History in the making

I'm getting really excited about this year's presidential election. Although Albert and I are rooting for John McCain we watched the Democratic National Convention every night. I enjoyed all the speeches and musical performances. Unfortunately we Republicans lack entertainers so I'm not expecting much at the Republican convention next week (although I do occasionally enjoy Daddy Yankee and maybe we'll have some Country peeps).

The Democrats put on a good show, everyone said what they were supposed to say and Obama had some good points like giving companies tax breaks for not going overseas (I guess that would be a lot of tax breaks since most companies don't go overseas, only a few really big ones) and I hear that if he wins his plan is to let everyone who makes less than $50k/year off the hook paying taxes. Since I currently fall in that category I might consider not trying for a new job so I stay in it :D

The Dems bought up good points about health care. Although this is nothing new, I think we need to discuss it. Right now if you get really sick you pretty much are forced into bankruptcy. A friend of mine once brought up that a lesbian friend with a chronic illness of hers couldn't get health care because she couldn't get married (we were discussing marriage rights for homosexuals), but I think you shouldn't force someone into marriage so he/she can get insurance and if we had universal health care we wouldn't have to discuss marriage rights for gays & lesbians.

The cons in national health care is that it's expensive and inefficient. In Canada some people are sent to the US to have surgeries that they are unable to provide because their health care system is so over burdened. In Italy they constantly complain about the quality of health care. I went to the hospital there to visit someone and there were six beds in one room. I wouldn't want to get sick there that's for sure. I know other countries have better systems, like the one in Switzerland, but they pay a lot more taxes and I don't really want to pay more. It's a tough situation that needs to be addressed. Perhaps insurance companies need to be more highly regulated.

Mostly I don't believe that the government should be involved in peoples' lives so much. I don't believe people should be left in their times of need, that's what friends, families, churches and ngos are for. I believe people are less likely to give to these other organizations because they think the government is taking care of it for them through high taxes. I want to be on my own and I want to choose how my money.

I'm most excited about the new McCain-Palin ticket. This changes everything. I wasn't totally thrilled about McCain, I wanted Romney to win, but I knew McCain would be the only Republican that could win this time around. Palin provides the party line approach, but she's a woman and she's not afraid to go up against corruption even if it's in her own party. Perhaps I identify with her because we're both western girls. I grew up hunting and fishing and my father is a life-long member of the NRA. It'll be fun getting to know her.

This race is exhilarating for both parties. The Democrats are excited to have Obama. Just watching their convention was exciting and I'm not even a democrat. Now this new vp pick is getting the Republicans excited too. I think the election in '04 was a downer for everyone...it's hard to get excited when you're just voting against the other guy. Now we all have someone to vote for. It's a good thing for the country. It gives hope to people. Everyone wants change, but now we have a choice to as what kind of change we want.