10/23/08

I'm not voting this year. Here's why...

I'm not terribly fond of either Senators John McCain or Barack Obama over their lack of respect for life.

Even though my political views lean towards the libertarian for the most part, the Libertarian Party's nomination of Bob Barr as their 2008 presidential candidate makes me wonder if they've been corrupted. Bob Barr, you see, was once "anti-drug coordinator" for the Department of Justice and a member of former House speaker Newt Gingrich's Task Force for a Drug-Free America. He even, according to his Wikipedia article: "
...advocated complete federal prohibition of medical marijuana. In 1998, he successfully blocked implementation of Initiative 59 — the "Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1998" — which would have legalized medical marijuana in Washington, D.C. The "Barr Amendment" to the 1999 Omnibus spending bill not only blocked implementation of Initiative 59, but prohibited the vote tally from even being released. Nearly a year passed before a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union eventually revealed the initiative had received 69 percent of the vote. In response to the judge's ruling, Barr simply attached another "Barr Amendment" to the 2000 Omnibus spending bill that overturned Initiative 59 outright. The Barr Amendment also prohibited future laws that would "decrease the penalties for marijuana or other Schedule One drugs" in Washington, D.C.

However, Bob Barr's supposed to be alright now. You see, in March 2007, Bob Barr joined the Marijuana Policy Project, which supports legalization — and government regulation — of marijuana. This is a reason I don't care for them. People have used drugs for centuries. For years since the United States was founded, Americans used drugs, too. But there was no real drug problem until the government got into the business of being a nanny and started trying to keep people from doing bad things to themselves.

You'd think people would learn.

And Bob Barr wants me to believe that after all he's done as a big-government, pro-drug prohibition Republican politician that I'm now supposed to support him because he switched sides to the small government, anti-drug prohibition Libertarians?

Fat chance!

Back to the major party candidates...

While I support John McCain's anti-abortion position, his support of the immoral war in Iraq is wrong. In the April 12, 2007 Washington Post, McCain called the war "necessary and just." The article also stated that two-thirds of Americans were against it. I have always questioned why our government invaded Iraq. 9/11? None of the supposed attackers nor its mastermind, Osama bin Laden, were Iraqi, and it's a fact that Al-Qaeda was not allied with Saddam Hussein. Of course, both bin Laden and Hussein were Sunni Muslims; allies they could have been. But it's absolute fact that they weren't because declassified Department of Defense records and a 2006 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report said they weren't.

Even the 9/11 Commission agreed with them! With all the holes and other irregularities surrounding it, they agreed with those reports.

So, what are we still doing in Iraq and why did we go there in the first place? Sen. McCain certainly knows the horrors of war. He should be among the leading voices of opposition in the United States Senate. But he isn't.

As for Sen. Barack Obama, the reason I can't support him is because of his support of abortion. He's stated some very pro-life positions, but he has never come out and explicitly stated that abortion is an evil and Roe v. Wade should be repealed. It's a shame because if he showed a bit of a independent-mindedness and bucked the official Democratic Party line and said that, I would probably vote for him. What's surprising and very distressing is that there are a number of Catholics supporting Barack Obama. There are even websites such as 10,000 Catholics for Obama or Roman Catholics for Obama which I think are complete disgraces.

And his running mate, Delaware senator Joe Biden, is pro-choice and a Catholic. At least, all the biographical material I've seen says he's Catholic.

Well, Sen. Biden, to quote the message of a bumper sticker I've seen on a few cars around town: "You Can't Be Catholic And Pro-Choice."

Sen. Biden, when you ignore rules which say that in order to be a Catholic you must respect all life, then you've relinquished the privilege of being a member of the One True Church.

A prominent American Bishop, Arthur J. Serratelli, wrote in a June 2007 article for the official Paterson, New Jersey archdiocese newspaper, The Beacon that, "by steadfastly choosing to be pro-choice, a Catholic — politician or not — excludes himself or herself from communion."

Hear, hear!

Bp. Serratelli also criticized 18 politicians who had criticized Pope Benedict XVI for stating that supporting abortion is incompatible with receiving communion."

Oh, and what's Bob Barr's position on abortion? Well, he says he's opposed to it. Well, if that's the case, why did he support his second wife, Gail, when she decided to have an abortion and even pay for it? All this at a time when he was a member of the Pro-Life Caucus.

It's pretty hypocritical, isn't it?

So, I am not bothering with voting. I may be through with it permanently.

Another reason: does voting really mean anything? I can't tell anymore. Increasingly, I'm believing that presidents and prime ministers are just puppets. When you've got politicians and ex-politicians and business people and other wealthy and affluent people attending secret meetings behind an army of guards and the media says nothing or next to it and calls the meeting a conspiracy theory despite loads and loads of evidence that a meeting took place, you are forced to wonder if the press isn't corrupted by and large, too.

So, I think I'll just pass this time.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a disappointing outlook. Actually, the Bishop of Memphis points out that Catholics should not be one-issue voters.

http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2238

George said...

I can see Bp. Steib's point. However, I spoke about two issues: abortion and the Iraq War. Indeed, Bp. Steib asked Catholics to "... follow their consciences and weigh all the moral issues they face before casting their ballots."

Well, I've done that. I've decided to not cast a ballot.

Anonymous said...

i don't question your beliefs. however the problem is math you have just vote twice for obama. say you have 200 people 100 for obama 100 for McCain if 10 do not vote it becomes 100/90 10/9 in other word you increase your opponent's edge ,.thats why they want you to feel your vote won't count, while at the same time going all out to get more voters registered for them