Why I'm voting straight ticket Republican this election

Well as I write this entry nine days before election day it appears that Barack Obama will win the presidency by a comfortable margin (though some polls suggest the race is tightening) while the democrats are certain to win overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress with a possibile 60 vote filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Two weeks ago, I would have been jumping with joy at this prospect. Now, I'm about to shit my pants.

I voted for Barack Obama in the New Hampshire first in the nation primary, I donated 35$ to his primary campaign, I volunteered going door to door for the Obama campaign in Portsmouth, New Hampshire this summer, I proudly wore my Obama tshirt and my Obama button around periodically over the past 6 months, I had an Obama sticker on my door until last week, I really like Barack Obama, but come next Tuesday I am voting for John McCain and for the Republicans in my hotly contested House of Representatives and Senate races. Yes, I think Barack Obama is a brilliant, capable man. I identify a lot more with Barack Obama and Joe Biden on social issues than I do with John McCain and Sarah Palin. However, in the midst of the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression, I am voting for the ticket that will do the best job of keeping America competetive in the global economy by promoting the free market principles that have made the American economy the financial titan that it is today. True, excessive deregulation and risky trading practices have contributed to the current financial mess, but the blame lies every bit as much on the democrats and their buddies at Fannie and Freddy (who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Obama and other democrats this election cycle) pushing for risky loans in low income areas as it does on the Republicans and their laissez-faire economics. Yes, the free market is experiencing a hiccup but now is not the time to abandon the greatest economic system on earth: capitalism. Unfortunately, placing Barack Obama in in the presidency, Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, and Harry Reid as the Senate majority leader will create an ironclad liberal supermajority that I believe will fundementally subvert the free market capitalist principles that have made America's economy the greatest and most dynamic in the world.

Change, hope, the key phrases of the Obama campaign that inspired me and millions of other Americans to hop on the Obama bandwagon seeking a breath of fresh air following the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush. True, it was always a little vague what Barack Obama stood for, but his optimism was highly refreshing in today's depressing political climate. Barack Obama has inspired a grassroots enthusiasm that has made millions of people who were previously apathetic care about politics. As a student of politics, I can greatly appreciate the enthusiasm that his campaign has generated. However, as his promises of hope and change became translated into definitive policies, my inspiration turned to disgust. The truth is that Barack Obama does not represent true change: his promises for hope and a new kind of bipartisan politics contrast greatly with his voting record and campaign promises which show him to be little more than another tax the rich and spend on social problems leftist with THE MOST partisan left wing voting record in the Senate. The truth is that an Obama presidency coupled with a Congress dominated by the far left will bring no innovative change: simply a return to the failed liberal tax and spend policies of Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter that hiked taxes to confiscatory levels to spend on a variety of programs that were demonstrated failures in reducing poverty. Right now in the midst of a financial crisis is the very worst time to be enacting these types of destrucive socialist policies.

I am mystified at how the left wing intellectual elite believes that raising capital gains taxes, raising income taxes on the wealthy, raising corporate taxes, and placing increasingly restricitve burdens on free trade will help the economy out of a recession. In a global economy, America must do everything that it can to encourage investment in America and attract high wage earners to this country. Increasing taxes on investment will only deter foreign investment while punishing the investor class in a time of depressed markets is pouring gasoling on the economic fire. Barack Obama's tax plan is hard on socialism: he plans to give 95% of America a "tax cut" which is completely misleading seeing as 40% of wage earners pay no federal income taxes. Thus these people will be getting 500 or 1000$ entitlement checks from the IRS. This plan will simply turn the IRS from a revenue collection agency into a wealth redistribution agency that will surely further Obama's stated agenda of "spreading the wealth around." Furthermore, Obama plans to turn social security from a government backed pension program into a massive redistribution of wealth scheme. Obama will add the payroll tax of 15% on all income over 250,000$ while not extending these people increased benefits. Thus social security, once a pension plan where you paid in and took out based on what you paid in, will become a thinly veiled plan to take money from the wealthy and give it to the poor- this is flat out socialism. Under the Obama plan, a high wage earner in New York City will see their federal income tax rise from 35 to 39 percent, tack on another 15% for the social security tax, add on the 8% New York state tax and the 4% NYC income tax and you're forking over about two thirds of your hard earned cash to the IRS (these numbers are estimates but theyr'e pretty accurate). Now, do we really expect a society with confiscatory tax rates on its highest wage earners to encourage innovation and entrepaneurship? I don't think so. Add on Obama's plan to force businesses to cover their employees with health insurance, not to mention his environmental regulations, and America all of the suddenly looks like a much worse place to do business. Oh yea, and free trade? Any economist will tell you that opening up free trade is a mutually beneficial relationship that will add billions of dollars to an economy. The Obama and Pelosi crew have successfully blocked free trade agreements with Colombia and Nicaragua in the Senate just to mention a couple. Obama's plan is Hoovernomics: raising taxes + increasing protectionism during a recession = depression. No Obama supporter that I have confronted has been able to convince me that this socialism will help the American economy: in fact we need only to look across the pond to our friends in Europe to see what these policies do to a nation's macroeconomy.

Ah Europe, land of double digit unemployment, free commie care (universal healthcare) for all, and stagnant economic growth that is making the European Union increasingly irrelevant in the world economy with each passing year. That is the direction where Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid will take America - Obama promises higher taxes on the rich to pay for all Americans to receive the same healthcare that members of Congress receive... great... in theory. The problem is that healthcare resources are finite: long waits for doctors appointments are already common in America. So if we open up that system to 50 million or so people who previously had no access to it, expect the quality of healchare for every person currently covered to deteriorate significantly. In Europe, for example, cancer survival rates are consistently lower than in America because the socialist healthcare systems mandate such long waits to see a doctor. So under the liberal plan, you pay a shitload more in taxes and receive shitty healchare in return, not the country that I want to live in. If we want to punish success with confiscatory taxes, spend countlesss sums on free preschool, more unemployment benefits, and whatever else Barney Frank and co. can stab the rich to pay for, then let's vote for Change. You want change? Change is coming... McCain Palin 08! Vote Republican for Congress!