John McCain has become a disgrace

I used to respect John McCain. I seldom agreed with his politics, but I did respect him, because he stood up for what he believed in, reached out across the isle to get things done, and spoke out against divisive and disrespectful politics.

That John McCain is gone. He's been replaced with a man that will seemingly do anything to win an election, even if it means misleading the public (including flat-out lying to them), and choosing a running mate that is clearly not qualified to be President.

John McCain used to decry dirty politics. When the now infamous "Swift Boat" ad against John Kerry ran on television in 2004, John McCain was quoted as saying "I condemn the ad. It is dishonest and dishonorable. I think it is very, very wrong." But now, four years later, when running for President himself, he runs equally misleading and dishonest ads.

He has run an ad saying that Obama voted to teach kindergarten children "comprehensive sex education." This is a bald-faced lie. Obama supported a piece of legislation, while in the Illinois state senate, that would teach "age-appropriate sex education" to children in schools. In reference to kindergarteners, he has been clear in the past that the goal was to teach them about improper touching, to help them avoid being molested.

The non-partisan website, FactCheck,org, has a page dedicated to exposing the outright dishonestly in this ad. Please read it. They go into a great amount of detail on how dishonest and deceptive this ad is.

The point of this ad is simple -- to smear Barack Obama. It pretends to talk about why Obama is not strong on education, but it's real intent is to make people question his character. It is slimy, despicable, and disgusting. It is the exact same kind of ad that the Swift Boat ad was; an ad that John McCain publicly denounced. Apparently, as far as he is concerned, running a dishonest and dishonorable ad is okay when HE is doing it.

I realize that Barack Obama has been guilty of stretching the truth in his ads, and sometimes distorting the facts. I don't like it when Obama does that, and I wish he would stop. However, this ad by John McCain has hit a new low in campaign politics. John McCain should be DEEPLY ASHAMED of himself. I am ashamed of him. I hope that most of the American people are ashamed of him.

The fact that John McCain is willing to stoop to this level, just to win an election, CLEARLY shows what kind of man he really is. It CLEARLY shows how much respect he has for the American people, and how much respect he has for this country.

Picking Sarah Palin as his running mate is another reason I have lost respect for John McCain. Most intelligent people believe, in their heart of hearts, that Palin is not qualified to be President. If those people are Republicans, they'll never admit that publicly (although one or two of them might say it when they think their microphone isn't on), but they still don't believe it.

Because I know John McCain is an intelligent man, I simply don't believe that he really thinks that Sarah Palin is qualified to be President. The ONLY reason he chose her was because his advisors told him he needed to pick her if he wanted to have a chance at winning the election. For John McCain to pick someone that he knows is unqualified, just to win the election, shows what little regard he has for his country. It shows that he is willing to sacrifice the safety and security of the very nation he claims to love so much.

There are many other examples to indicate that McCain has become nothing more than a political opportunist; a man that has abandoned his principals due to personal ambition. It would take several blogs to point them all out, but I feel these two cases are the most severe.

Because of this, John McCain has clearly shown me that he has no business being the President of the United States.

Other blogs about Michigan/Florida

Here’s a couple of other blogs I’d like to share with you about the mess in Michigan and Florida. Please check them out.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/12/roland.martin/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/14/beckfloridamichigan/index.html

This second one, written by Glenn Beck, also touches upon a point I made a couple of days ago about personal responsibility. I hope this is something that people in our country start to talk about more and more.

We cannot allow ourselves to be ruled by our emotions

The more I’ve thought about the mess in Michigan and Florida, I begin to understand why some people feel those states must be given a chance to revote. It’s because they are allowing themselves to be swayed by their emotional reaction to the situation.

“It’s not fair that the people of Michigan and Florida won’t have their votes counted,” I’ve heard people say. “The DNC shouldn’t be able to disenfranchise the voters of those states,” others have said. An initial reaction like this is understandable, because they come from an emotional place within a person. The idea of someone being treated unfairly triggers an emotional response in most people (decent people, anyway). It’s easy to do, as we simply imagine our self in the place of a voter in Michigan or Florida. How would we feel if our vote wasn’t going to be counted? We wouldn’t be happy about it.

