. Find a way to extricate us from the catastrophe of Iraq without leaving the country utterly in chaos. If this means negotiating with Iran and even admitting some culpability in the tragedies that led up to the revolution so be it. Acknowledge that while Israel is of and will continue to be a critical U.S. ally we can no longer blindly support them irregardless of their actions. With all this, why Obama? After almost 20 years of republican dominance of congress and or the White house I feel that more liberal elements of society should begin to gain some ascendancy. With the triumph of the extremely conservative wing of the Republican party in shifting the Republican agendas so far to the right I don't believe that a Republican candidate will be free enough of their hooks to be able to do what I want. That leaves the Democrats. When I examine both Obama and Clinton I see some hope that they would try to guide the country a bit to the left as it were. However, neither candidate could be declared a radical liberal by any means. In point of fact, there is from a plank standpoint, almost no difference between the two. I will be content with which ever gets the nomination. I lean towards Obama because he isn't dipping quite so low in campaigning techniques and taking the higher road in an era of "Swift-boats and Rev. Whites" isn't easy. My ideal candidacy would be Obama for president with Clinton as vp. From a cynical point of view Obama would be a voice of change and as inspiration might be able to achieve something. This would especially be possible with a dealer like Clinton backing him up. Did this explain where I'm basing my decision?

 

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