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Election Woes

I think I've decided to vote for Obama. To set the record, I am a long-standing, tofu-eating (granola is really not that good for you), tree-hugging, national health insurance wanting, democrat. I waiver these days on voting Republican for one reason and it's not because they have Sarah Palin. It's taxes. Leo and I have our income fall into a bracket that needs to pay the alternate minimum tax. Please note that this was a tax that was supposed to keep really high-income people from not paying their fair share of taxes. This is increasingly netting more people in this bracket every year, but the government is not doing anything about it, because it is keeping the national budget from being as bad as it could be.

Now let's be plain here. We're not the Rockefellers. We're not bad-off, but this is also because we both work in very high-stress jobs. We both get paid well to do this. If we weren't married, we would not fall into this bracket, but because of our combined income we do. If the tax laws stay like this, I would almost want to tell my daughter to not marry the love of her life, but live in sin. Just because I'm not Miss Suzy Homemaker (not that there's anything wrong with that), I don't think we should be penalized as much as we are.

But I have to consider the big picture. I don't like the war we're in. I'm sick of this state of fear the current administration keeps lording over our heads. Did you know that if you as an American citizen try to cross the border into Canada or Mexico or back, they can confiscate your computer and keep it "for national security"? Did you know your phone line could be monitored and you don't even know it? I want the health care crisis fixed for all people. I think what's happening on Wall Street these days is a cry to let us know that a hands off big business approach is not working. There needs to be some governmental controls. The environment needs to be protected. If I need a D&E because I have a pregnancy that's not working out, I want to have access to that instead of having to wait for weeks for my body to figure it out and have the pain of a normal miscarriage. I had that once and it was the worst ever. I much prefer a D&E, but that could be taken away by pro-life policies.

So long and short of it, the scales are tipping toward Barack Obama. I think he's an interesting guy. He's a little less seasoned than I'd like. But considering he and his advisors had the intelligence to pick someone as smart and seasoned as Joe Biden to be his running mate, I could be swayed to give him a second chance. But taxes alone are not enough to sway me to the other side. I just can't do it.

Comments

Kim said…
Although I'm going to be voting differently then you, I appreciate this post.

Because - you are voting based on issues that you care about. You have thought through the things that are important to you, and have made a decision based on that.

Not just because you have always belonged to a certain party. :)
We are in a similar situation taxwise, but also look at the big picture. Thank you for your insight and intelligence in caring what is important to you. I hope you have a nice weekend.
sara said…
I hear you on the whole tax situation as well. It gets to be a bit frustrating sometimes - just because my husband and I both work decent jobs - we're not rich, but we both make decent money when we work hard - and we get slammed on taxes no matter what we do (yet neither insurance covers squat when it comes to infertility - crazy, huh? We dumped like 30K on treatments and still got taxed to hell). You brought up some good points, I think I'm tending to lean that way as well. Nothing set in stone yet- but definitely leaning.
Guera! said…
Well I appreciate a thoughtful reason to vote for Obama rather than the typical name calling and nastiness I encounter. I am voting for McCain who was once hailed by liberals as being a true bi-partisan moderate. Not sure what happened to those sentiments. I prefer someone with experience. There are too many unknowns with Obama and something that bothers me is that he has been getting paid (with taxpayer money) to do a job he hasn't been doing. We'd be fired if we didn't show up for work! ... or do our job once we got there. That bothers me. Voting "present" more than half the time is the equivalent to showing up for work and just sitting there saying "here I am" and still get and expect a paycheck.
There's too much we don't know about him.

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