The temptation to vote for Obama in this historic campaign is very high, for many reasons. On the other hand, there are fears and discomforts for a nonLiberal like myself (a Libertarian) that are summed up well in an Oct 18 article in The Economist by their columnist Lexington, titled "John McCain's Last Chance," which lists several things McCain's campaign should hammer on.
One is "the dangers of single-party rule in Washington, DC... There is a real possibility that they may attain a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate... This would allow them to push through a wish-list of Democratic proposals on everything from "fair trade" to spending." This is a real worry. Not that the Republicans have managed to avoid signing expensive Democratic proposals into law...
"More significantly, though, is that Mr Obama has always been particularly close to two groups that are the bane of most businesspeople's lives--lawyers and trade unionists. Both Mr and Mrs Obama are lawyers....
"America's trade unions clearly regard an Obama administration as a golden opportunity to reverse their long-term decline: hence their willingness to spend more than $200m getting him elected. They want to get rid of secret ballots in decisions about unionisation. They also hope to get rid of right-to-work laws (22 states currently have such laws, which prohibit the 'closed shop' practice of requiring workers at a particular business to belong to a union.)."
".... Third, Mr McCain should point out that his opponent has never once in his career said boo to a Democratic goose. In Chicago he got on well with everybody, fro the local teachers' unions to the Daley political machine. In the Senate he has voted with his party 97% of the time. He toes the most liberal line on late-term and partial-birth abortion. Even a highly experienced Democratic president with a record of bucking his party would find it hard to tame a large Democratic majority in Congress. A neophyte with a record of going along to get along could find it impossible...."
Makes me crazy. I think I will just vote for my Libertarian candidate and stop trying to overthink it, or trying to be on the historic bandwagon....
No comments:
Post a Comment