A Reason to Vote For John McCain

Oh yes there are reasons to elect John McCain. I, of course, have an Obama-Biden lawn sign. I am the only one on this block to plant a sign in the lawn. Removing today’s mail I found a magazine that was not placed there by the mailman. The address had been neatly cut out. The magazine is titled America’s 1^st Freedom. It is a publication of the NRA.

The NRA supports John McCain because of Barack Obama’s positions on gun control. The following contentions are made in the November edition of America’s 1^st Freedom.

“Fact: Obama has supported banning hundreds of rifles and shotguns commonly used for hunting and sport shooting.

Fact: Obama voted to allow reckless lawsuits designed to put the firearms industry out of business.

Fact: Obama voted to ban almost all ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting.

Fact: Obama voted to allow the prosecution pf citizens who use a firearm for self-defense in the home.

Fact: Obama voted supported increasing taxes on firearms and ammunition by 500%.”

The message is that Barack Obama wants more controls on firearms and ammunition. I agree with that view. If you don’t and this is the over riding issue perhaps you should vote for John McCain.

SOCIALISM

I thought I might be a socialist until I read these definitions.

Webster’s New World Dictionary offers this definition:

1 any of various theories or systems of the ownership and operation of the means of production and distribution by society or the community rather than by private individuals, with all members of society or the community sharing in the work and the products

2 [often S3] a) a political movement for establishing such a system b) the doctrines, methods, etc. of the Socialist parties

3 the stage of society, in Marxist doctrine, coming between the capitalist stage and the communist stage, in which private ownership of the means of production and distribution has been eliminated: see COMMUNISM (sense 2)

I listened to all the commentators and have read a few other explanations of our economy and concluded that I am a student of Adam Smith with two exceptions. Totally uncontrolled markets can lead to greed and monopolies. Greed has led this nation to its current situation. Senior executives of large corporations are earning an average of $4,000 per hour. These high earnings are reported to be common among Wall Street managers too.

One need to go no further than the preamble to our constitution “… to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…” In order to ensure domestic tranquility and promote general welfare our nation needs to pass laws that limit the power of a few that would work against our general welfare.

This does not mean we need socialism. It means we enforce what are known as antitrust law in the United States. From Wkipedia

Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, has three main elements:

prohibiting agreements or practices that restrict free trading and competition between business entities. This includes in particular the repression of cartels.
banning abusive behaviour by a firm dominating a market, or anti-competitive practices that tend to lead to such a dominant position. Practices controlled in this way may include predatory pricing, tying, price gouging, refusal to deal, and many others.
supervising the mergers and acquisitions of large corporations, including some joint ventures. Transactions that are considered to threaten the competitive process can be prohibited altogether, or approved subject to “remedies” such as an obligation to divest part of the merged business or to offer licences or access to facilities to enable other businesses to continue competing.

The banking industry has been given free reign in its management. I and my wife were offered opportunities for new credit cards daily over the past few years. We accepted two of those offers increasing the number of cards from two to four. I have read that the average person has 13 credit cards. Fareed Zakaria pointed out in the October 20, 2008 issue of Newsweek that household debt was $680 billion in 1974 and now amounts to $14 trillion. Type in the words “there is a silver lining” into Google and you will see that his column has struck a significant cord.

John McCain is an adherent of the free markets philosophy that has brought our nation to this economic meltdown. Barack Obama has avoided taking a position. Given the philosophies of the Democrats and Republicans I have to anticipate that Barack Obama’s election will bring the needed regulations that will promote our general welfare. It won’t be socialism.

Stupid Campaign Words

Both the Democrats and Republicans have done their share of utterally dumb if not down right stupid mistakes. Each person involved said something that did not come out as intended. The errors are used by the opponents and could result in losing.

John Kerry tried to present what he claimed was a joke on November 1, 2006. His apologies were fruitless. He had intended to run for president in 2008. Mercifully he decided not to run. If he had become the Democratic nominee the runaway leader of the current campaign would be John McCain. Here is what he said. Where is the joke?

You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.

Barack Obama said “they cling to their guns and religion.” He has been fighting ever since to gain a lead in western Pennsylvania and other rural areas. He also recently said that taxing was a method of “sharing the wealth.” This has brought on the accusations that he is a socialist and perhaps a communist.

Joe Biden has had one gaff that I know of. He recently said that if elected President Obama would be tested by a foreign enemy.

Sarah Palin has suggested that there are parts of the country that are anti-American. She did not specify the exact places. Her words did provoke congresswoman Michelle Bachmann to say that some members of congress are anti-American and evoked the behavior of Joe McCarthy. The congresswoman has lost her support from the RNC.

John McCain has suggested that Barack Obama is a terrorist and not one of us. These are words that suggest Obama is may be a Muslim and he is to be feared because he is Black.

Between the gaffs and the accusations the next two weeks are going to be brutal.

Living in the Past

It is not 1789 anymore. If ever there was a major difference in the views of John McCain and Barack Obama it is judicial philosophy. Perhaps that is the result of Barack Obama’s education at Harvard Law School. Barack Obama is a lawyer.

