Not Pro-McCain ~ Anti-Obama!

Let me introduce myself – I’m Meg! Nice to meet you. I’m young, I’m a woman, I live outside Washington, DC, and I’m a moderate registered Independent. “Meg” is not my real name, nor is this my first blog. I have created this blog specifically to maintain my anonymity. Why? Because the attacks against me because of my point of view got so out of hand that I simply couldn’t tolerate it anymore. On my original blog, if I dared to voice even the slightest hint of dissent against Barack Obama, I was attacked by my own family and my closest friends. I couldn’t figure out what had happened. Suddenly, those closest to me – people with whom I normally share a great deal of mutual respect – would turn on me in an instant, spewing the most hateful of insults, all because I had the unending nerve to disagree with them politically. I didn’t get it; what changed? One minute they’re asking me for advice, as any friend would, then the next they’re calling me “brainwashed” and “stupid.” Or worse, people who have known me my whole life and know full well who I am and what I stand for, as soon as they hear I don’t like Obama, they start accusing me of being a “bigoted, crazy, right-wing fundamentalist Christian Republican.” (Their words, not mine!) I’m so tired of being attacked personally by people I know and love, I’m tired of being dragged through the mud by people who know better. So I’m removing my name, I’m sequestering this part of my life, so at least now the attacks – that I know are inevitable – at least won’t feel quite so personal. Call it cowardly if you wish, but I just don’t want to stir up anymore strife amongst my family. Yet I still wish to speak my mind, so here I am.

Now, on to politics and the reason I want to speak my mind.

Normally I tend to ignore politics and the news, because lately I’ve had to deal with an incredibly stressful situation – I’m currently suffering from a potentially fatal genetic condition that causes great pain, and the treatment for which occupies a great deal of my time. But when I finally started to educate myself about the candidates – once both parties had chosen their nominee – I became quite concerned about the nature, experience, and opinions of the Democratic candidate, Barack Hussein Obama. The more research I did, the more concerned I became.

I want to emphatically state that I am not pro-McCain. I am *not* a Republican, nor have I ever been a Republican. My intent in creating and writing this blog is *not* to encourage anyone to vote for John McCain. My intent is simply to voice my concerns about Obama. In so doing, I hope to share some of the things I have learned in the hope that you will take a clear, honest, and determined look at the man who is currently requesting your vote.

I firmly believe that every vote is precious. We Americans are so uniquely privileged to live in a strong democracy, but many of us have become used to the rights and privileges that enrich our lives. Because of our having grown accustomed to this, we sometimes easily forget how valuable our votes are, and what it represents when we give that vote to a specific candidate.

When we cast our vote, we are signaling that whomever we have voted for is the candidate who best represents us individually. We are lending our support to someone whom we feel is most closely aligned to our opinions about how best to protect our own interests, the interests of our family, and the interests of our nation. But just as importantly, our vote also signifies our trust in the candidate themselves, in their judgment, in their character, in their honesty and integrity, for these qualities are what are required of the presidency. Not every president lives up to these qualities, which is all the more reason we must cast confident, educated votes, knowing full well that we have done everything reasonably within our power to ensure we are voting for someone in which we can place our trust.

In order to come to such a conclusion about which candidate deserves our trust and our vote, it is our duty to discover all that we can about the candidate as a person, as a leader, as a public servant. We must dig past the campaign rhetoric, the buzzwords, and the sound-bytes which are hurled at us from every side. We must exercise due diligence in finding factual, unbiased, and reliable answers to our most important questions. We cannot rely on PR, spin, talking heads, and rhetoric, for they are calculated to play to our hearts and emotions, not our minds and our ability to reason.

In law school, one phrase is oft repeated as the basis of the practice of law. “Law is reason free from passion.” In my opinion, what Aristotle meant by this, was that the only just way to evaluate any question – be it legal, personal, or otherwise – is to remove any passions which may cloud our ability to reason. By separating the emotive from the factual, we can ponder a question without the pull of our heartstrings, thus allowing ourselves to arrive at a logical conclusion that is fair, balanced, and just.

If lawyers are to practice law through reason free from passion, shouldn’t our legislators create the laws the same way? Shouldn’t they be free from headstrong passions that may sway them from a fair and honest solution or compromise? And in choosing those legislators, those leaders of our government, shouldn’t we make decisions in the same manner?

That is what I have endeavored to do in evaluating the nominees for the presidency of the United States. That is what I hope to convey on this blog: reasonable, honest, logical facts, presented in good faith, as evidence of why I feel Barack Obama should not receive my vote.

I do not expect you to take my word as the truth or to accept my opinion completely as your own. I would not ever dare to suggest such a thing to anyone. But what I do hope is that you will consider these arguments honestly, without passion or unreasonable bias, and use them not as absolute proof, but as a foundation for your own research, evaluation, and ultimately, your own educated decision about which candidate best deserves your vote.

