Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Vote for president--ugh.

Or in the words of the late great Bill the Cat, "Ack." It's time to elect a president Tuesday and still, I don't feel good about either candidate.
Yes, I have read up and listened to the both of them. Yes, I know the difference between Democrat and Republican. Both have come up woefully short of really getting my attention, much less my enthusiasm. But I'll have to vote for one of them, dammit.
Obama talks a good game. And talks, and talks and talks. I have no doubts that skills as an orator are an important part of being president, but I have serious reservations about his experience, enough that the idea of loosing someone that green on the presidency scares me.
McCain, on the other hand, does have a lot of experience in Washington. A Washington that over the last several years landed us in a war that is extraordinarily difficult to fight, and impossible to win. Over the same time, flawed policies with which he is connected have us on the brink of a recession the depths and duration of which no one is sure.
Obama calls for change, and that is an easy call to make and have people flock to. McCain comes off as a pissed-off old man determined to ride it out, which could very well be what we all have to do. But there is still the problem that neither of their campaigns have appealed to me past those points.
There is my personal stance on the Second Amendment, which despite what a lot of people think, has nothing to do with hunting or protecting one's belongings. It's about the people being guaranteed the right to have guns, because at some point we may need them to deal with a tyrannical government. That point scares some people, but it reflects the way I read the amendment.
The only campaign points I have heard made about the Second Amendment has regarded the potential for reinstating the so-called assault weapons ban of 1994-2004. McCain said he would not support it; Obama said he would.
That ban really accomplished nothing its ratifiers intended, which was to reduce the availability of such weapons to criminals. It was full of loopholes, but it did succeed in making the price for those guns rise substantially, thanks to gun nuts (like me) panicking.
It's true that most people won't need an AK-47 or M-16 any time soon, but there is the law of the land to remember: the government is not allowed to prohibit anyone but crazy people and felons from having guns. For that reason, I see the assault weapons ban as a backhanded way of stepping on our rights.
Although I truly believe what I just wrote, I think there should be more to that when it comes to who gets my vote. It's just the only thing I feel one way or the other about, from the torrents or crap Obama and McCain are spewing.