Why I’m Supporting Obama (In Letter Form)
By Daniel Miessler on September 11th, 2008: Tagged as Obama | Politics
A couple that is friends with my girl and I are big McCain supporters. They were devastated when they found out I was supporting Obama. I asked them to come talk about it over dinner but they refused, saying they’re likely to get too upset about it.
They said to send an email, which I have included below. It’s not cleanly edited, but I think it captures much of the essence of my arguments. I may clean it up later if it resonates and make it a real post.
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So here’s my pitch. Let me start by saying that I’m sorry we can’t have this discussion in person, but I understand that it can be an upsetting topic. I hope you’ll reconsider, however, and perhaps consider that it’s o.k. for friends to get upset with each other within the context of intense discussion without it affecting the relationship adversely. In other words, I’d be nice to be able to have the conversation(s), get upset, and then move on to more pleasant topics and/or other heavy ones that we agree on.
Just think about it. If you don’t want to then that’s fine too.
Anyway, I think the best place to start is where we agree. I think we’re both self-starters who take control over our own destinies and take responsibility for our actions. I also think we, to some degree, look down on those that do not do these things. Fair enough. I have very strong feelings in this area, and that’s why I originally supported Ron Paul—the Republican/Libertarian candidate. He’s a guy with core, original Republican views who was praised repeatedly by Reagan. He is also exceedingly honest—which is something I value very highly.
On the other side, however, I also am aware of the fact that people don’t make choices without influence. Young children in Saudi Arabia, for example, don’t “choose” to become Muslim. They just do. Similarly, “trashy” people do not “choose” to become trashy. They just do. This is a fact. There is very little choice in the matter.
Where I break with the liberals is in saying, “They’re victims, so we have to just leave them be. It’s not their fault.” My stance is that regardless of whose fault it is, the problem still exists. There are still bars on the windows of my liquor stores. I still have to lock my doors at night. This problem is infringing on MY freedom, therefore it must be handled.
I liken this problem to that of a child playing with a firearm. You shouldn’t just let them do it because it’d be “wrong” to infringe on their rights. They’re killing themselves. It’s sickening. And we as a responsible society need to take the required steps to keep it from happening. This does NOT mean giving them sustenance to keep them happy. All they do is multiply and continue causing additional suffering to themselves and those around them.
No, what’s needed is much more direct and intervention-based. I’m not sure what that is, but it involves re-educating their children out of their lifestyle while simultaneously removing the negativity. That’s a topic in and of itself, so I’ll leave it at that.
My point is that I am NOT for taking money from the intelligent and prosperous and using it to perpetuate failure and suffering. In fact I’m strongly against that. See Ron Paul.
However, I’m also against building a societal structure where the intelligent, educated, and powerful do not try and fix the problem. I do not support internal isolationism, whereby the rich seclude themselves in nice areas and allow the trash to fend for themselves. It may sound like a good idea, but the rich cannot survive alone. They need a middle class, and that’s who they’d be killing if they tried this.
So we do need social programs, but programs designed at rescuing young minds, not placating those who we’ve already lost. I am against throwing money at the failure of the lower class in an unintelligent way. All that does is perpetuate the failure.
So that brings us to Obama.
I will be disappointed if he initiates any sort of programs that placate the suffering masses rather than try and keep them from perpetuating. But I won’t be bothered by ANY potential social program. Again, we NEED our middle class, and it needs a rescue. It just needs to be based on logic rather than emotion.
So if he ends up being for a bunch of lame social programs, I’ll be against that. And I’ll make that known via letters to my representatives.
I am also pro 2nd Amendment. Obama recognizes it but says local government should be allowed to place restrictions on it, as he supported in Chicago. I do not like this. It’s a mark against him, in my opinion.
Taxes.
I’m not sure if you’ve seen the actual tax charts put out by each campaign. Here’s the summary. If you make less than 111K, you get more taxes back from Obama, not McCain. McCain helps those above that more, which I understand includes you. It will also include me very soon, but I’ll still support the Obama plan.
Why?
Because the middle class is the base of the country. We in the creative class don’t live without them. That’s why the country is in such bad shape now. If there is no spending because people have no money, the rich are screwed. So I support bolstering the middle/working classes in order to allow the go-getters to continue to thrive. In short, if the economy fails, we’re all screwed—not just the poor.
Giving the tax cuts mostly to the rich is part of the isolationist campaign I talked about earlier. It means we’ll do better for a while, but the core of the country will rot. We’ll have small, secured parts of the country where we can move, and the rest will be taken over by trash. That is not America. If you want to remain at the top of a great nation you have to support the ability of every American to make it to the center. Again, no handouts—but fair chances.
Science and Religion.
We differ here, so perhaps there won’t be much agreement. Basically, I support abortion and stem cell research, and I abhor the idea of creationism being taught next to real science. I equally hate the idea of abortion being used as birth control, but it’s honestly a better solution than a country full of unwanted babies. To me it’s a calculation of suffering. More suffering comes to more people when unwanted babies are brought into the world than comes to the tiny fetuses that are aborted. That’s cold and harsh, but I see suffering as the main thing to avoid.
