A Day to Remember and Pray

I am pausing today to remember and pray.    I remember the horrible events that occurred seven years ago today.   I remember the thousands of people who have lost their lives as a direct or indirect consequence of those events, and I remember and pray for their families.    I remember how the country was united immediately after September 11, 2001.    For a brief period, there were no liberals and no conservatives, and there were no Democrats and no Republicans.  We were all proud Americans sharing a common grief.     Regrettably, I also remember that the unity and sense of common purpose that existed for a short time after 9/11 soon disappeared.    The blame game started.  The Republicans blamed Clinton, who had been in office for the previous eight years until January 2001.   The Democrats blamed Bush, who had been in office for the previous eight months since January 2001.   Each side started exploiting the horrible events of 9/11 for political advantage, and they have been doing so ever since. 

In my prayers, I will thank God for my many blessings, including the fact that I am a citizen of the United States of America, that my family was not directly affected by 9/11, and that the United States has not suffered another major terrorist attack within our borders for the last seven years.   In my prayers, I will ask God to forgive and to help me forgive the terrorists who planned and executed the horrible events that occurred on 9/11.    I will petition God to give our national leaders the wisdom and courage to know how to deal with the problem of evil and to address the problem of global terrorism.   I will also ask God to provide guidance and comfort to the next President of the United States, whether Obama or McCain.   Finally, I will pray for peace.

 

Experience and Achievements

During my career, I have reviewed thousands of resumes submitted by candidates who were applying for a variety of different positions.   I have reviewed resumes submitted by attorneys, corporate executives, potential Board members, administrative assistants, secretaries, and even church pastors.   The review of resumes is normally the first step in the hiring process.   In reviewing a resume, I have always attempted to compare the experience and achievements of the candidate with the duties and responsibilities of the position that needs to be filled. 

If I were named to a committee to identify candidates for the position of President of the United States, I would not select Barak Obama for further consideration.   After reviewing his resume, I would conclude that Obama does not have either the experience or the record of achievement to qualify him to be President.   He has served only two years in the United States Senate during which he has spent most of his time running for President.  He is only four years removed from being a member of the Illinois State Senate.   He has no executive experience.  I am not aware of any significant achievements on Obama’s part, except that he has run an excellent campaign for President.   

Unlike Obama, McCain has a strong resume.   His resume, in my opinion, clearly shows that he has the experience to be President of the United States.  McCain attended the United States Naval Academy and thereafter spent 22 years in the U.S. Navy.   He served as the naval liaison to the U.S. Senate before retiring from the Navy in 1981.  His naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.   McCain has spent the last 26 years as a member of the U.S. Congress.  He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and to the U.S. Senate in 1986.    

There is clearly no comparison between McCain’s extensive experience and Obama’s limited experience.    Some will argue that experience is not the only factor to be considered in electing the next President, and I would agree that experience should not be the only factor.   In my opinion, however, it is an extremely important factor that deserves great weight.    It is important because experience brings with it wisdom, judgment and knowledge.  

Obama’s supporters have jumped on the fact that McCain’s choice for a running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, lacks the qualifications to be President, as if this somehow makes Obama more qualified.     I agree that Gov. Palin does not have the qualifications to be President, and I wish McCain had selected a more qualified running mate.    But Gov. Palin, if elected, will be Vice President—not President.   Moreover, in my opinion, Gov. Palin, although lacking the experience to be President, is more qualified than Obama.     She has been a member of a City Council, a Mayor, a Governor, and a member of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.   Obama talks about reform but has no record to stand behind his rhetoric.   Gov. Palin has a strong record as a reformer and as someone who is willing to take on the establishment, including fellow Republicans.

 

 

The Voting Records

Barak Obama would prefer to be running against George Bush rather than John McCain.   Since he is not running against Bush, he is doing everything possible to link McCain with Bush.    He refers to “Bush-McCain” or “Bush-Cheney-McCain” repeatedly during most of his speeches.   It’s actually a pretty good strategy, and it may work due to Bush’s unpopularity.   

