


| by John S. Pinto On November 4, 2008, most of us will head to the polls to vote. At this late date, I will not attempt to change your mind about who to vote for. If you have not made up your mind, continue reading. We have the two leading party candidates, who, while they have similar stands on certain issues, offer markedly different visions for America’s future. The Democratic Party candidate, Barack Obama, looks at a bleak picture of the country and proposes ‘change.’ The question that he has not answered is, what exactly is he proposing to change? Any changes made in our laws are going to affect the way we live. Before you vote, you must consider what changes in your life you are willing to make if Obama is elected. Tax increases Are you willing to give up even more of your freedom to attain some ill-defined goal? For instance, are you willing to pay even more taxes? Obama has proposed to increase the payroll tax and to increase the amount of income subject to the Social Security tax. Medicare is also going broke. Before long, he will probably also propose to raise the Medicare tax in some way. The most important question you must answer is, are you willing to have more of your income redistributed? Soothing words and lofty rhetoric cannot hide the truth that Obama is proposing massive (about $1 Trillion by some estimates) tax increases to fuel new spending programs. These programs will not put us on the way to prosperity. Rather, they will make us even more dependent on government! All new programs come with new rules and regulations, further restricting our freedom. Truth in advertising? In recent days, questions have been raised about the truthfulness of Obama’s advertising, as well as the vast amounts of money he has raised. On the Bill Moyer’s show on public television, well-known political author Kathleen Hall Jamison assailed several Obama advertisements. One of them assailed McCain about his ties with the Keating scandal in the 1990s. McCain long ago said he made a mistake and his subsequent behavior shows that he has become a better person from the experience. She also assailed McCain about his Bill Ayers advertisement about Obama. However, she had much stronger words for Obama for his attempt to lie about McCain. It seems that Obama’s only accomplishment is the ability to raise huge amounts of money. It is estimated that he will raise and spend half a billion dollars! These are just some of the questions about Barack Obama that should make one pause and think carefully. According to conventional wisdom, the economy is the big issue in this campaign. Would you trust your future to someone with limited life experiences and few notable accomplishments, like Barack Obama, or would you trust it to someone with many great accomplishments and many worthwhile life experiences, like John McCain? |

