Ray & Katie.com

Rarely do I write about politics on this blog. It is more for friends and family to keep up with what is going on in our lives, but this is a historic election and I just wanted to say a few words in no particular order.

#1. The Economy: starting here because it is on the forefront of everyone’s mind. As you know, I am a business broker. I help people sell and buy small businesses. I make about thirty calls every morning and for the past month and a half, I’ve been hearing one continuous concern: “I’m not doing anything until after the election.” Well, that has hampered my efforts. Small businesses all over the country seem to be holding on to all they have. BUT, is that because the current economy or the fear of our future economy?

The answer is BOTH. With out going into great detail, lets say that I am a capitalist and I believe strongly in the free market and trickle down economics (TDE). If you don’t believe that TDE works, let me explain it in a COMMON example that I am hearing EVERY DAY. (STATS: 85% of the USA workforce are employed by SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS)
John, a business owner, has finally paid off his business loan (usually takes 5 to 10 years) and is now going to be receiving profits from his small business that hires about 14 employees. He has worked very hard at it from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day paying himself the minimum of what he needed and reinvesting into the company.  Now, he will realize about $250,000 a year after expenses. Because of his success, he is looking into opening up a second location in Anytown B, USA and may even be able to give raises to current employees. That location will also provide 14 more jobs and would also take about 5 to 10 years to pay off. However, because John is afraid of a future tax hike of 12% or MORE, instead of opening a second location, he decides to save the money and tries to create tax shelters and expenses to protect himself from the higher tax burden that will equal nearly 45%! So, 14 new jobs are not created. Anytown B, USA’s economy suffers from the lack of jobs.
If you are saying to yourself, “This can’t happen, this isn’t real.” Stop. It is real and I hear this story repeated all the time!

Now, imagine, John receives a tax cut? What will he do? He will definitely start the second location and would probably create a third location sooner than later. Why? Because he LIKES what he does and desires to multiply is future revenues to provide for his family and the families of his employees.

John is lucky. What about business owners who aren’t so lucky. Those who were living off of their business and not able to consider a second location. What will they do to move the additional tax burden? 2 Options: fire employees or raise prices. Either way, the local economy suffers.

Here is an article [pdf] that lays out exactly what the tax plans are and below is an image that sums up the article.

#2. Defense. I don’t trust that the democrats will aid in our national defense. Most of the time they consider this a place to CUT spending. I believe it is one of our most important endeavors. As a matter of fact, most of the technological advances in our society that has helped to make us an international power have come from the defense departments spending on research and development. (ie; the internet)

#3. Christian Values. This is the most important issue to me and immediately disqualifies one of the candidates. I believe we should care for orphans and widows. I believe that life begins at the moment of conception and I am pro life. Why am I pro life? Well, the “Christian” reason is that I believe that before we were formed in the womb, God knew us. Jeremiah 1:5 says: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you”. I believe that is enough reason, but if you still aren’t convinced, here are some “secular” reasons:

• Infanticide: Obama has voted against a bill that would ban this practice. Infanticide happens when a baby survives an abortion. The abortion doctors set the child aside to die of neglect, suffocation, starvation, or with out the medical aid needed in a normal birth situation. This is murder. More info at www.BornAliveTruth.org
• Partial Birth and Late Term Abortions: Absolutely no reason for this. The baby is born legs first and then a needle is stabbed through the back of its neck and the brain is sucked out. This is brutal by all accounts of humanism.
• Health of the Mother: There has never been a document case in medical history that has stated it was better fro a mother to go through with an abortion that it was to give birth to the baby or use an alternative procedure that could save the baby and the mother. This “health of the mother” opens the door for a woman to claim a “mental health” issues and basically have an abortion for any reason. As a matter of fact, having an abortion actaully INCREASES the risk of mental and physical health issues. 82% of women who had an abortion regret or feel guilty about the decision.
• Rape & Incest: I used to say, “Well, I’m pro life except in the cases of Rape or Incest.” Then I met a girl who was the by product of her mother’s rape. She told me that she was glad her mother had her and her mom has told her the story. Her mom says that her daughter is the way that God used something that the devil intended to destroy to instead glorify God and bless her life. Who am I to argue? But that is till a little Christian. A more “secular” reason here would be that babies created from rape and incest are still human, which brings me to the next point…
• “Who are you to say when life begins?” My response: Who are you to say when life doesn’t begin? My reasoning: there are numerous scientific studies that state unborn babies can respond to outside stimuli as early as 4 weeks!!
• “But it is the Mothers body and she has that right to make that decision.” Her time to make a responsible decision was before she had sex. When she is pregnant, it is time to LIVE with the consequences of her decision. If it might “inconvenience” her life, she can put her child up for adoption.
• Stem Cell Research can save lives: That is right, but not embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells have proven more successful and more useful than embryonic stem cells.

So that is just a few of my reasons for voting Christian values: specifically Pro Life. There are others, but this is a big one that immediately discounts Obama and pushes me toward McCain.

#4. I’m not a socialist. I’m not in favor of the GOVERNMENT being in charge of taking money from one person’s labor and giving it to another person. I believe that the government is to provide general services (roads, defense) and our tax dollars should go to pay for that. What if the government thinks that you make too much money? You know, more than you really “need” by their definition. Isn’t that what Obama has just said to those making over $250,000?

So, you have all of that as the main course and then for dessert: Obama has ties to radicals who tend to be socialist, communist, and terrorist & he has absolutely NO executive experience and only two years of senate experience in which he voted “PRESENT” more often than taking a stance on an issue. He also doesn’t understand that Iran is dangerous country (stating that they are too tiny to be dangerous) and is for providing health insurance to everyone at my expense. He will spend us into oblivion. College shouldn’t be affordable to everyone. It should also operate in a free market. If you had a business and the government said that they would give every American $1,000 to buy your product, wouldn’t you raise your price a little? Yeah. That is what is happening in college too. Obama’s policies are naive and ignorant.

Needless to say, I will be voting for McCain. I will vote Christian Values, then Conservative Principals.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CURRENT ECONOMIC SITUATION CREATED BY BUSH AND HIS CRONIES: Please. Our current situation centers around people who SHOULDN’T have been able to buy homes being able to BUY homes when the GOVERNMENT (Democrats) forced the hands of the banks into providing mortgages to those who couldn’t afford it while assets were being misstated at the top levels of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac despite the REPUBLICAN’s pushing for regulation of that suto-nationalization of home loans. (All of this is on record.) You are right, Bush should have done something. He should have shut them down and held them accountable for their crimes. See what happens when the government meddles in the market? Disaster.

If you are an Obama supporter, don’t bother responding. I will delete your comment. Not only do I know your arguments, I know the arguments against your arguments and I have read all of the quotes and facts in context. I don’t want to have to write a book in response to your stupidity misunderstandings because you have some lame argument that doesn’t hold water.

(PS: After reading my post, “Momma” reminded me that it isn’t nice to call people stupid. I should say that they just “don’t understand.” I think she is right, and I edited the above. I apologize. The statement was out of frustration in dealing with a few Obamaniacs who deny facts. Not everyone is like that… hopefully. THANKS MOM!)

Thanks for reading! This was a LONG one!