Today is a huge day and the most important thing you can do is vote. It doesn’t matter who you’re voting for, whether you think your candidate has it in the bag or has no chance. Get out, take the time, and vote.
It’s very hard for me to put into words how important I think this election is. We’re witnessing the single greatest decline in American soft power in the last century. It is most visible in the financial crisis but the signs are there in our national debt and rising income and wealth inequality in this country.
I’ve also talked over this past year about politics becoming too much of a “team” sport, where people put their allegiances to their party over what’s ultimately best for the nation. I know a number of you identify as “Republican” and thus have difficulty pulling the lever for a Democrat. I’d like to take one last chance to change your mind about this. We’re all in this together, after all.
The fact of the matter is that on most Republican issues, those that Barry Ritholtz today described as “low taxes, balanced budget, strong defense, no unnecessary overseas involvement, and no government involvement in personal matters”, Barack Obama is the better choice.
He has proposed a sensible balance of trying to cut taxes for those people that will spend (and thus generate follow on GDP) with keeping his proposals revenue neutral (the much maligned taxes on those making $250K or more). On every policy proposal he has on his web site, he has marked out areas where he will make adjustments in order to get the funding for those programs. He has suggested focusing our military efforts on the people behind 9/11, not some ambitious (and, quite frankly, insane) program of spreading democracy by gunpoint. He has proposed money to invest in our military while cutting programs such as FCS that don’t apply well to our current conflicts.
I realize that there are concerns among moderate Republicans about Obama’s emphasis on healthcare and social nets, but there are good business reasons for doing this. I can’t really lay out the arguments in favor of this completely, but the bottom line is that we’re a nation of consumers, and more people consuming means more work for everyone else. Wages, financial security, and growing real median wages are pretty critical for our nation to grow. I’ve posted links recently about the impact of various forms of stimulus on GDP. His policies are pro-growth.
In fact, that’s why I think he’s such a good choice. He’s been very pragmatic with his policy positions, backed by good economics and good science. That’s the biggest pro for Obama. Beyond that, Barack Obama has run a singularly consistent, coherent campaign. I hope you pull the Obama lever, fill in the Obama circle, or touch the Obama button when you vote.
(as an aside, it’s amazing how much scrutiny people are giving to Obama’s policies. McCain has given so little detail and yet no one gives it a second thought or questions how he’s going to pay for anything. Third party candidates usually don’t lay out budget details at all and yet they’re “better” than Obama… no idea how this makes sense…)
Oh, and one other thing: FatMixx will have a new post automatically up at noon today containing MSNBC’s results for several key battleground states and CT. The national tracker will stay up at left until at least tomorrow. Feel free to hang out in the comments of that post today. I’m hosting a small gathering here to watch the results come in. I’ll still be on Twitter and FM during the evening. Have fun, everyone, and GET OUT AND VOTE!