Why McCain will Win

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Jim

That's not why Obama will lose. Campaigning and marketing money builds and then pushes an image. Image pushes votes. If McCain wins, it is the credit of the Republican campaign machine, which is an amazing thing to see in action.

Were it only possible that the same tightly oiled mechanism could be employed once either party entered office. Neither side manages to achieve a fraction of what it promises. Democrats promise more, and deliver nothing. Republicans act, but in ways I sometimes get a headache over.

Lucky am I to live in an area where local government still has the highest impact. Or unlucky, depending.

Do you identify with a party? I usually agree with more moderate Republican ideas, but I do not self-label myself as one. It would feel unnecessarily restrictive.

I just rehgistered as for a Republican for the first time, but that was only for this election. For the first time in my life I found I could not identify a single Democrat as being someone I would ever vote for, and in fact, viewed most of them as dangerous to the constitution. So I knew there was no reason to not register Republican for this election.

Also, I am a big McCain supporter, because he is the only politician I've seen who I believe actually votes by his thoughts and ideals and not by what he thinks will get himslef re-elected. So I wanted to make sure I could vote in the primary in PA, and to do so I had to register as a Republican.

Here is a viref rundown of my views:

National Security - Big stick. Only use it when you have to.

Social Programs - The fewer the better. The basis of a country is not the government, it is the people and the individual. The more you provide for people, the less they provide for themselves and they become comfortable in poverty. I am a fan a few though, and they are as follows:

1) Public Education - Its not as bad as people think and the core issue is broken families, not a lack of funds. We spend more now per student than at any time in history. Money can't make a kid care to learn or succeed in life.

2) Mental Asylums - One of the few areas where I have a huge problem with reagan's policies. He closed down the federal mental asylums, and I think they are necessary but need to be run better than they were before.

3) As Needed Healthcare - We currently provide healthcare for those that really need it, and half the people that qualify don't use it. I believe that those that truly need the government to pay for basic healthcare should get it, but please don't curse the rest of the people who have their care provided by work or payment suffer through the same wait lines and shitty specialist services that other national healthcare plans provide.

4) Roads and infrastructure - No explanation needed.

5) Limited regulation - I am a capitalist, but I recognize that capitalism can be like a starving dog... if you let it, it will eat itself to death. So I believe in anti-trust laws to ensure competitiveness and also to protect the consumer. This is an area where Bush and the newer Republicans disgust me as they destroyed those protections.

This said, I do NOT beieve in taxes or tariffs that PUNISH success. That is nothing more than childish class warfare. We should celebrate success, not have contempt for it. `Contempt for wealth is a trick the rich play on the poor to ensure they will never have it.'

Overall, though, I believe Ben Franklin said it the best:

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.