This week my wife and I voted by Absent Voter Ballot. On Jan. 15, we will be out of town on some personal business. My wife usually votes Democratic Party. I've skipped primary voting if there is no burning issue.
When we filled in the request form and sent it to our city clerk's office, it came back with one more form, asking to declare a party. It's kind of a no brainer.
Voting Democratic doesn't really count. On December 1st, the DNC punished Michigan for moving up its primary to Jan. 15. Michigan's 156 delegates will not be allowed to vote at the Democratic Party's convention later this summer.
Democratic Party candidates Obama, Biden, Richardson, and Edwards have withdrawn their names in support of their party. The State's Democratic Party recommends that if you want to vote for them, to choose "Uncommitted". If the delegates get to go to the convention, they are committed to no one. So even if you like Obama or Edwards, there is no way of telling if your vote is heard. "Uncommitted" could still go to Clinton or Dodd. Clinton and Dodd didn't take their names off the ballot, but have pledged not to spend any money campaigning here.
Here are your choices:
Hillary Clinton
Christopher Dodd
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Uncommitted
And "Write-In" doesn't count under state law.
It's a lot of wasted trees, ink and time by our city and county officials.
As a Michigan tax payer, I'm annoyed that $12 million will be spent subsidizing the elections of two political parties--half wasted on the Democrats who will not use any of the delegates, and quarter wasted on the Republicans, who will only count half of their normal allotment of delegates. So, I'm urging Democratic voters to use a little ink, hold your nose and consider voting Republican for maybe the only time in your life.
Although Ron Paul promotes himself as a conservative Republican, there are several issues that set him apart that might be of interest to Democratic voters:
Getting the US Out of Iraq. Although John Edwards has pledged recently to bring home 40,000 troops immediately and close some of the bases, none of the top three polling Democratic candidate would pledge to remove all troops before 2013. Ron Paul would bring them all home ASAP. Let's end these serial deployments. Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan may cost up to $2 Trillion. We built a 230-mile road in Afghanistan for $250 million, and then blew it up repeatedly. I think there are roads in Flint, Jackson and Detroit that could have used that money instead.
Reducing the size of the military, but not compromising national security. He rejects the failed foreign policies of the Bush administration. He also wants to bring our troops home from Europe, Japan and South Korea. Those wars are over, and have been for 50 years. We have five Naval bases in Japan. There are 700 bases around the world. Who are we afraid of? The border guards should be on the US-Mexico border, not the Iraq-Iran border. Our National Guardsmen should be ready in this country for another hurricane Katrina or national forest fire.
Saving Social Security. His plan is to give those participating in government-sponsored retirement plans the choice of staying in or investing in something that can get a higher rate of return. Those who are in the program and face retirement soon will be able to keep their benefits with no changes. He would fund the gap by cutting spending in other areas of the government.
Respecting Your Personal Choices. He's stated many times that he does not want to run your life. Personal relationships are not the responsibility of the government to regulate. He wants the states to define marriage, as they should, under the 10th Amendment. He wants you to be in charge of your medical choices--not big companies nor the government. If you have chronic pain or are terminally ill, you should have access to the best medicines to relieve suffering. As a medical doctor, he knows what he's talking about.
Respecting Human Rights. He has voted against the Patriot Act, which authorizes warrantless searches and wiretaps. He wants to end the war on drugs, that unfairly targets blacks and those in poor neighborhoods. He would never condone advanced interrogation techniques. As a strict Constitutionalist, he understands that the those first 10 Amendments are for you and not for the government.
Stopping the Inflation Tax on Poor People. The inflation tax occurs when the dollar buys less, when there are more dollars printed than there are good and services. People on low and fixed incomes get hurt first and the hardest.
Stop Subsidizing China and Bad Trade Agreements. He wants to stop subsidizing China at $4 billion per year. Our involvement in NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO and others causes our jobs to go overseas.
Abolish the Personal Income Tax. This is the most unfair intrusion in our lives. For several days each year, you have to prove to the government that you are not a criminal. For two income families, you get hit with an Alternative Minimum Tax--a tax that was meant for rich people, now applies against those who can make it to middle class. We have plenty of money coming into the government, if we can get spending down to the levels of 2000, before the start of the Bush "43" administration.
No taxes on Tips. Wait people tend to make less than minimum wage and have to survive on tips. Congressman Paul has sponsored a bill (H.R. 3664) where you do not have to pay taxes on what you make waiting tables. This will benefit restaurant workers quicker than any change in the minimum wage law.
Get the Federal Gov't out of Education. Ron Paul supports home schooling through tax cuts for parents who choose to teach their children at home. But he does not support vouchers, which would cause taxpayers to support religious schools. No Child Left Behind puts unfunded mandates on states and penalizes them, without regard to those school districts that have higher proportion of special needs students.
Stop Corporate Welfare. There are huge subsidies by the government to oil companies, military companies and corporate farms. Price supports make the food you eat more expensive. The $286 billion 2007 farm bill causes farmers to overproduce, wastes fuel, and hurts the environment.
Granted, Ron Paul does not want to spend money on many programs that the Democrats want, but he is also against many programs that the Republicans want too.
If it isn't Ron Paul, here are your other choices:
If you're a life-long Democrat in Michigan, you should feel really queasy right now.
Good luck!
Update: Tom Tancredo announced this week he is dropping out of the race. Read Tancredo Out, Who's Next? here at the Nolan Chart.
©2007 Bob Nightingale, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Friday, December 21, 2007
Last modified: Saturday, December 22, 2007
The views expressed in this article are those of Bob Nightingale only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Bob Nightingale is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Posted By: Jefferson Madison
Date: 2008-01-14 05:38:30
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