Why McCain?

I’ve been asked that a lot lately… I certainly don’t fit the model that the GOP traditionally targets when they build their ads.  I’m pro-abortion, generally against religion (or at the very least, against the concept of faith in others to define what is inherently unknowable, particularly when that faith in others is used to drive policy or fused in any way with the military), anti-war, and pretty open-minded when it comes to love and the different ways that people choose to express it. 
Why on Earth would I want to vote for someone who is “strong on terrorism”, pro-sanctity-of-marriage, has religious nutjob preachers endorsing him, and who probably sprinkles ground up hippy on his breakfast cereal?  Why?!?

Well, for one thing, I’m thoroughly disillusioned with the Democratic nominees.  Clinton and Obama both have policies on board that I don’t just disagree with, but I think are actually outright *dangerous* in the economic waters we’re surfing at the moment.  Just because we have computers doesn’t mean that we’re immune to the possibility that China and India will wreck our economy.  They have computers too, now, and they work for much less money.  Some of them even speak English.  Some of them have Masters degrees.  A cheap, bright, and well-educated workforce is damned difficult to compete with, and I don’t think that either Obama or Hillary really sees this economic reality for the threat it is.  McCain was the only candidate who had the balls to tell the people in Michigan, “Sorry, those jobs aren’t coming back.”  I respect that.

(But then, I work tech support in a call center, so perhaps I’m a bit over-sensitive to these issues.)

Next, let’s talk health care.  Hillary and Obama both think that the solution to the problem lies in relying on the government to provide an essential good, and trusting the government to run it efficiently and fairly.  I’ve been on both sides of the fence with this one, as the rising costs of health care for employers do inhibit economic growth and force employers to cut back on their work force, or at the very least, cut back on the benefits that they provide to that work force.  When our contract goes up for renegotiation next year, we will very likely be striking over the rising cost of health care and our company’s desire to pass it forward… so yeah, I can see the benefit there.  I don’t particularly like the idea of striking– it makes those smart, young, desperate Indian job-seekers seem more and more like a better investment than home grown disgruntled wage earners who complain about being paid cushy salaries, relatively speaking.

But then we run into the crucial problems that I simply cannot ignore.  The first, and most compelling, is quality.  I have a very hard time believing that our federal government will manage health care for the entire nation better than it does for our troops, and the VA’s approach to health care does not inspire confidence in me.  I could phrase it more strongly than that, and probably should, but I’ll be nice out of respect for the underfunded people who work there and try to do their job well.  Likewise, I look at our public school system, and I can’t help but notice that health care in the ghetto might be a bit… well… I think chaotic is the word I’m looking for here.  I seriously doubt that either candidate is prepared to look at the *real* cost of introducing potentially millions of people into a system that currently just tough it out until it gets so bad that they need to go to the hospital, and I’m truly skeptical that the reduction in bad debt at those hospitals would actually result in lower costs to the government.  So, we have a sharp increase in demands for services, and a whole lot of new jobs, being paid by the government, who are paid by the taxpayers, and the rise in demand will lead to a rise in costs, which leads to a rise in taxes, which leads to recession…

Not a good recipe, given the current value of the dollar.  Wall Street is nervous, and I think we should be.  I’m by no means an expert on anything having to do with the economy, but this seems like a no-brainer here.  The economy is not doing well, and introducing new stress factors into something that is already a bit cracked is a Bad Idea.

And then there’s the whole euthenasia arugment… I’m in favor of a person’s right to choose death with dignity when they have a debilitating and fatal condition that will end in excrutiating pain.  I’m less in favor of it if the government perscribes it as a means of reducing the burden on health care costs.  But that’s an aside that isn’t really my main objection– it’s just an ethical consideration worth noting.

And then, finally, there’s the war.  Why would I support McCain, when I am– in all fairness– a peace loving hippy?  Well, partially because I don’t trust Obama or Clinton to hire people who plan for worst case scenarios.  I expect that they will hire people who do what the people want them to do and sell it well, as indicated by the opinon polls.  My general opinion of the American public is not high enough for me to be happy with that option.  McCain, on the other hand, seems pretty solid on his foreign policy.  He gets it.  The world is filled with assholes that do Bad Things, and some of those Bad Things are either potentially dangerous to American interests or so utterly deplorable that we cannot afford to look the other way and still expect to sleep well at night.  (Hello, Darfur??)

Nothing would please me more than the secure knowledge that we could pull all of our troops out of Iraq today, and wind up with a better situation tomorrow than we have today.  The very real possibility that we would wind up with a worse scenario tomorrow than we have today if we followed the opinion polls on our presence there (both at home and in Iraq) makes me want to leave this to experts who have a very nuanced and careful approach to the issue.  I trust McCain to look for those individuals carefully, and not give a damn whether or not they look pretty or speak eloquently.

4,000 soldiers, and everyone else who is directly and indirectly impacted by America’s approach to the war on terror (roughly 6.6 billion people, in other words) deserve this from our next President.  And that’s why I’m voting for John McCain.