McCain: Good to Go & Ready to Lead NOW

Just want to respond to a few emails I have received..

The first said, "Don't you want change??"

Well, hell yes... and that's SPECIFICALLY why I voted for McCain... because I want change -- just not the kind of change that Obama is offering. I do not want to see the very principles on which this country was founded to be "changed". I still believe that every American has the opportunity to go to school, study hard, work hard, be successful (see, for example, John McCain and Barrack Obama.)

Not everyone can be a physician or a lawyer or a CEO or a plumber or electrician and be paid those wages. Nor should they be. Somehow there are those in the world -- including Sen. Obama -- that think that working hard and making more than [what's the basis of "rich" now -- $150,000??] is evil or unwarranted or is some "unfair" result. Everyone has -- and has always had -- the OPPORTUNITY to make good... and everyone STILL should have the opportunity to do whatever they want with their lives and make as much money as they can -- WITHOUT THE FEAR THAT YOU WILL BE PUNISHED FOR DOING WELL... and having your money taken away for some entitlement program for those that fall below a subjective "not rich" level.

Some proposals sound better than they are for the country. Who DOESN'T want to pay less taxes? But why should only a select group pay less? If people like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates "think they should be paying more" -- let them. THERE IS NO LAW THAT SAYS YOU CAN"T PAY MORE THAN YOU OWE. In fact, there is a little known program that allows anyone to write a check to the U.S. government to add to the national treasury. Go for it. But I don't see forced charity (taking from the "rich" and giving to the "less than rich") and the redistribution of wealth as being the government's job. If everyone is so interested in a "fair" tax result, we should go to a flat tax system where everyone pays the same percentage of their income. What would truly be fair is if everyone actually paid taxes on their income. About 40% of Americans PAY NO TAX AT ALL. What the hell is fair about that?

I believe that McCain's economic proposals MAKE SENSE and will help heal the economic problems of this country and bring jobs and stability to the economy.

Raising taxes -- raising expenses -- of businesses (large or small) as Obama proposes DOES NOT create jobs, DOES NOT stimulate growth, DOES NOT add new jobs, DOES NOT make American businesses more competitive. If you had the choice of paying 10% or 20% in business taxes, why would you stay in a country that charges 35% or more? What the hell is competitive about that? "Business" has become synonymous with "bad" for some reason -- and small business become big businesses (or you hope) AND BUSINESSES SUPPLY JOBS.

Taxes = the money the government spends. People seriously need to review the math: unless you find other ways to cut spending (as McCain has done in pledging to veto all the pork spending), you cannot pay for all the expensive proposals Sen. Obama is proposing unless you raise taxes somewhere. Whenever I hear ANY politician in any election (local or national) spout about altruistic goals and programs -- eliminate poverty, improve education, put computers in every classroom, give health insurance to everyone, I say the exact same thing: Sounds great: now HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PAY FOR IT?? (Answer very time? Taxes.) People tell me McCain's programs will also cost money, and I say, Yes, but he has offered proposals OTHER THAN TAXES to help pay for them: efficiencies in Federal programs, spending freezes pending further review for all programs, elimination of some non-producing programs (tobacco subsidies, anyone??)... Obama has not suggested any. He hasn't once said he'd stop pork spending or require every spending initiative to be reviewed on the merits alone for up/down votes as McCain has pledged.

And if you REALLY REALLY want "change" -- FIRE CONGRESS. Do not vote for a single incumbent. There would be no clearer message to the Reids and Pelosis and Murthas of the world that THEY got us into this economic mess and we'll see if some other group can get us out. I don't care if you're Republican, Democrat or Independent. VOTE FOR THE "OTHER GUY". Do not let these same 535 people control your life. FIRE CONGRESS. I figure none of the "new guys" could do any worse!

Contrary to one email, I am not a racist. I didn't vote FOR McCain because he is white and I didn't NOT VOTE for Obama because he's white. (No, that's not a typo.) However, if you voted FOR Obama based on the color of his skin or based on his ethnicity-- or voted against McCain because of his, it is YOU who are the racist. I voted strictly on the espoused policies and positions of these two candidates and their character. One more closely holds my views and has a long and extensive public record of his character that allowed me to decide exactly what his character is. The other guy? Not so much. Except for what Obama and his supporters TELL me he stands for, he has no public record that would allow me to judge that for myself (and what I know of his associations, I'm not so keen.)

I am also not a "war monger". I believe we are engaged in a Long War against religious extremists and which includes the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan -- but there are many other battlefields and there will still be more in our future. I believe if we do not fight them "there" (wherever they raise they ugly little heads), they will come here (again). I believe we need a strong volunteer military that is provided the best technology and equipment we can develop and buy. I believe that our military services (on a percentage basis) are underfunded and undermanned.

If only we lived in that Utopian world to which we all aspire -- a world where "talking" was sufficient to resolve all conflict and bring the rogue nations back into the fold ... But we don't. We live in a world with ARMED extremists and ARMED adversaries and enemies who do not and will not hesitate to use them to get their way or to intimidate the "talkers" of the world... countries and their leaders who want nothing more than to lie to you and then kill you. Those are cold, hard facts. If you believe otherwise, you are a fool. We should talk softly, but we should also carry a VERY big stick. And whomever else we invite to OUR table should have to pay something to get there.

I believe that John McCain's "let's do anything and everything -- whatever it takes" energy policy (and let business take the lead -- it creates jobs & incentives!) is the best policy. Nothing should be off limits if it's a viable source of energy for this country. We NEED to be energy independent -- sooner rather than later. Trying to push or depend on technologies that are DECADES away from being reliable sources of significant amounts of energy (and you still cannot put a plane in the air or run a train or power a ship with solar or wind power). Deciding that some form of power or a type of development is "off limits" because its one of your party's talking points does not get the job done. U.S. oil, nuclear, wind, solar, coal, oil shale... whatever, wherever. (And yes, I think we can actually secure energy without destroying the environment.)

When all is said and done, John McCain is a man I trust.

John McCain has prepared his whole life to LEAD this country.

Everything John McCain has done has been about service to this country and its people and its values.

John McCain has never been ashamed to be an American and neither has his wife.

John McCain never wrote about how he had to distance himself from his mother's ethnicity.

John McCain has never hidden his associations, or his campaign contributors, or his school records.

John McCain has never had to "dis"associate himself from his pastor, his fund raisers, his former friends/associates like Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dorn, Tony Rezko, Rashid Khalidi.

John McCain has taken a clear position even when it was not a popular position -- like McCain-Feingold, illegal immigration, the Surge -- compared to a man who only went as far as stating "present" on virtually every piece of legislation. Someone should tell Sen. Obama that you cannot vote "present" when you're president. Obama has just months of national service... before that he spent a few years as a lawyer. And given the seriousness of these times, I'd like someone with a little more experience. People need to put their own prejudices, emotions and party aside and LOOK at the straight line qualifications and proposals.

Bottom line?

JOHN McCAIN IS A PROVEN LEADER.
GOOD TO GO -- NOW.