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Thursday, January 10, 2008

A change of heart: Election 2008

I've done a bit of soul-searching, and even before I read some rather nasty bits in Ron Paul's history, I was already shopping for another candidate since I knew he had roughly a snowball's chance in Hell of winning. After reading it, well, I'm feeling a bit Blue. While some of what Senator Obama has said about ethics almost sounds Pollyannish, his positive message and the fact that he's neither Hilary Clinton nor John Edwards really appeal to me.

Also, I oppose the continuation of some or all non-permanent aspects of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for three reasons: First, it's duplicative of rights enumerated in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America. Second, aspects of the law itself are discriminatory. I would ask why harsh strictures against changing polling places, laws for filling vacancies in state and local offices, and other similar issues should require Justice Department approval for nine entire states, counties in six others, and cities in two more states, when they do not apply to the entire United States equally. This is the epitome of discriminatory behavior. The South is far different from it was 40, 25, hell, even 10 years ago. When problems arise, the states themselves do a good job of resolving them, unlike 43 years ago when the VRA was passed. Bull Connor and George Wallace are dead, and their ilk no longer have any real power. Third, most of the non-permanent sections are no longer necessary, and merely serve to perpetuate a bureaucracy and manpower that could be better used to solve modern problems.

In addition, I think he's too conservative on drug issues, and far too bullish on ethanol. However, reading his positions on the issues as a whole, I find him the most attractive candidate.

4 comments:

Lizzy said...

Did I read that correctly? Are you supporting Obama? (Me too!)

Candace said...

Good for you - I was appalled by Ron Paul's racism, for one thing. Have you read Obama's The Audacity of Hope yet? (I keep pimping his book.) Whether people agree with each and every issue in the book, at least the man has thought deeply enough about the issues to be able to write about them intelligently, which is more than can be said for many of the other candidates, on either side.

Mandelbrot's Chaos said...

I have not read his book, and I wish I were able to post something more about my support of Obama's candidacy. However, something far more tragic has occurred in local news, and I felt it was more fitting that I address that instead of politics.

Candace said...

Yeah, I just read your post about that - unbelievable.