Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Election Year

I have to admit, I love politics. I follow from a distance since I'm a novice, but just the same, the competition for president and even some gubernatorial and congressional elections thrill me! It's probably because I love games and am so competitive by nature. Some years it's also because I don't like the president or want to see a change, but I'm since I'm not too passionate about politics, it's usually not that, unless I'm really fired up about a particular issue.

If I don't like a candidate, I try to remember that God has appointed the people who lead us and He is ultimately in charge even if it's someone dangerous. That being said, I know that a lot needs to change in D.C., in general, but since the field of candidates slim pickin's this year (in my humble opinion) I haven't decided who I want to vote for.

This is usually NOT me. I usually have my mind made up before everyone has even thrown in their hat, but not this year. There's just no one that I completely agree with on every issue (like that's possible) but more than that, one who encompasses the moral, fiscal, and constitutional conservatism that I desire. However, since the probability of the next president appointing a supreme court judge, I feel that I don't have to be as concerned with the next president's moral aptitude. I think as long as I focus on getting morally conservative congressmen elected, they'll have more control over the moral side of things that I care about.

The argument could be made though, that if a president has a poor moral character, this will ultimately affect how they run the country, but I believe that God doesn't necessarily insist that we elect Bible believing Christians to run the country every four years (Lord knows they are NOT always the best leaders), but instead to elect the person who will run the country justly, and best for our circumstances, with the Lords guidance, always! I can't encompass all the important criteria here in this short blog so before you start throwing things at the screen and stop reading my blog, try to read this in a broad sense, not as the absolute reasoning for electing a president.

This leaves me to concern myself with the candidates fiscal and constitutional conservatism. As of now, I will state my position: (gulp)

I like Guliani for his fiscal conservatism and for the leadership he showed in NY and plethora of positive changes he made there. However, I disagree with his position on immigration (too soft) and I feel iffy on a couple of other ideas he has, but feel that he is strong enough to get some good things done in D.C. and not be pushed around by the "thinkers" in charge there. Lobbyists . . I hope not, but maybe, who knows. I also don't like his position on abortion and personal history of cheating on his wives and not being in good standing with his own children. However, as I said before, I'm more likely to ignore some of the candidates moral positions b/c I don't think they will be able to affect the country as a whole in the next few years by a judicial appointee.

I would like McCain, but I think his service and time spent in Vietnam cost him a lot that would hinder him being a good president (I don't want to go into these things b/c he deserves our honor, but if you want to know, you can e-mail me).

I don't really care for Romney or Thompson. I don't feel like they understand what really needs to happen in Washington and prefer things just stay status quo. I like Duncan Hunter, and his strong immigration policy, but I don't like his energy policy. I think he might be too radical a conservative to unite behind and again would leave too much alone. This could be b/c I haven't heard enough from him b/c of his lack of press time.

Umm, who's last, oh yeah, Huckabee. I like his "flat tax" idea and think it would encourage saving and a more responsible use of money in Americans. I also think it would keep certain people from being able to avoid loopholes in paying taxes etc. by hiding money. You're only taxed on what you spend and don't pay taxes up front on what you earn. I also like some of his other policies that I can't remember right now, but my concern with him is that his lack of experience in D.C. would keep him from making good appointments and controlling lobbyists. He just seems so nice and soft and Washington is such a hard place. I could be wrong on this though, we'll see.

So there it is. I totally haven't made up my mind. I even ventured to the dark side for a bit to consider EVERY possibility even using Obama to stir things up for a few years and make some good changes and develop bipartisan work (since he hasn't been around long enough to make too many enemies), then elect a conservative to keep the good changes and throw out the bad ones. However, since he's a Democrat, I think that in the end, most of the changes he'd want to make would be too socialist for me such as not enough accountability and higher taxes etc. I also liked some of Edwards' ideas, but haven't studied him enough yet. Also, the fact that he's been characterized as earing his millions as an ambulance chaser and being a scuzzy lawyer concerns me, but it may just be character smearing, I'll need to look into that.

Obviously, I have a lot more studying to do, but in the mean time, I've been asking the opinions of everyone I talk to who's willing to share just to get more points of view and more ideas. So if you're willing, please post your thoughts and ideas and opinions. Maybe you could help me make up my mind! :) Thanks and happy voting!!

5 comments:

Girl Fisher said...

Brave post Leigh! I'm like you and haven't put TOO much thought into it. I usually wait until the party's candidates are selected, and then I decide! What about Ron Paul? Have you checked him out? My father-in-law is a fan. This site has a pretty interesting way of telling you which candidate you best align with: http://glassbooth.org It allows you to rank what is important to you, and then lets you gauge your temperature on the issues.

Lady Cayt said...

Thanks! Yeah, I feel a little like I put my head on a chopping block, but in my view, it's all in good fun and everyones opinion is fun to hear, although you couldn't pay me to vote for Hilary :)

I guess my biggest complaint about Ron Paul is that he voted against the war in Iraq. I'll check him out though, but I'm guessing he's probably too liberal for me.

Thanks so much for commenting and for the website.

Girl Fisher said...

I'm not too sure how I feel about Ron Paul either! I think he falls under Libertarian. Mike Huckabee spoke at our church, and that was pretty cool. Though, I always feel like I'm deciding between the lesser of two evils.

Lady Cayt said...

yeah, I've said that before too, I definitely feel like I'll be choosing between the lesser of two evils this year. It's like all the candidates are "ok" and I have to vote for the one who is the most "ok". oh well, God is still in control! :)

Anonymous said...

Leigh -- Am just getting caught up on all the blogs as I am slowly getting unpacked in DC and saw this post. I would love to hear your McCain thoughts...the ones you didn't want to share on the blog. I, too, share a hidden love of politics and am very excited about the current presidential election. So email me!

erzsi1113@gmail.com

~liz