Well, I did vote Tuesday. Once again, I split my vote over three parties, and almost no one I voted for won. I debated about the presidential candidate a fair amount. There were things I liked and disliked about each of the three candidates on the ballot. It seemed that Obama received the most focus, with people being either for or against him. While I’m sure there were/are many other people in my position, all the most vocal people seemed to either think Obama is going to be the country’s savior, or that he will completely ruin the country. While I think the choice of president does influence the country, I think it does so only so much. In many ways the country will continue on either way. (I just had the thought, I wonder if the choice of our president actually makes more of a difference in the lives of some people outside our country than it does us. For instance, how might people’s lives in Iraq be different if Bush hadn’t been elected president?)
I considered possibly voting for Obama, as I can imagine him potentially being a good president. I especially think he will be good in improving foreign relations. However at the same time I’m really concerned that some of his policies—not his motives—will in reality make things worse here, specifically in economic terms. So I can also imagine that his presidency may end up being known for policies that I don’t like. In other words, I don’t know if he will end up being a good president or not, and if he’ll do more I agree with or more that I don’t. So I didn’t feel I could vote for him. Here’s something that I wrote a week or so ago that sums up the rest of my thoughts:
Due in part to some things I found while researching him, and to the fact that he would continue heading in the direction of the worst Bush policies and practices, I can’t support McCain. But before you jump to conclusions, I don’t support Obama either. While it seems like he may be a relatively decent man, I don’t believe that I agree with his domestic policies. He seems to be a classic liberal, looking to governmental programs, governmental spending and increased governmental regulation as the solutions to every problem. I realize this is a touchy subject, because there are plenty of people with real needs that would certainly benefit from government assistance, because let’s face it, while many people—especially conservatives—talk about how assistance ought to come from sources other than the government, these people are generally not helping people in need nearly enough. Yet my concern is that we will see an increased tax burden, which will be a drag to the economy, have services which are less efficient, and end up with more “red tape” due to increased regulation. So I’ll probably vote Libertarian again, though I don’t even completely agree with them on a number of issues.