National Security.
This is something I am knowledgeable on. Not only do I do security for a living (the concepts are very similar regardless of area), but I also served in the Infantry for 6 years. So I’ve thought about it a lot. Here are a few things to consider.
Threats have the ability to increase at a far greater rate than we can defend. We cannot possibly prevent attacks here if we make enough people angry. The Bush / McCain strategy is to be an asshole with a large Army. It’s a horribly bad idea. We are far less safe now than we were after 9/11 simply because we’ve increased the number of people who want to do us harm, and we’ve lost support in the world.
World support is CRUCIAL. World support determines whether or not we’re respected as a Military. We cannot be alone. We were not alone in the Cold War with Reagan. We had the world behind us, because they saw how dangerous the Soviet Union was.
Well, now the roles are reversed. We’re the hated ones, and there is world support for attacking us.
This will only get worse with McCain, who is known for being a hotshot with a bad temper. Many who have served with him in the Military say he should not be President for this very reason. He can blow up and do things that will have major repercussions.
Obama is a truly ideal person for national security. Here’s how.
Obama will walk right into Putin’s office. Or the leader of Iran, or whoever…with a plan. He’ll lay it out to the ENTIRE WORLD. I’m going to offer this package. They say no. He says, “Ok, no problem. How about number 2 option?” They say no. He says, “Ok, how about this final option? Please work with us. Please work with the world.” They say no.
Here’s the good part.
WHEN OBAMA TURNS HIS BACK, AND SAYS TO THE WORLD, “I tried everything. They cannot be reasoned with.”
THE. WORLD. WILL. BELIEVE. HIM.
This is so important. More than anything. It means when we unleash our Military, it will be furious and without contention. Because it will truly be a last resort, and everyone will know it.
It’s complete transparency. It’s trust. It’s a statement that we will talk as much as possible, but if someone will not listen to logic we will take action. And the action will have WORLD SUPPORT.
Contrast this with McCain.
If McCain goes behind closed doors with Putin or anyone else and walks back out and says, “We have to go to war.”
NOBODY WILL BELIEVE HIM.
We’ll have a failure before we even start.
Our own military knows this. Why do you think the military is donating more to Obama’s campaign than to McCain’s? (look it up—it’s true). It’s not because they’re cowards and want to come home; it’s because they want to be respected in the world, which makes them more powerful. They need to be wielded by someone who commands respect.
McCain is simply another Bush. That’s why he’s voted with him 90% of the time — and 100% of the time in 2008.
In short, the quality of character determines trust. And Obama is trusted based on how he conducts himself and is willing to talk. This will make his use of the Military that much more formidable.
Experience.
This brings me to experience. Quite simply, experience is nothing compared to character. The majority of generals know we shouldn’t have gone into Iraq at this point. Obama was against it. That’s character, and that’s judgement. He says we should talk to our enemies. The Republicans disagreed until the whole world ridiculed them into doing exactly what Obama said. Now they’re over there talking to Iran just like Obama said. That’s character and judgement. The same goes for setting a time to leave Iraq. Obama said it first. And Iraq agreed. And now Bush agrees. Same thing.
Even more important than Obama having character, McCain has BAD experience. He supported a plan to have illegal aliens pay $5,000 for citizenship. The Republican’s killed him over it. Just a year ago the Republicans hated the guy. He’s flipflopped on more things than can be counted. He’s not trustworthy. Seriously. Amnesty for illegal Mexicans? For a fee? And citizenship? Look it up. It’s disgusting.
So I’m not one bit worried about Obama not being “tested”. His judgment is what matters, and we can see from his history on Iraq and his take on diplomacy that he was right about these things where McCain was wrong.
In short, I’m much worried about McCain’s BAD experience than about Obama’s supposed lack of it.
Freedom and the Constitution
I’m seriously afraid of having our constitution trampled on (A major, old-school Republican theme). McCain’s rhetoric is that of fear. He’ll build up the Patriot Acts, increase surveillance, and remove all kinds of additional freedoms in the name of “security”.
It’s not American.
Obama will resist this sort of thing, as you saw with his backlash against Palin on the “reading the terrorists their rights” issue. He, like Jefferson, knows that anyone who gives up freedom for security deserves neither. Also, keep in mind that Obama has some knowledge and background in this due to his law degree from Harvard.
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Ok, last push….
Bottom line:
Obama is not perfect, and if he were running against someone with his character and less socialist policies back home I’d be voting for him instead. And I’m not so sure about the socialized health care either… He’s far from ideal.
But to me foreign policy and security is the top priority. It affects everything—including our currency and our economy. And that perception of America—our public face—is what defines our prosperity.
Obama will rebuild that. McCain will do it more harm. Potentially WAY more harm.
This, combined with the McCain/Palin embrace of creationism and general rejection of science, says to me that Obama is the BETTER pick here. We have much bigger problems than a few too many social programs. We need to rebuild our education system and become a force in the world again, and this is done by bolstering our middle class, not by helping people like you and me separate from the garbage at the bottom. If we do that America will fall very soon.
So, with that…I await your response.
Warm regards,
-Daniel
