The Issues

Today, I've decided (since I'm still sick) to make a very comprehensive list of the the issues of both candidates. This goes beyond my list from yesterday. How many Americans have honestly gone to BOTH candidates' websites to read about where they (supposedly) stand on issues? Not a whole lot of people; I can pretty much guarantee that!

So here goes:



McCain:

*Energy
-Believes in breaking our dependence on foreign oil by utilizing our oil reserves at home and promotes off shore drilling as a short term solution until more efficient fuel methods are discovered. (How long is that going to actually take?)
-Wants to give a $5000 tax credit to those who buy a car with zero carbon emissions
-Wants to construct 45 nuclear power plants by 2030 with an ultimate goal of 100 total
-Wants to "encourage" the market in producing more wind, hydro, and solar energy sources

*National Security
-Believes in a stronger military and giving them all of the tools they need to combat terrorism and any threat to American soil.
-Believes in "shoring up our alliances".
-Wants to ensure "quality intelligence necessary to uncover plots before they take root, the resources to protect critical infrastructure and our borders against attack, and the capability to respond and recover from a terrorist incident swiftly."
-Supports a national missile defense system "to reduce the possibility of strategic blackmail by rogue regimes and to secure our homeland from the very real prospect of missile attack by present or future adversaries."
-Wants to make the military larger, give it all of the necessary tools it needs and increase funding, and decrease the frivolous and wasteful spending in the military

*Health Care
-Believes that health care is too expensive (yeah...duh).
-Believes that every citizen should have a right to healthcare.
-Want's to give every family $2500-5000 to offset the costs of insurance (that's really not that much...sorry).
-Wants to make insurance more portable. Say if you leave your job and go to another one, your insurance should go with you if you want.
-Encourages the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSA's), because there is more autonomy in health care choices. (Bosch just went to this form of insurance. Some people aren't sure how they feel about it yet.)
-Wants to help ensure those with pre-existing conditions
-Wants to "establish a nonprofit corporation that would contract with insurers to cover patients who have been denied insurance and could join with other state plans to enlarge pools and lower overhead costs. There would be reasonable limits on premiums, and assistance would be available for Americans below a certain income level."
-Wants to reform Medicaid and Medicare
-Supports tort reform that would basically not allow a doctor to be sued if he technically followed the correct protocols in his practice. This would, in theory, put an end to frivolous lawsuits.

*Iraq (I'm just going to paste the three paragraphs from McCain's website).
"John McCain believes it is strategically and morally essential for the United States to support the Government of Iraq to become capable of governing itself and safeguarding its people. He strongly disagrees with those who advocate withdrawing American troops before that has occurred.

It would be a grave mistake to leave before Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated and before a competent, trained, and capable Iraqi security force is in place and operating effectively. We must help the Government of Iraq battle those who provoke sectarian tensions and promote a civil war that could destabilize the Middle East. Iraq must not become a failed state, a haven for terrorists, or a pawn of Iran. These likely consequences of America's failure in Iraq almost certainly would either require us to return or draw us into a wider and far costlier war.

The best way to secure long-term peace and security is to establish a stable, prosperous, and democratic state in Iraq that poses no threat to its neighbors and contributes to the defeat of terrorists. When Iraqi forces can safeguard their own country, American troops can return home."

*Climate Change
-Believes that "climate policy should be built on scientifically-sound, mandatory emission reduction targets and timetables."
-"climate policy should utilize a market-based cap and trade system."
-"Climate Policy Must Include Mechanisms To Minimize Costs And Work Effectively With Other Markets."
-"Climate Policy Must Spur The Development And Deployment Of Advanced Technology."
-"Climate Policy Must Facilitate International Efforts To Solve The Problem."

*Veteran's Issues
-Believes in supporting and adequately funding the needs of service men, veterans, and those who become disabled serving our country
-Believes in providing great quality health care to our service men and women.
-Believes that it is our job to take care of our military as they have taken care of us.

*Immigration
-Wants to secure our borders, he has a comprehensive plan on how to go about doing that.
-Once borders are secure, he wants to initiate several measures that keep the nation secure: prosecute employers who employ illegal immigrants, ensure that we meet America's labor need (comprehensive plan for that too), ensure that undocumented aliens in the country go through the proper steps to become documented, perform background checks on aliens and deport those who have criminal records.
-Wants to ensure that all illegal, undocumented aliens either leave or follow correct paths in becoming legal residents.
-"Will commit to clearing out the backlog of individuals that are waiting legally outside of the country, some for up to 20 years, for their green card number to become available."

