Why My Vote for President will not go to Senator Obama

Fellow readers my disdain for the junior Senator from Illinois emanates not from any of the numerous wild emails circulating the internet nor individuals attempting to link him to radical organizations in his distant or recent past. No, my principles will not allow me to vote for Senator Obama based solely on his record, his public comments, or the complete lack thereof.

First, his stated tax plan will raise taxes, not only on those making $250,000 or more, but all Americans. The good Senator’s stated threshold for those receiving a “tax reduction” changed several times over the last week from $250,000 to $200,000 to $120,000,¹ to $150,000 as of today². Additionally, it is imperative that we understand the reality behind his plan is actually a “tax credit” not a “tax cut”. Meaning, payroll taxes, the money taken from paycheck withholding, actually might go up according to the Obama plan. Laughably Senator Obama’s plan then calls for issuing a $500.00 dollar welfare government check.³

Moreover, while it is a populist sentiment to “soak the rich” in the form of higher income and corporate taxes, raising the corporate tax rate has historically always resulted in higher costs in the form of goods sold to the consumer, lower wages paid to employees, or less business reinvestment in the industry. Thereby leaving us as the recipients of what is referred to as an “indirect tax”.⁴

Even more deflating is that reading over Senator Obama’s official tax plan, yields not one cut in any specific government program but instead just an endless list of goodies promised for the “average” person. (If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is) Again this is not a difficult concept to understand, although some would like to pretend otherwise. Spending more than you take in results in one of two things: deficit spending or increased tax rates to offset the shortfall. It should be obvious to all of us now that living on a “credit card” does not work for individuals nor government. It puts us in the perilous situation of being solely at the mercy of our creditors. Also, no matter how many times Senator Obama calls me “selfish”⁵ or Joe Biden tells me paying taxes is “patriotic”⁵ will I be convinced that less money to feed and cloth our family thus resulting in more money to Washington makes for sound fiscal policy.

Secondly, Senator Obama voted yes for H.R.6304 “FISA Amendments Act of 2008″. H.R.6304 is the warrantless wiretapping bill illegally abused by the Bush administration to gut the remnants of the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Senator Obama originally stated that he would not support any legislation which included blanket immunity for complicit telecom companies and administration officials⁶. The bill as enacted however does in fact provide complete immunity for all telecom companies who help the government listen in to American’s phone conversations as well as administration officials. Worse, the bill abolishes the original FISA court set up in 1978 and grants the district court administrative oversight authority.

Further, Senator Obama voted to renew the USA PATRIOT act⁷, originally passed at the behest of the Bush administration’s fake war on Terrorism. A 342 page behemoth printed at 5:00 in the morning, read by no one in Congress, and voted into law six hours later. The USA PATRIOT act gutted many inherent and civil liberties and gave the government unprecedented “tools” to intrude into our lives all under the guise of a fake enemy.

Next, the man who promises “change” illustrated his further lack of leadership and loyalty to the Constitution when he took the wet noodle stance of “undecided”⁸ in regards to his support for S.1959 the “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act” which currently resides in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, of which Senator Obama is a member. This bill defines homegrown terrorism as:

“the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives”

Further the bill goes on to define “ideologically based violence” as:

“the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual’s political, religious, or social beliefs,”

Finally in a vagueness that only government can craft, the bill loosely defines violent radicalization as:

“adopting or promoting an extremist belief system,”

The question we need to ask is, who gets to define what is an extremist belief system? The centralized Federal government of course. The same Federal government that has repeatedly abused its powers as it has become less and less restrained by the shackles of the Constitution. No government, no President, needs this sort of authority in a “free society”.

Next, his support of the “Wall Street” bailout bill, approving the use of our tax dollars to bailout the corrupt criminal financiers and bankers who created toxic mortgage security packages and lost billions on their devil’s gamble.

Finally, his belief that “we need a Civilian National Security Force” to support the military. At best it sounds like another massive expansion of government, at worst another large erosion of our liberty.

There is no doubt in my mind that Senator Obama will win tomorrow’s election coronation and there is also no doubt that there will be “Change”. However, his record leads me to believe that it will not be change to benefit the Republic or restore the Constitution.

In conclusion, my vote will also not be cast in support of either major “party” candidate who offer only the illusion of choice. Instead my vote will go to Ralph Nader as a write in, seeing how the Democrats and Republicans in Indiana have succeeded yet again in continuing their prohibition of actual opposition candidates appearing on the ballot.

Yes my vote will be a protest vote, but at least my conscience will be clear when the time comes.

Source(s): ¹Washington Times “Obama camp changes tax-cut beneficiaries” • ²CNBC “Closing Bell” originally aired November 3rd, 2008 • ³ Washington TImes “Obama’s spread-the-wealth plan” • ⁴ The Tax Foundation • ⁵ The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin “Obama: Taxpayers Are Selfish” • ⁶ CNN video of Obama Press Conference • ⁷ Senate Roll Call Vote no. 29 – 109th Congress, 2005 • ⁸ The Indypendent “Obama “Undecided” on S. 1959″ • ⁹