During his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, Obama, in a further effort to link McCain with Bush, said McCain has voted with Bush some 90% of the time.    Let’s ignore the fact that Bush doesn’t have a vote in the U.S. Senate and assume Obama meant to say McCain votes with the Republican Party 90% of the time.  There are still a couple of problems with Obama’s statement.  First, he neglected to mention that he has voted with the Democratic Party 97% of the time.    Second, these statistics are fairly meaningless because most issues that come before the Senate are non-controversial and receive a unanimous or near unanimous vote.   

Anyone who follows politics knows that McCain is a maverick and has made a habit of sticking his finger in the eyes of conservatives and his fellow Republicans.   The conservative wing of the Republican Party was extremely unhappy when McCain clinched the Republican nomination for President.   The reason for the unhappiness was that McCain has a long record of exercising independent judgment and doing what he thinks is best for the country without regard to party politics.   McCain has opposed the Republican Party’s position on a number of major issues, including campaign finance reform, the original Bush tax cuts, climate change, interrogation methods, spending and earmarks, immigration reform, and the conduct of the war in Iraq prior to the surge, to name just a few.    He also has promised to appoint Democrats to his Cabinet if elected President.  I have not always agreed with McCain’s positions, but I have always admired his independence, which is what we need in a leader.   

What about Obama?    He has only been in the Senate for approximately two years, so his record is much more limited than McCain’s.    I am aware of only a few major issues, however, where Obama has taken a position in conflict with the Democratic Party’s position.   While running for President, he voted in July of this year in favor of amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that were opposed by many members of his party.    He also voted against a bill supported by most members of his party to fund the war in Iraq, and he voted against the confirmation of John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and General Michael Hayden to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.   In most cases where Obama has voted against his party, he has taken a more liberal rather than a more moderate position. 

Although Obama has been attempting to move to the center since locking up the Democratic nomination, his voting record clearly identifies him as a hard-core liberal.    According to National Journal’s 27^th annual vote ratings, Obama in 2007 had the most liberal voting record in the United State Senate, a distinction that helped him get the Democratic nomination.   His running mate, Joe Biden, was not far behind.   The National Journal ranked Biden as the third most liberal member of the Senate.    To his discredit, McCain did not receive a composite rating from the National Journal for 2007 because he missed too many votes to qualify under its rating system.    On social issues, which include immigration, McCain received a conservative score of 59, which means there are 58 more conservative members of the Senate on social issues.   In 2005 and 2006, McCain received a composite conservative score of 45 and 46, respectively, which places him squarely in the middle of the pack of all U.S. Senators.   

In politics, I think you have to judge candidates by their records rather than by what they say during the course of a campaign.   McCain has a record of showing independence and going against his party on important issues.  Obama says he wants to end partisanship and bring people together, but I am not aware of anything in his record to back his talk.    

Which candidate has the most credibility when he says he will take a non-partisan approach to governance?    Let the record speak for itself.

 

 

 

 

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.  

 

My Overall Political Philosophy

At the outset, I want to give you some insight into my political philosophy so that you will be able to understand and evaluate the comments and observations that I will be making on this blog.   Many of you will not agree with my philosophy, which is fine.  If you don't agree with my philosophy, I hope you have a philosophy of your own.  I don't think you can have an informed opinion about the important issues facing this country without developing an underlying philosophy on which to base your opinion.

By way of background, I want to acknowledge that I was once a liberal but am now a conservative.  Yes, I used to be a liberal.  I was never on the far-left fringes like many of my friends in the 1960s, but I was still a liberal.  I was born and raised to be a Democrat, and I considered myself to be a Democrat until I was close to 40 years old.  I hate to admit it, but I even voted for Jimmy Carter and against Ronald Reagan during the 1980 Presidential campaign.

