I voted against John McCain because I don’t support his crazy views on the economy or foreign policy.
Social Security does not need to be privatized. Social Security is the most fiscally sound program we have. So much so that it is paid up through 2049. The fact that we faced and painlessly addressed more real financial problems with the program in the 1950s, 60s and 80s should tell us something about the BS McCain and other politicians and think-tanks are trying to serve us.
But, Social Security does have problems, no doubt.
For example, the benefits are not nearly enough for the recipients to live on and well over half of all recipients rely on it as their main source of income. So benefits have to be greatly increased, and no doubt that if we do it this will shorten the time span in which it is paid up through.
So what do we do?
Simple solution: end the regressive taxation.
As it stands less than half of the incomes of the 5% wealthiest among us are taxed for social security. Folks like Warren Buffett – who shamelessly admits that his moral is to be greedy when others are fearful – see less than 0.5% of their annual income being taxed for the vital program. (For 2008 just over $100,000 is the cap for income that is taxed.)
There is a huge amount of revenue for the programs recipients being lost so that we can cater to the wealthy.
McCain would prefer to prescribe millions of Americans to poverty and suffering just to give a little more back to his affluent constituents.
John McCain also supports an imperial foreign policy where we use military dominance to give ourselves what is commonly referred to as "leverage" in political and economic disputes.
Already we are wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on a bloated Pentagon budget every year.
I cannot support a candidate who is on so many levels adamantly against me, my welfare and my security (a nation who comprises barely 5% of the global population but is spending more than half of the worlds military budget and is pissing people off the world over with wars, occupations and arming and propping up of aggressors, regardless of flimsy pretexts, does nothing to enhance our security).
But I did not vote for Obama either.
His economic policies are not much different nMcCain’s except he plays up populist rhetoric to mask that he will still be Mr. Goldman Sachs even if he will just throw the rest of us a bone. He has not taken a firm stand on the healthcare crisis, social security, corporate welfare or the enormous flaws of capitalism in general. Instead he has said he loves markets and that it’s great that people can get enormously wealthy in this country (though he fails to note at what and whose expense).
And Obama is surrounding himself with Hawks for his foreign policy advisors with folks like Colin Powell and Zbigniew Brzezinski . The latter is a man who was Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor and was behind the arming and training of the Mujhadeen in Afghanistan. In an interview in the mid-90s he expressed continued support for his actions because he used the people of Afghanistan as a "trap" to give the Russians their Vietnam War. He said so what if we "stirred up some Moslems." Then September 11, 2001 happened and no one ever made him eat crow. So Obama seeks his council.
I would have voted for Nader but I didn’t like that he didn’t run as a Green. What good does it do third parties if you run as an independent, Ralph? If you ran simply as a means of getting your voiced heard then, cool, I heard you. I largely agree with you but I didn’t vote for you because my 85 year old grandmother had a better candidate in mind.
We were talking about all of this hoopla some months ago and how there really isn’t a candidate to choose from who stands a chance to win because those who are preferable don’t get the corporate financing to get their names out there. It is built into the electoral and economic system that unless the candidates represent the true source of political power in this country (i.e. the ruling elite) then they don’t stand a chance of winning. Ironically, the same exists in Iran, but instead of capitalists they have Mullah’s. How ironic, right?
Anyway, my Mammaw presented this candidate and this is who I wrote in:
Peter Pan.
ZNetwork is funded solely through the generosity of its readers.
Donate