Our society becomes a very dangerous place when we allow ourselves to be governed by our emotions, rather than by logic and reason. Of course, we are human animals, so emotions will always play a part in our lives. But we must not allow our emotions to make decisions for us. We must instead use reason, fact, and logic.

If everyone could look at the situation in Michigan and Florida with logic and reason, I find it difficult to believe that many would still feel that it is wrong to not seat the delegates from those states.

By using reason and logic, everyone should understand how important it is to have rules. Without rules, we have no government. Instead, we have anarchy. Along with rules comes the penalties for breaking them. Without penalties for breaking the rules, some (and often many) people would not follow the rules when it did not suit them. Again, this leads to anarchy. Rules are the most important aspect of a civil society. The Constitution is nothing more than a set of rules. It is the most important set of rules we have.

If you agree that rules are the most important aspect in our society, and without them our society turns to chaos, then I think it is easy to understand the logic in the argument that Michigan and Florida, just like the other 48 states, must follow the rules set out by the DNC.

A rule was broken, and in a civil society, we have punishments for breaking rules. If we do not, the rules become meaningless. They become only suggestions or recommendations. How would it sound to say “We, the society, suggest you do not speed” or “We, the society, recommend you do not kill anyone”? Any reasonable person would say that is absurd, and they would be correct. The rules must mean something, and in order for them to mean something, there must be a consequence if they are broken.

So, using logic and reason, we see that rules are the most important aspect to our society, and that there must be punishment for breaking the rules. Michigan and Florida broke the rules, and therefore they must be punished for doing so. It really is that simple.

If people can divorce themselves from their emotional reaction over the situation, and look at it with logic and reason, I believe any reasonable person will come to the same conclusion.

The mess in Michigan and Florida

It's sad that the voters in Michigan and Florida won't have their delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention this year. But that's exactly what should happen.

I can understand the voters in those two states feeling upset, even betrayed. But they should not feel betrayed by the Democratic National Committee. They should feel betrayed by their representatives in the State Legislature, and especially their Governor.

These elected officials knew, prior to taking action, that if they moved up their state primary before February 5, their delegates would not be seated. They KNEW this. There is no question about this fact. Knowing what the consequences would be, they chose to do it anyway. They must now suffer the consequences of their actions. It’s that simple.

I’ve heard some people say that it isn’t fair that the people of Michigan and Florida have to pay for the mistake of their elected officials. Actually, it is the ONLY THING that is fair. That is how our system works. We live in a representative democracy. We elect people to our government to make decisions on our behalf. To now say that the people should not have to abide by the decisions that their representatives make would throw our entire system of government into chaos. What would be next, saying that if you don’t agree with a law your representatives passes, you don’t have to follow it? Our society would turn into anarchy.

If the people of Michigan and Florida really cared about this issue, they should have called their representatives BEFORE they’d taken this action, and pleaded with them not to do so. If enough people had called, their representatives would have listened. If the people didn’t know what their representatives were doing, then shame on them. They should have been paying more attention.

The representatives of Michigan and Florida chose to violate the rules, and while it is unfortunate that all of the citizens of those states must now suffer the consequences, that is exactly the way it is. To allow the votes to be counted, or to allow a revote, would essentially be the same as saying “It’s okay that you violated the rules. You don’t have to face the consequences of your actions.”

I’m a big believer in personal responsibility, and it’s something that is VERY lacking in our society, especially with our elected officials. If any of them had any sense of responsibility, they would address their constituents, and admit that it was because of their actions that the delegates will not be seated. But instead of taking responsibility, they blame the DNC for not allowing the delegates to be seated, and then ask the DNC to pay for a revote. That kind of audacity is beyond all comprehension.

If you live in Michigan or Florida, and you are upset about this issue, you should be. Just be sure your anger is directed at the right place. Call your state representatives and your Governor, and ask them to take responsibility for their actions. Ask them to explain why they chose to take an action that would cause your vote to not count this primary season. If they won’t do it, you really only have one option available to you -- vote them out of office.