The Futility of the 2008 Election
Josh Harding
August 24, 2008
News commentators have called this year´s presidential election historic. We´re at a pivotal moment right now in this country, they say, and the impact of this election will be felt for a long time.
Without question, electing the first African-American president would be a landmark moment for our country.
But that´s where the historical impact ends because, unfortunately, the two candidates we have will keep us going down the same road we´ve been going down for quite some time.
We have a budget that´s spiraling out of control. Medicare is projected to be bankrupt by 2019. Social Security is heading in that direction as well. Government spending as a percent of GDP is projected to be at 27.1% by 2040 according to the Cato Institute, which would give us a crushing tax burden and an even more stagnate economy than we have now. How do the candidates propose tackling these problems? Senator McCain wants to tackle pork-barrel spending. As much as that needs reform, it´s only a drop in the bucket. On the bigger issues of entitlement reform and scaling back government spending, McCain is silent. Senator Obama´s solutions involve increasing various taxes on the "wealthy," and using those projected revenues to keep the entitlement programs solvent in addition to funding new programs. He doesn´t even address whether it´s sensible for government spending to engulf that much of our GDP, and has no desire to discuss the deficiencies in the "pay-as-you-go" method of spending that created the looming crises in Medicare and Social Security.
We are still stuck in Iraq. Over 4,100 Americans have been killed over there, not to mention the number of Iraqi civilians, justified by the mythical threat of WMDs and a fabricated connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. The Iraqi government wants a timetable for our exit. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden remains free, and al Qaeda continues to re-group. So what do McCain and Obama propose? McCain is perfectly fine with a 100-year presence, as long as there´s no violence. And he feels the only way to keep down the violence is to keep troop levels at the surge-level he so proudly advocates. As for Obama, after campaigning to end the war by 2009, he´s now open to refining his stance. This would be consistent with the words of his former foreign policy advisor, Samantha Power. While still employed by the Obama campaign, she said all this talk of Obama ending the war in the first 16 months of his presidential term was a "best case scenario" that shouldn´t be taken seriously.
Civil liberties are under fire like never before. Due process, warrants, and humane treatment-those are trivial hindrances the Bush administration can´t be bothered with. McCain, a victim of torture in Vietnam, a man who has spoken eloquently about the evils of torture, nevertheless voted against a uniform standard that would outlaw torture methods like waterboarding. He supported the original PATRIOT Act, and he´s also voted to allow wiretaps without proper judicial oversight. Obama doesn´t come out any better, as he capitulated on warrantless surveillance, voted to renew the PATRIOT Act, and was AWOL this year when the issue of torture came up in the Senate.
We have a drug war that destroys more lives than protects. That doesn´t matter to Senator McCain, who views medical marijuana as a myth, despite what groups like the American Medical Association say. Senator Obama once spoke of decriminalizing the use of marijuana, but then succumbed to political pressure and raised his hand during a Democratic debate, signifying his opposition to marijuana decriminalization.
While others may see a historical election this year, I see an election of historical irrelevance.
Without question, electing the first African-American president would be a landmark moment for our country.
But that´s where the historical impact ends because, unfortunately, the two candidates we have will keep us going down the same road we´ve been going down for quite some time.
We have a budget that´s spiraling out of control. Medicare is projected to be bankrupt by 2019. Social Security is heading in that direction as well. Government spending as a percent of GDP is projected to be at 27.1% by 2040 according to the Cato Institute, which would give us a crushing tax burden and an even more stagnate economy than we have now. How do the candidates propose tackling these problems? Senator McCain wants to tackle pork-barrel spending. As much as that needs reform, it´s only a drop in the bucket. On the bigger issues of entitlement reform and scaling back government spending, McCain is silent. Senator Obama´s solutions involve increasing various taxes on the "wealthy," and using those projected revenues to keep the entitlement programs solvent in addition to funding new programs. He doesn´t even address whether it´s sensible for government spending to engulf that much of our GDP, and has no desire to discuss the deficiencies in the "pay-as-you-go" method of spending that created the looming crises in Medicare and Social Security.
We are still stuck in Iraq. Over 4,100 Americans have been killed over there, not to mention the number of Iraqi civilians, justified by the mythical threat of WMDs and a fabricated connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. The Iraqi government wants a timetable for our exit. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden remains free, and al Qaeda continues to re-group. So what do McCain and Obama propose? McCain is perfectly fine with a 100-year presence, as long as there´s no violence. And he feels the only way to keep down the violence is to keep troop levels at the surge-level he so proudly advocates. As for Obama, after campaigning to end the war by 2009, he´s now open to refining his stance. This would be consistent with the words of his former foreign policy advisor, Samantha Power. While still employed by the Obama campaign, she said all this talk of Obama ending the war in the first 16 months of his presidential term was a "best case scenario" that shouldn´t be taken seriously.
Civil liberties are under fire like never before. Due process, warrants, and humane treatment-those are trivial hindrances the Bush administration can´t be bothered with. McCain, a victim of torture in Vietnam, a man who has spoken eloquently about the evils of torture, nevertheless voted against a uniform standard that would outlaw torture methods like waterboarding. He supported the original PATRIOT Act, and he´s also voted to allow wiretaps without proper judicial oversight. Obama doesn´t come out any better, as he capitulated on warrantless surveillance, voted to renew the PATRIOT Act, and was AWOL this year when the issue of torture came up in the Senate.
We have a drug war that destroys more lives than protects. That doesn´t matter to Senator McCain, who views medical marijuana as a myth, despite what groups like the American Medical Association say. Senator Obama once spoke of decriminalizing the use of marijuana, but then succumbed to political pressure and raised his hand during a Democratic debate, signifying his opposition to marijuana decriminalization.
While others may see a historical election this year, I see an election of historical irrelevance.