Just go to the John McCain web site and you can read his entire view. I did have a Constitution class and I really enjoyed it. One thing I learned is the words “living Constitution.” That means that interpretation of the constitution is part of the function of the Supreme Court and that this document should be interpreted in light of the world we live in, not the world as it existed in 1789. John McCain needs to read the case Marbury v. Madison. It’s on-line in Encarta. Oh, I forgot, John McCain is not familiar with on-line research. Is it true that he does not know how to use a computer?

John McCain has a “Strict Constructionist Philosophy” according to his web site. Furthermore his site has this statement on his Judicial Philosophy page.

John McCain believes that one of the greatest threats to our liberty and the Constitutional framework that safeguards our freedoms are willful judges who usurp the role of the people and their representatives and legislate from the bench. As President, John McCain will nominate judges who understand that their role is to faithfully apply the law as written, not impose their opinions through judicial fiat. … he strongly supported John Roberts and Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court and that is why he would seek men and women like them as his judicial appointees.

Current questions for John McCain are:

1. How will you deal with torture issues?

2. What are your views about equal pay for women (Ledbetter v. Goodyear)?

3. Under what conditions would you consider a late term abortion legal?

4. What is your intentions regarding Roe vs. Wade?

5. What are the legal rights of unmarried partners no matter their sex?

If Enough of This Mud Sticks

According to the major polls Barack Obama continues to hold a strong, consistent lead over John McCain. Of course you have to believe that the polling results really are an indicator of how people will vote on November 4. It’s fun to read the online data even though I question the validity. I look at the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll, Real Clear Politics, and CNN Electoral Map Calculator. John McCain’s campaign clearly is watching those reports and so McCain and Palin are throwing every accusation they can invent against Obama.

First he was a celebrity, then a terrorist, anti-American, socialist, and perhaps a communist. Barack Obama isn’t a liar because that is too harsh but he not telling you the truth. He will raise your taxes and he will destroy America. Of course he is not like us, which is clearly a racist remark. Oh yes there is also Obama’s varying World Series support. Have I covered all the objections?

If enough of this mud sticks John McCain will be the next president of the United States.

The Impact of Newspaper Endorsements

As you watch news reports about the presidential race you hear about those newspaper endorsements. This is normal during the last few weeks before an election. The two newspapers in my area have already offered their opinions on the various measures on our ballots.

Here in Los Angeles the ballot is seven pages long and includes various state county, school, and city measures. Those measures are either called referendums or initiatives in California.

The purpose is usually for raising bond money or raising taxes. Sometimes there are proposals to modify the law. The famous Proposition 13 in California limited the amount property taxes could be increased annually. The most conspicuous question on the year’s ballot is one proposing to make marriage between two people of the same sex illegal.

A PBS item dated October 26, 2004 disproves the value of those newspaper position pieces. 128 newspapers’ editorial pages had endorsed Senator Kerry, while 105 newspapers supported President Bush for a second term. So while the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times have endorsed Barack Obama there is no reason to get excited. I do not know anyone who is voting for an issue or candidate based on an endorsement. Even if Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama the impact will be minimal. Still it will be fun to learn about his endorsement and his reasoning.

ETHICS

The issue of ethics was brought to my attention by a community college instructor of mine. She teaches both finance and ethics classes. When that teacher brought in two speakers to her personal finance class hawking their services I found myself questioning her ethics. After all, the students are expecting learning experience not a sales experience. When one guest speaker came to explain long term health care insurance and bad mouthed Consumers Reports, I suspected the worst. CR warned about the pitch and offered specifics that matched the speakers pitch. Wow! I wonder, could the class instructor be receiving a kick back for every student signing up? I do not know but she is a client of both of her guest speakers. The instructor apparently has ignored the ethical implications even if there is nothing inappropriate in their relationships.

My dentist performed root canal and installed a new bridge in my mouth. The entire area is still soar and the bridge is uncomfortable. The bill is $3,500. I pointed out to him that when my mechanic makes a mistake he refunds my money. The dentist still wants to be paid.

This issue is even more significant in the current race for president. Smears and innuendo appear to be a stock in trade part of the McCain campaign. Are some of the concerns raised by McCain legitimate? Yes. The problem is that the primary focus of John McCain has been smears. The lack of focus on real issues is conspicuously beyond belief. Perhaps his slogan should be “Service, Country First, Ethics Last.”

The Bill Ayers thing is totally ridiculous. The Annenberg Foundation sponsored a group that included both Ayers and Obama. This is hardly a terrorist plot and is confirmed by factcheck.org.

Not yet mentioned by the McCain campaign but many of his surrogates is the Reverend Wright issue. It is a legitimate question when people ask how Obama could not have known about Wright’s views of America. There is sufficient evidence that Obama did know about those views.

John McCain opposed the Bush tax cuts when they were first proposed. More recently he has given wholehearted support for those cuts and wants them made permanent. Was that a flip flop or an ethics issue?

Finally there is the question of Sarah Palin. John McCain supports her without question but many highly respected conservatives doubt her ability to hold the position of president. Isn’t this a breach of ethics for McCain to offer her as his stand in?