What Can You Expect From Me?

Here are my promises to you about what you can expect from me on this blog:

1 – I pledge to do my best not to resort to childish behaviors in forming my argument. I will not resort to name-calling, of either side, and will do my best to stick to the facts and only the facts.

2 – Whenever I state something as fact, I will provide each reference that led to my conclusion, so that you may evaluate them for yourself.

3 – I will try to glean my information from sources that are as unbiased as possible. As that is now extremely hard in our society, whenever I find information from a source that is clearly biased, I will do my best to counter it with a source that is from the opposite persuasion. Whenever I do present a seemingly biased reference, I will do my best to tell you honestly of the persuasion of that source.
However, I must tell you that I am extremely disgusted in the considerably common behavior of completely discounting whatever either side has to say, simply because the reader may happen to disagree with the writer’s own political perspectives. Meaning, I find it disgusting when a conservative points to a liberal source and says, “You can’t trust them, they’re a liberal!” or vice versa. Such an attitude would dismiss even a commonly believed fact if it happened to come forth out of the mouth of someone who disagrees with you. To take this attitude, I believe, is prohibitive to healthy discussion and debate. If one is not willing to listen to what the other side has to say and honestly evaluate it for themselves, then debate is pointless and agreements will never be possible. So please, I implore you, do not discount the content provided by someone of the opposite political persuasion of your own. I’m not suggesting you believe every word of it, but at least consider it and compare it to other readily available material.

4 – I will not, nor will I ever, seek to discredit a candidate based on the color of their skin, the religion of their choice, their gender, or any other such ridiculous and bigoted superficialities.
The only situation in which the mentioning of such topics would be relevant, is if the candidate attempts to lie in relation to these issues and such deceit can be concretely proven. Dishonesty is dishonesty, no matter what issue the lie may be attempting to cover up, and all lies will be treated with equal disdain.

5 – If you do happen to agree politically with Barack Obama, I will not insult you for it, I will not think less of you, I will not call you names, I will not disrespect you. I completely and utterly respect your right to believe whatever you wish about the best way in which our country should move forward. Please grant me that same right and the same respect.
It is up to you to determine for yourself exactly what it is Barack Obama truly stands for, and I hope that you will honestly evaluate all evidence and information put before you, not discrediting it or tossing it aside simply because it is not what you thought you knew about him. If, after such diligent investigation, you still honestly believe that he represents your interests, then more power to you.

6 – There is no reason to resort to personal attacks. My intent in creating this website was to encourage intelligent, calm, rational debate, not to sling mud at the other side. Any such harsh, hateful, or unkind commentary will not be tolerated and will be deleted. Sure, there is such a thing as free speech, but this is my domain, and I have a right to ensure that the stated goal of this discussion is not disregarded and destroyed. Of course, everyone and anyone is welcome to post dissenting opinions about any of the issues put forth – I will never delete someone’s common simply because they disagree with me. But if disagreements turn into disrespectful harassment, that is when they will be deleted. The point of this site is to have an honest, direct, and mature debate, wherein each party can pleasantly agree to disagree if necessary. There’s more than enough nastiness in this campaign as it is; if you’re intent on participating in such behavior, you can find an outlet for it elsewhere.
That said, if your comment takes a while to appear on this site, please bear with me – like I said, my time is heavily occupied due to illness, so I may not be able to approve your comment right away. However, rest assured, I will post all relevant and respectful comments as soon as I possibly can.

I’m sure there are other things left to add to this list, but for now, I will leave you with my word that I will do my best to make sure that this site is as fair as I can possibly make it. I’m not out to burn anyone at the stake, I’m not out to pressure anyone to change their vote. I simply want to share what it is I have discovered in my own research, in the hope of helping those who are engaged in similar efforts to determine who to vote for. I’m sure there are things out there that I am unfamiliar with, just as I’m sure you are unfamiliar with other aspects of this campaign as well. Through open discussion, the exchange of information, and fair debate, perhaps we can help each other come to a reasonable conclusion.

Thank you for visiting!

I also have a couple other people to thank for their assistance. First of all, to my friend Chris – you’re always the first to let me know of any news developments I’ve missed. Because of that, a lot of these posts are precisely because of your input and dedication. I’m very grateful to you for that, for your friendship, and for all the help you’ve given me in doing my research. You’re absolutely amazing, and this site is better directly because of how freaking awesome you are!

Also, many thanks to NoktahHitam.com for the darling smiley pack. You’re a kick butt designer!

Lastly, to my close friend who wishes to remain nameless, thank you very, very much for helping me with this site, even though you disagree with me politically. It speaks volumes about your maturity, your tolerance, and your kindness that you were so willing to assist me when I was lost in unfamiliar code. If only everyone else could be as courteous and kind as you, then this world would be an infinitely better place. You’re an example to everyone around you and I love you for it. Thank you!