Decisions, Decisions

I feel a bit cheated that 'my' candidate didn't last until it was my turn to vote! Now I just don't have anyone I feel good about. Some of the candidates I am passionately against, others just slightly irritate me.

I mentioned this to a friend recently and have decided it would be nice if I could just write in my choice. I remember the days when people could write in a name that was not on the ballot. I liked it better when I was young and didn't feel quite as serious about the election as I do now.

Pat Paulson ran for President many times, he'd be running now but he's dead. His Presidential Campaign Slogan: "If elected, I will win." (there's a bit of truth to that, a politician can tell the truth but I think there must be some limit on how many they can tell without slipping in some clever half-truths). Mama told me a half-truth was a lie. I don't think most politicians believe that.

Things I consider important:

Immigration- I do not believe in an open border. Pat Paulson once commented "All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian".

Yes, if they had placed restrictions back then I guess I'd be over in Ireland (that's where most of my lineage is from). So I guess I like a little bit of an open border. What I don't like is the drain on the system here, OR the idea that once here the newcomers want to make this country more like the one they just left. Now my mother immigrated over here after WWII, she was a war bride. She was homesick for the 'auld country' most of her life, things were different here and sometimes she just wanted what was familiar. I can understand that. My problem with immigrants (illegal ones) is that they are law breakers. Plain and simple.

Taxes Lower my taxes. One thing I don't quite understand is exactly who are the rich? We here all sorts of class warfare against those rich who are getting the tax breaks, but where is the line in the sand. I mean when do I stop being poor and hit middle class and when do I stop being middle class and hit the big time and get all of those tax breaks.

I also don't quite understand the tax earned income. I mean lets just call it something else. Windfall for the poor or something. How can you get more back on your tax return than you put in? When I tried that at my bank years ago they wrote me a nasty letter explaining that I was not entitled to more out of my bank account than I had deposited. Made sense to me then, still makes sense to me, but apparently not to our government. I mean let's still give those who need a 'boost' the cash, but let's call it something other than a tax refund.

Energy I'd like to see some more choices in energy consumption. Wind (I really like the idea of wind energy) My backyard seems to have a lot of wind that blows through. I think I could really do well with solar power panels and a windmill. I can not convince my husband that it would be a good job. He says we are 'not there yet'. I think that is husband-speak for costs too much, might be too much work to install, and electricity works fine for me!


Mosquitoes Okay I have not seen a President campaign for mosquito control. Those nasty little biters can ruin a nice evening. Actually I think they can spoil early mornings too. When I was a kid I remember the mosquito control truck coming into our neighborhood, seems like it was once a week. We called him the Fog Man. It was really foggy and we would ride our bikes in the fog, breathing in all of that noxious fumes. I wonder what damage we've done to our bodies?

Actually when I was a kid there were 2 exciting trucks that came down our street, the fog man and the snowball man. Snowballs were 10 cents. For 5 cents you could get just the shaved ice. That man in a silver spray painted truck would come down our street every night at about dusk. I liked snowballs better than ice cream so I don't really count the ice cream man as exciting.

So there it is. I now have to find a candidate who has the same thoughts on Energy, Taxes, Immigration, and Mosquito Control. One who will not call me with a survey that is really nothing more than a slam against his or her opponent. I received one the other night from Huckabee's campaign and by the time I was off the phone he was definitely OFF my list.