My son is 35 years old and works for an investment firm.
Brian sent me this e-mail this morning. It brought tears to my eyes. At the bottom of his message he said Happy Father's day dad you taught me not to keep my mouth shut. The e-mail was a reply to a scurrilous Obama e mail titled "Just in case you are thinking of voting for Obama! Double the number of taxes"
Here is his response:
Subject: RE: Just In Case You Are Thinking of Voting For Obama! Double the number of Taxes!
As an initial response, I have no problem with the government using "MY" tax money to raise the status of living for all Americans (and I also don’t have a problem with pressing "1" for English; I imagine that 100 years ago – which this writer apparently believes to be the glory days of our country, you know, when women were expected to stay at home and cook and clean and forgo any sort of career (not that I have a problem with that choice, but I don’t believe it should be an expectation) there were lots of people who did not speak English, like my great grandparents, who spoke German; since our country was founded by immigrants, I have to say that I am a bit confused about how current Americans (who presumably descended from these original immigrants) can get so riled up about new immigrants). I firmly believe that our society should be judged by how we treat the least among us. For example, I think that we have an obligation to help rebuild New Orleans, in part because it is the right thing to do (New Orleans is a cultural treasure), in part because the federal government messed up when the Army Corp of Engineers failed to properly ensure that the levees would not break and in part because the federal government failed so miserably to respond to this disaster (
But, before you go running to pull the lever for McCain, let’s just take a look at what the Republicans have done under George Bush (and make no mistake that electing McCain would simply be an extension of Bush’s policies). Remarkably, it is the BUSH administration (that’s right, none other than W himself) who is responsible for the largest overall increase in federal government spending since LBJ. Total government spending increased by 33 percent during Bush’s first term. And this was fully supported by the Republican controlled congress. I am not relying on a "liberal" website for this information, but instead, am relying on the CATO institute (a libertarian thinktank). If interested, you could read Buck Wild: How the Republicans Broke the Bank and Became the Party of Big Government by Stephen Slivinski.
So, it seems that the Republicans are the ones who want to spend lots of money. And I guess at this point, it just boils down to how you want that money spent. My biggest problems with McCain (but certainly not the only ones):
- He supports continuing the war. I don’t, never have, never will.
- He supports appointing judges like Roberts and Alito. Yes, the same two judges who just this past week opposed the Supreme Court’s decision that detainees at Guantanimo have the right to challenge their imprisonment in federal court under habeas corpus.
- He supports Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy (yes, that’s right, he used to be against them, that is, before he started campaigning).
- He supports continuing to give tax breaks to oil companies instead of attempting to rid our country of its dependence on oil. (For example, he supported giving Americans a "gas-tax holiday", which was not supported by any economist, and shouldn’t be). Americans are never going to be able to rid themselves of their addiction to oil if they can get it on the cheap. Just look at Europe.
- He supports torture of detainees (again, he used to be against it, but now he is for it). Waterboarding used to be a problem, that is, until he started running for president.
- He is against health insurance. Not only is he against universal health insurance (which I believe is – like education – a right, not an option) but he was opposed to the expansion of the S Chip program, which would have covered more children, and which actually passed the Senate and House but was vetoed by Bush.
These are just a few of my thoughts off the top of my head. I am just afraid that Obama might be too conservative for me. But make no mistake about it, he will be getting my vote in November.
Hope every one you is having a great father's day and are and proud of you kids as I am of mine.
Happy Father's Day.