The last post at my erstwhile blog was on the night before Inauguration Day. At that time, I espoused the notion that no one president would be able to fix our economic quagmire in one term. I believed that then, and the past four years have proven me right.
That is not to say that the current POTUS hasn't tried, and achieved some successes. Unemployment is down. Jobs are up. Taxes are at the lowest since Truman, and he has managed to stretch governmental dollars more than any president since Eisenhower. Detroit has recovered thanks to the bail-out. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has been repealed. The war in Iraq is over. Student loans have been restructured to make tham slightly more affordable than before. Osama bin Laden is dead. While individual testimonies may vary, we, as a nation, are better off than we were four years ago.
His opponent would have you believe differently. His opponent would use the lowest fear-mongering tactics available him to make you believe that re-electing Barack Obama is a betrayal of our nation's ideals.
He would have you believe that the Affordable Care Act is communisim at its worst. He caled the removal of troops from Iraq "tragic". He would, if elected, eliminate the entire student loan system. He would, if elected, work toward a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriages between two consenting adults. He would, if elected, cut funding to Planned Parenthood. He would, if elected, do all that he could to overturn Roe v. Wade. He would, if elected, do everything in his power to eliminate FEMA and all federal disaster aid and, if he had his druthers, would leave such matters in the purview of the private sector. ...paid for, naturally, with government money, a la the role of Halliburton in the rebuilding of Iraq. His tax plan has confounded everyone from The Economist to FOX News. He would arm Syrian rebels, miring us in yet another war where we don't belong.
This is not hyperbole. This is a summation of the positions stated by the man himself.
He is dangerous for this country. He is dangerous for you. He is dangerous for the women you know. He is dangerous for the LGBTs you know. His policies would stunt their basic civil rights. His policies, had they already been enacted, would leave the coastline of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut a wasteland, from Cape May to Manhattan to Long Island and beyond.
I am a registered Republican, and was once proud to be so. I voted for Bob Dole in 1996, and George W. Bush in 2000. Sometime after that election, though, my party's leaders started to lose their minds. I had hoped that John McCain would set things right in the party, then he picked Sarah Palin, and I couldn't vote for him. And I can not, in good conscience, vote for Mitt Romney.
You may feel differently. You may believe that Barack Obama is a terrible president, and that Mitt Romney is the way to go. That, as an American, is your right. Or you may believe they're both awful, awful human beings, and vote for Jill Stein or for Gary Johnson. That, again, is your right.
I've stayed largely quite during election season, trying to make my political posts as humorous as possible. This manner of post is unlike me, but I feel very strongly about this.
All I ask is that you please, please, heavily consider their positions before you vote. Don't just vote party lines. Don't vote for race. Don't vote for color. Don't just vote for Obama because he's black, or Romney because he's Christian, or Jill Stein because she's a woman, etc. Vote with your minds. Vote with your hearts. Vote with your consciences. Sit down and think about where you are now, and where you were four years ago. Think about where the nation is now, and where it was four years ago. Ask yourselves, "Am I in a better place? Is the nation in a better place?" If you find the answer is yes, then please remember the president who helped to make that happen.
