My Choice for President

If you are new to this blog, you should start by reading my first two posts.   My first post reviewed my reasons for starting the blog, and my second post contained an overview of my political philosophy.   Scroll below until you find them. 

After reading my first two posts, a good friend suggested I support a write-in candidate for President of the United States instead of either John McCain or Barak Obama.  I was tempted to do so.  As a practical matter, however, I only have two alternatives if I want to have a say in choosing the next President:  McCain or Obama.   If you have read the overview of my political philosophy, you will not be surprised to hear I am supporting McCain.   I was not enthusiastic about McCain when it became apparent several months ago that he would win the Republican nomination for President.   I am somewhat more enthusiastic about him now after reflecting on the stark differences between his positions and Obama’s positions on some of the major challenges and problems facing the country.

I have been disappointed in both the McCain and Obama campaigns.   Both candidates promised to run clean campaigns and to end the partisanship that has affected every aspect of political debate in this country.   So far, I have not seen any indication that either campaign is any different from the partisan campaigns of the past.   Instead of a fresh approach, both campaigns seem to be conducting business as usual.  Maybe this is just the nature of politics, but both sides distort and misrepresent the positions of the other side and use their surrogates to attack each other, sometimes viciously, while denying any involvement.   Based on the current campaigns, I am not optimistic that the bitter partisanship that has poisoned the political discourse in this country will end regardless of who is elected.

In order to make an informed decision, you have to ignore the campaign rhetoric and hard-hitting and misleading advertisements and judge the candidates based on their records and their positions.    Within the next several weeks, I will be explaining why I am supporting McCain by examining the records of the two candidates and by discussing the differences between their positions on important issues.

I have told you about my political philosophy, which is the same thing as telling you about my bias and admitting that I have a bias.   Everyone is biased.  I am biased in favor of positions that are consistent with my political philosophy as discussed below.    In discussing a candidate’s position, I will do my best to be accurate while at the same time keeping my discussion brief and simple.    Most issues, however, are extremely complex, and it is difficult to be brief, simple, and completely accurate all at the same time.  There are always nuances and qualifications that could be added to any discussion.   If I misrepresent a candidate’s position, my misrepresentations will not be intentional, and I apologize in advance for doing so.