*Education (to summarize)
-Believes that student of any school that does not meet the standards of the No Child Left Behind policy should be able to change schools and attend one that does meet these standards.

*2nd Ammendment (The Right to Bear Arms)
-Strong supporter of the right of innocent civilians having and using guns
-Opposes legislation that holds gun manufacturers liable for crimes committed by third parties using firearms.
-Opposes restrictions on so called "assault rifles".
-Supports legislation in requiring gun manufacturers to install gun locks on firearms.
-Supports the use of instant background checks on individuals buy guns.
-Opposes waiting periods for purchasing guns.
-Wants stiffer penalties for people who use firearms in a crime.

*Santity of Life
-Supports overturning Roe v. Wade
-Does not support abortion, but believes in encouraging adoption and creating social services for women who "have the courage" to keep their babies.
-Does not support "fetal farming," or creating embryos in order to perform stem cell research, but he agrees with using other means (i.e. amniotic fluid, umbilical cord, etc) for research.
-Defines marriage as between one man and one woman.
-Opposes human cloning

Note: all quotes come directly from http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/. This is as concise as I could possibly be on the issues that I personally really care about. To view more, you can obviously go to John McCain's Website yourself and read everything.



On to Barack Obama:

*Health Care
-Supports Universal Healthcare
-No one will be turned away due to a pre-existing condition.
-Federal subsidies to help those who cannot afford the plan.
-It will be mandatory for all children to have health insurance.
-He will expand eligibility criteria for those needing Medicaid.
-Wants to lower costs by ensuring more competition in the insurance and drug markets.

*Taxes
-Wants to take tax breaks away from companies who are moving their businesses overseas.
-Wants to raise the minimum wage whenever necessary.
-Increase workers' ability to organize unions.
-Wants to double funding for afterschool programs, and expand the Family Medical Leave Act.

*Social Security
-Wants to preserve it and protect it from those who would want to privatize it.
-Wants to ensure that companies don't neglect their pension obligations.

*Education
-Wants to create a "Zero to Five" Early education program.
-Wants to reform the No Child Left Behind mandate.
-Wants to increase compensation for teacher who really excel at what they do
-Wants to decrease the dropout rate by investing in "proven intervention stategies."
-"Will create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that will make tuition at the nation’s community colleges completely free and will cover up to two-thirds the cost of tuition at the nation’s public colleges and universities. This $4,000 tax credit will be fully refundable and available at the time of enrollment in college – when families need the money."

*Clean Energy Solutions
-Wants to implement the "cap and trade" program to reduce green house gas emissions (same as McCain)
-Wants to invest $150 billion over the next 10 years to deploy cleaner technologies
-Wants to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

*Women's Issues
-Supports legislation for equal pay for women, fight discrimination, and increase child care options.
-Will require that employers much provide for 7 paid sick days.
-Encourage states to promote paid leave of absenses
-Supports women's rights to choose whether or not to abort their babies; upholds Roe vs. Wade.
-"Obama will work to reduce unintended pregnancy by guaranteeing equity in contraceptive coverage, providing sex education, and offering rape victims accurate information about emergency contraception."
-"Obama will appoint a special advisor who will report to him regularly on issues related to violence against women. Obama will also pass legislation that provides job security to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault."

*Immigration
-Wants to secure the borders
-Remove incentives for people who enter the US illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants
-"Supports a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens." (One note: The line for coming into the US legally is about 20 years long).
-"Believes we need to do more to promote economic development in Mexico to decrease illegal immigration."

*Iraq
-Did not support the war in the first place.
-Wants to bring the troops home within 16 months.
-Wants to engage in diplomatic measures to help Iraq become a stable country.

*Terrorism
-Wants to finish the fight in Afghanistan.
-Wants to crack down on Al-Qaeda in it's safe haven of Pakistan.

*Iran
-Does not support a war with Iran
-Wants strong diplomacy to "offer Iran the choice of increased international pressure or incentives if it stops its disturbing behavior."

*Military
-Also wants to increase the military and its technology.

Note: All quotes and information come from Barack Obama's, "The Blueprint for Change," which can be downloaded directly from his website: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/.

I hope that, for some people, this really helps clear up any misinformation that may have been received. You know, I really find it amazing that people will spend hours watching television or playing on the internet, but they hardly take time to find out the truth about their potential new president. This election is very important for America, as all elections are. How many of us take it for granted that we can actually vote? Remember that it wasn't so long ago that women and African Americans were not allowed to vote, and there are countries all over the world that are being oppressed by their governments. We are FREE!! Never take this for granted.