To many Americans and journalists, 2012 is an “election year’ so the coverage (aka name calling) is turned up to 11. The joke is that every year is an election year. I’m not talking about a global scale. I’m talking about The USA and how every November, citizens vote for the best candidate for local, state and federal positions. Voting happens yearly. However, every 4 years, we pick a new president and supposedly that means this is an election year. I won’t nitpick this one too much except to say that we have a right to vote and should exercise it regularly. I voted in the spring for local school improvements at the county level. I vote whenever possible if I am informed for what is being voted upon and have an educated view point on who or what I’d like to see approved.
According to Wikipedia, voter turnout in America during presidential election years used to hover around 80%. It decreased sharply in the 60s and only slightly recovered to around 60% in 2008. This could mean that around half of Americans actually care about who runs our country but a lot of people I know talk politics and are enraged about the state of things. Far fewer people vote than are enraged. These should be matched evenly but they’re not.
When I was a kid, it was often said that a person who didn’t vote can’t complain when their favorite candidate didn’t win. This still holds true but the disparity now is beyond the democratic process. The majority of people I speak with believe democracy is disintegrated and has crumbled. Democracy is an eggshell where the yolk has been removed.
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So, I’m trying my best to put this all down because a lot of people on either side don’t understand the other. For the first time ever, I’m going to explain where my politics fall and why. I’m not a political person not because I’m not angry and not because I’ve never been unemployed. I’m an educated voter who tries to see things from all sides. I never vote straight down left or right. Maybe I should just get to the point.
I’m in the 28% federal income tax bracket. I was born in a county which is inhabited by farmers so, everyone in my family is conservative except for my Mom and Dad who always researched and voted and that usually ended up being a Liberal candidate was chosen by them. I support equal rights for all races and sexualities and I support the separation of church and state. You can translate that as I support gay marriage and I’m pro-choice since those are the current issues. However, I choose not to acknowledge those as that’s a mindset that looks upon what’s a hot topic now. I’m here to state that if you are asking the government to uphold the values of you as a Christian, Jew, Muslim or Buddhist, this is wrong. I don’t believe my religion should dictate the laws. Telling women what they can do with their unborn children is a religious concept that is being upheld by our laws in a country full of thousands of religions. I don’t think Christians should set our laws. This is also the case with homosexual marriages. So, in short, I believe church and state are separate and all of us no matter what color of your skin or religion or sexuality should share equal rights.
I am a gun owner and a member of the NRA. I respect, appreciate and am responsible when it comes to firearms. Criminals should not have them. Children should not have them. Clinically diagnosed insane people should not have them. If there’s a chance you may use a firearm for harm, you should not be allowed to own a gun. The same goes for knives, bombs, etc. I choose to drive a 4 cylinder car because it’s cheap for me to drive and it’s good for the environment. I choose to live sustainably out in the woods with my animals. Living out in the country and owning a gun makes me a redneck but being a redneck does not make you a republican.
The environment is a huge deal to me though. Despite all of my world traveling, I think our Earth and its resources should be preserved. This is a global issue but one our country isn’t spending enough time on.
I would gladly pay 50% of my income in taxes if it meant quality roads, excellent schools, flourishing community programs and universal healthcare. My belgian and french colleagues have unlimited government support if they lose their jobs. People abuse this but not all. I believe we should align with other developed countries, accept a higher tax bracket and move to a more socially supported system. However, I also align with the tea party. I believe that government size should be reduced. We can have a social support system while not paying our leaders millions of dollars to run the country. Washington costs too much to run and should be reduced. Defense budget should be reduced to a peace-time spending amount and our schools should see increased funding.
To move to a social system, there must be a radical shift in how our country is operated. It might be too late. What I mean is that, for our country to flourish with 50% tax rates, everyone must have a job and everyone must be educated. This means that we need to bring back jobs to America. To bring back jobs, we need educated Americans. The literacy rate in America is #46 in the world. We need to get more Americans who can read so they can hold jobs and we can export more than we import. If we continue to import more than we export, we can’t experience a future of sustainable living with a consistently valuable dollar and with a social support net for those who truly need it.
I believe that capable and smart foreigners who want to work in America should have the processes in place to allow that in an efficient way. Those that want to visit here for our services should not be allowed to reside in America. We should build a fence on all sides of the country that actually works. I do believe in border control but the border should always be open to those who can make America great again.
Finally, for any of these visions to become a reality, we have to work together. This means religious groups can’t dictate what laws are made and neither can corporations. Corporations aren’t people and neither are churches. We must all pay a fair share in taxes. Loopholes for corporations and the rich should be abolished. We should all be taxed at 35% of our income no matter what and this includes inheritance, gifts and capital gains taxes. Let’s level the playing field. 35% may hurt lower income families but, this 35% will allow lower income families to have free health care,job placement programs and education that is funded by the rich. A capital gain of 1 million in a year yields 350,000 USD to help hundreds of families who make minimum wage. Left versus right has to stop for our country to succeed and this is the only way that can happen.
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This post is hard to write because my views are far too often kept from the web. Well, I have a lot of views but the political ones are kept secret. It’s better that way but I’ve been reading a lot about those that lean more left and how weak they are on standing up and taking a Tea Party stance on what they believe is right. I agree with this. The Tea Party was inspiring to me. I believed in a lot of what they wanted to accomplish but a smaller government with bans on abortion is something I couldn’t get behind. Also, if you’re going to picket, please use spell check on your signs.
As usual, I fall in the middle on many views. This means I have arguments with conservatives and liberals. However, I think the model I’ve chosen to fall into is a model we all should strive toward. Keep guns away from criminals, fund our schools and everyone pays taxes toward a system that takes care of our children and seniors. Sounds nice to me. As long as churches and corporations have more pull in Washington than me, the system will continue to fail. I believe in America though and I know we are all in this together. Thanks for hearing my views on this.