my vote

29 Oct 2008

So, you probably won’t be surprised to learn I’m voting for Obama. The reasons why, though, are probably worth clarifying. A lot of people, for whatever reason, tend to believe I’m a fairly straightline liberal Democrat. I suppose I can maybe see why – if you read a lot of what I’ve written in the past about politics, I tend to align with the “american left” on a lot of issues of the day. Technically speaking, I’d consider myself a sortof “leftist libertarian”, a newer seemingly oxymoronic neologism that includes various anarcho-collectivists, mutualism, etc.

So while I have a dim view of the reigning administration in power at any given time – Democrat or Republican – I don’t take the traditional anarchist/libertarian approach of dismissing voting entirely, or advocating open rebellion against authority. The state isn’t going anywhere any time soon, so we may as well try to make it suck less while we work around it in our communities.

Anyways, I’m rambling. Traditionally, I’ve voted against Republicans on social justice/economic/financial lines.. Tax issues, economic policies, deregulation, etc. The Republican faux-“free market” deregulation, in my opinion, has a lot to do with the current mess we’re in. (You mean that if you remove all government supervision from previously regulated financial industries without also removing the state-sponsored guarantees of bailouts, those organizations will act irresponsibly?! I’m shocked, SHOCKED!!). While all those things are still a factor in this election, my main opposition to the Republican party candidate this time around is largely centered around foreign policy.

In the 2000, and 2004 elections, while I was opposed to Bush’s foreign policy, the war in Iraq, and his disastrous “war on terror”, it was largely domestic and economic issues that drove my vote. This time around, however, we’re dealing with a different situation. McCain is a scary guy on foreign policy to begin with. I’ve repeatedly pointed at this article as a great summary of why. This is a guy that considers his political idol to be Theodore Roosevelt, with no apparent hint of irony whatsoever. Seriously.

This article, in the American Conservative, of all places, succinctly describes my feelings on McCain, and why the idea of him in the white house scares the living crap out of me. And let’s not even get into the prospect of President Palin. But seriously, this is a guy that will bomb Iran. He joked about it. But not, like, “ha ha isn’t that a crazy idea” joke.

As much as I like to focus on domestic policy, I think World War III would really suck. There are plenty of other reasons, but this is foremost in my brain. McCain scares me.