I gradually shifted from being a liberal to being a conservative during the 1980s after reflecting on my life experiences and the failure of the so-called "progressive" policies that I once supported.  Even though I voted against President Reagan in 1980, I developed great respect for him, and I am sure his conservative philosophy rubbed off on me and played a role in my conversion from being a liberal to being a conservative.  Another factor in my conversion was my career change in 1983, when I gave up a partnership in a large law firm to become General Counsel of one of my clients.  As a partner in a law firm, I was a beneficiary of extensive government regulations.  The firm's business clients paid us a lot of money to help them sort through and comply with regulations.  As the General Counsel of a company, I had a budget for legal expenses, and I was met face-to-face with the costs that businesses incur to comply with regulations.  These costs, of course, represent a burden on the entire economy because they ultimately get passed along to consumers.  All of us pay the price for government regulations.  It is embedded into the cost of everything we purchase.

Why do I label myself as a conservative?  As a matter of general philosophy, I believe in limited government, low taxes, free markets, free trade, policies that are favorable to business and that encourage investment and job creation, and policies that encourage individual and personal responsibility rather than dependence.  Most liberals, on the other hand, support policies that result in extensive government regulation, high government spending, and high taxes.  In my opinion, the policies supported by most liberals have the effect of penalizing success and personal achievement, creating an unfavorable climate for business and thereby resulting in the creation of fewer new jobs, and creating large numbers of citizens who are dependent upon government for their livelihood.

Almost everyone I know agrees that government does not do anything well.  Nevertheless, politicians, especially liberals, continue to press for more government programs and more government involvement in virtually all aspects of the economy.  Our nation faces some of its most serious problems in areas where we already have extensive government regulation and interference.  These areas include, but are not limited to, education, health care, and energy. Why, then, does it make sense to want more government regulation and interference in these same areas?  It seems to me, as President Reagan once said, that government is the problem--not the solution. 

Does my conservative philosophy mean that I do not want the government to help people in need?   No, it does not.  I think there is a role for the government to help people under certain circumstances.  I do not believe, however, that it is government's responsibility to meet the needs of its citizens from cradle to grave.   In my opinion, existing government entitlement programs are excessive, have created too much dependence on government, and are expanding at a rate that is not sustainable.  To make matters worse, politicians, in an effort to get elected, are constantly proposing even more programs that would cost billions of dollars and shift even more responsibilities from individuals to the government.   As an individual, I feel strongly that I have an obligation to help people in need, but I think the best way for me to do this is by supporting religious organizations and charities, which in most cases operate far more efficiently than the government.  As the government becomes more involved in providing social welfare programs, citizens feel less responsibility to take care of themselves and their own family members and to support the programs provided by religious organizations and charities.

I want to emphasize that I am referring to myself as a conservative and not as a Republican.   I have been very disappointed in the Republican Party in recent years.  President Bush is a Republican but he has not governed as a conservative.  Moreover, Republicans squandered a tremendous opportunity when they controlled both houses of Congress.  Instead of operating ethically and promoting conservative principles, they let their power go to their heads.   They deserved to lose their power, and they did.

In my next post, I will disclose who I am supporting for President and the United States, and I will start giving you my reasons for supporting the candidate of my choice.

Introduction

I have created this blog so that I will have a forum to express my views about current events, politics, contemporary culture, and other matters that interest me from time to time.   I have always followed current events fairly closely, and I try to keep up with what is going on in the political arena.   I realize I would live a much happier life if I could disregard politicians and politics and not worry about current events or our declining culture.   Despite trying, however, I have not been able to wean myself from the daily news, and I always have views that I would like to express to those who are willing to listen.   I know many of my friends and relatives will disagree with some and possibly all of my views.   That's O.K.   That's what makes the world go around.   I will always welcome your comments.   There will be a place for your comments below each of my posts.   We don't have to agree, but I hope we will always respect and be courteous to each other.    I have spent very little time reading other blogs, but I understand that many of them contain hateful and outrageous comments.   If the comments on this blog are not respectful, then I will terminate the blog.   

 

Within the next few days, I will provide some background regarding my political philosophy, and I will disclose who I am supporting for President of the United States.   I will then have a series of posts dealing with some of the important issues involved in the current Presidential election. Thereafter, I will provide additional posts from time to time giving my views about current events and other matters of interest to me.   I hope you enjoy the blog.   Walter