Responding to someone else, I'm not really for the idea of policing the world and flying around with our capes and sweep in with superhero rescues when an area gets hit by a flood, earthquake, or some other natural disaster. I do not agree that we have a duty to bail these countries out, since we are losing our grip on the #1 most powerful country in the world rank, if we haven't already. We need to be using our resources at home, not abroad, and we need to take care of #1 before we take care of anyone else (especially since those ungrateful bastards hate us anyway).

My two biggest issues with Obama are socialized healthcare and energy policy run by environmentalists rather than common sense. On healthcare, I don't tend to agree with anything "socialized" because I feel it promotes laziness. Why work for benefits when someone else will foot the bill for you? And I bet this will be one hell of a healthcare plan considering the government can screw almost anything up that involves money. I envision a system so bloated and diluted the government will be paying $750 per citizen per month for major medical only--and anything the government pays on my behalf comes out of my pocketbook, and anything the government pays for an individual who can't/won't contribute to the government coffers also comes out of my pocketbook. Privatized healthcare works much better and is working just fine. I want my healthcare plan I get from my employer, please. I'm sure I'll be opting out of the "benefits" of socialized healthcare if they let me, but I'll still get to pay for everyone else.

And my next issue is with carbon "credits" (read: tax). This is a reason I hate McCain as well because both candidates support this insane idea planted in their heads by nut-job environmental lobbyists and people investing a good chunk of their money in renewable energy (example: Al Gore). The idea is simple, someone else decides how much you get to pollute the air each year with evil carbon dioxide (the stuff you breathe out and the stuff plants breathe in) and you cap yours off at that level and trade with someone with leftover carbon credits to atone for your overage. As someone who lives in a rural community by my own choosing and has to drive 35 miles one-way each day to work, I'm sure I'll get to pay my "fair" share of these carbon credits from the gas I'll need to burn. And any company that manufactures anything that...god forbid...puts that stuff in the air that has been there since the dawn of time and is NOT POSING A PROBLEM they will get taxed heavily and the price of their goods will go up, or they will move their company overseas and our gross domestic product suffers. Even if a problem does exist (and I'm convinced there is no problem) taxing the living **** out of everything isn't the answer. When economists estimate gas will go up by another $1.20 per gallon because of a carbon tax, I tend to take notice. I have no desire to live closer to where I work and I don't need to be taxed so that I'm forced to leave the acres of land I own and crammed into a city on top of everybody else.

These two policies alone could/will unseat many, many people from the middle class.

Those two issues are about 75% of my beef with these candidates (more so Obama than McCain because of the healthcare)

/soapbox

 

I've got a big problem with McCain and his stance on the "Jones Act" and that act is what butters my bread and shingles my roof.