Don't choose McCain! (Or Obama, of course.)

I wrote the following to my siblings, most of whom will probably vote for McCain because they think he's a much better choice than Obama.

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John McCain is no saint, you're right about that. I understand that he has shown personal integrity in some areas and deserves respect as a soldier, but that doesn't translate to integrity in the rest of his life, and it definitely doesn't mean he understands anything about good government. I won't address specifics of his personal life; I'll only say that I don't believe he holds the same values as I do when t comes to commitment to families. When it comes to political office, it's all about money for your friends: he was actually reprimanded by the Senate Ethics Committee (as one of "The Keating Five") for manipulating things on behalf of some of his rich friends, and he's still doing things specifically to benefit his corporate contributors. The current mode of "free enterprise" in federal government means that they hire private contractors with our tax money; heck, they've even started calling government departments "corporations", such as the Millenium Challenge Corporation. McCain is a poster-child for this egregious cronyism, and although I'm afraid of more government control in socialist policies, I'm as much (or more afraid) of government passing on government function to corporations. Is corporate socialism better than public socialism? We've already got corporations "investing" in lobbyists because it's a good ROI (see last paragraph); and it's crazy how the biggest recipient group for earmarks isn't local government or public institutions, it's for-profit companies.

But that's not even the worst part about McCain: he has somehow been able to pass the infamous "McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act" which restricts free speech about our politicians. That's right: the FEC is now ruling on cases and saying what people can and cannot say about politicians. The most direct consequence of this is that it keeps incumbents in power; that's why this is also called the "Incumbency Protection Act". Don't expect to see many more decent political leaders like Reagan in this system where people like him are getting into power and subverting basic rights to keep it.

I know, I know: it's all about money to keep your friends' corporations healthy, and then keeping yourself in power so you can keep up the good work. Everybody's doing it! Obama may even be a worse choice than McCain. But in case you feel that McCain at least has the benefit of being closer to your political ideals, beware that he says the same kinds of things when it comes to government control, which is why he's often called a "RhINO" (Republican In Name Only) (google it).

Although Republicans and Democrats present themselves as competing political parties, they are really two squabbling factions of the same political machine when it comes to the national government. If not redirected, they will attain the same kind of state that make us recoil when we think of the USSR or China. Who cares if we live in a two-party, democratic totalitarian state vs. a one-party, communist totalitarian state? We still have one of the best political systems on the earth, and the American people and media are still best equipped to live freely and discover and reject most corruption as it happens. But nowadays, the choice of most people is to go along with the current people in power, voting for the lesser of two evils. I understand the reasoning, and I know how you often have to make compromises on particular issues to get to a better place when working in groups, but that doesn't translate very well to choosing good leaders. I hope to bring more people to my side: we really have to fight the political status quo and change course. Otherwise, I'm afraid our children will have a hard life: they'll not only have a real mess on their hands when it comes to their own livelihood, they'll probably find themselves ruled by some very bad system because we couldn't keep this one going. This year, is our president going to come from one of the two main parties? Yep, and the same will probably happen in 2012. Heck, maybe we can never turn them around. But if there is any chance to avoid further statism, it's going to be by getting large numbers of people to join us and do something other than perpetuate the current system and it's candidates.

Spread the word! :- )