Looking at the issues - Part 1

What to post about first?



I guess the most important thing for me is the issues. A co-worker told me about a website called procon.org (http://www.procon.org/), which gives details about the positions of Barack Obama and John McCain, as well as a few of the third party Presidential candidates. They also have a survey you can take to enter what your views are on some of the major issues and see which candidate you match up with (http://2008election.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=1564). Surprise, surprise... I matched up best with Barack Obama, 57%.



What I'm going to start to do right now is look through the Candidate positions on 65 issues and give my thoughts on what they have to say on some of the more important issues where there are differences between the candidates and see how I match up. I may not finish this tonight. It's 9:00 as I start to do this, but I'll get started, we'll see how far I get, and I'll continue later. So here we go!



Abortion. Barack Obama is for legalized abortions. John McCain is has flip flopped on this issue. There are several different quotes from different times here credited to him where on one hand he says abortion should only be allowed in the case of rape, incest, or the life of the mother is in danger and then, on the other hand, there is another that says he thinks Roe vs. Wade should be overturned.



For me? I have a great personal moral problem with abortions for perfectly healthy children that were conceived as a result of consensual sex. But I understand there are other reason why people may decide they need to get one. I would hope people could choose adoption instead. I think it's sad that an abortion ever has to be performed but understand that it's not always for reasons that's easily quantifiable to people who are never put in the position of having to decide whether to have an abortion or not. I think there are merits to both sides of the argument. As far as being a deciding argument for me about this election? I'm going to have to punt. It's not a factor for me.



Parental Consent for Abortions. Obama seems to be against it with provisions. McCain seems to be for it with provisions.



For me? I personally think that for children under the age of 18 that parents should be informed. You should know that something like this is happening with your child. However I don't think that a parent should be able to force their child to have an abortion. It would seem I lean more towards McCain on this one. Look at that!



Health Care. Obama favors a plan that provides medical coverage for all. McCain favors keeping the system pretty much the way it is with privatized health insurance. I'm torn on this. I can see the plusses and minuses to both systems. Surely everyone deserves to have affordable health insurance, but what will that coverage be? Will it be like the Canadian system, where you might not be able to get an appointment or have a needed procedure done for weeks or months? Do we really want to keep the present system where corporations are making a profit off people's medical maladies and it's incredibly expensive for people? We do have some of the best, if not THE best, health care available in the world. But it's unaffordable to many. Health care for everyone would be good for people who cannot afford it, but what does it mean to quality of that care to the rest of us? I'm not sure what to think about this. I'm in the middle.



Gun Control. Obama is for it. McCain is against it. Myself? I fully respect the rights of law abiding citizens to own guns. But I don't understand why they need to own an arsenal. I don't understand why they need semi-automatic weapons. I don't understand why they need things like armor piercing bullets. If someone wants a handgun, or even a few, for self protection, that's fine. If someone wants a rifle or a few different ones for hunting, that's fine. Some form of gun collecting should be OK. But why does anyone need to buy more than one gun a month? Why shouldn't there always be background checks before a gun can be purchased? Why not a waiting period? I know the problem with guns is not just the fact that there are guns. There are millions of responsible gun owners in this country. But when the US has the highest level of gun crime in the world, something needs to change. Obviously a big part of this is education and stemming criminals, but I don't think any of these other positions are unreasonable. I'm with Obama on this one.



Illegal Immigration. Both Obama and McCain voted in favor of fencing along the Mexico-US border. Obama is still in favor of it. McCain has changed his stance. He's now against it. I'm not in favor of kicking out all of the illegal immigrants who have already made it into the country. Let's face it: they do a lot of low-paying jobs in this country that we need done and most Americans do not want to do. But I don't think there is no reason why we shouldn't try to prevent any more illegal immigrants from getting into the country. I'm with Obama on this as well.



That's as far as I'm getting tonight. Sorry I didn't get more done. I've been distracted by the Eagles/Cowboys game. Hopefully I'll get more up tomorrow. Thanks.