I do my very best to avoid this subject, because the older I get, the more polite I find it to put aside topics like politics and religion. But the outcome of this year's policy decisions matter a great deal to all of us. Unfortunately, I find an approximately 100% likelihood that the wrong decisions will be made. Everyone asks who I'm voting for, and of course tells me that I just have to vote for Obama (who's going to win anyway without my vote) because he'll change things.
Obama originally held promise, of course, as the Anti-Bush. Change, he promised. Peace in Iraq through regime change at home. End warrantless wiretapping. Do you really have to guess which of these promises he has backpedaled ("compromised") on? That's right, both of them. The fact that he's added his voice in chorus with Hillary Clinton and John McCain and said "yea" to the most expensive, pork-laden bill in our nation's history -- indeed, the single largest transfer of wealth to the wealthy in the history of the planet, is icing on the cake. Where's your Change You Can Believe In? Do you really believe in it? The only thing this man has going for him is that he's not bound to die of old age and leave Sarah Palin sitting on the throne. "Change" is just a word that Obama repeats to get your vote, just like Giuliani and his "nine eleven." After he is elected, your children will still die in the Middle East, and your phone will still be wiretapped without warrants. What you need is broader, systemic change that Obama as an individual does not offer. Can not offer.
Speaking of that bailout, what exactly do you think it's going to accomplish? Restore liquidity to markets, make lending happen again just like the Good Old Days? Because these people say so? Because they used their usual familiar tactics of fear and urgency to attempt to get bills passed, just like the Patriot Act, and the Iraq War, and those just worked out so well, didn't they?
Bob Hoffman gets it right. Your $700B bailout will turn into a $1T bailout, because after burning through the 700, they'll ask for, and receive, even more cash. And what will they do with it? Unload the worst part of their portfolios onto us, the taxpayers (at mark-to-market prices no less), and finally have the ability to foreclose on everyone else that they couldn't before because their backs were against the wall. That's right, this bailout will increase foreclosure. Then credit-market interest rates will rise, and we'll be no better off (in fact arguably worse) than before. Since this pig is going to pass regardless of how many Congressmen you politely beg, I'll be around in a year to say "I told you so," if I haven't had to burn my computers for fire wood.
Ralph Nader is the only reasonable protest vote. Oh how I wish Dr. Ron Paul were on this ballot, but he isn't. And when people tell me I must choose "the lesser of two evils," I reject this on its face, and say that if you really want change, stop voting for evil. If you want real, systemic change, the kind that truly makes a difference, start at the local level and work your way up.
Or go ahead and vote for one of the Big Two, because after all, Nader has no chance. I guarantee business as usual, and more frustration for you. The choice is yours. It always was.
-Chris