Voting

Hi, my name is Chase and I'm a republican.

This election is one that has turned out a bit different. While I was in DC this summer I was able to get an insider perspective of how our government works. I believe that real action occurs in the legislative branch, not the executive, so if we want change, we need to change congress. While I was there, I became more conservative. Part of that was spending 40 hours a week in a republican office, but part of that came from actually working on issues and researching them.

So why, if I am an unaffiliated voter who identifies themselves as republican, am I jumping ship and voting mostly democratic this year? I feel the republicans have gone too far. President Bush has broken laws, disregarded international treaties, doubled in the deficit, and left the country in worse shape than it was 8 years ago. Thankfully Bush is not on the ballot this year. But because I know how politics is played, McCain will look an awful lot like Bush. Obviously he won't be Bush, and the state of the economy will require new policy, but republicanism is republicanism. It isn't going to change.

Of course, Obama isn't going to change either. He is going to increase government spending, penalize those that actually work for their money by raising taxes so that the welfare state can be increased, move towards socialized health care, and not do much about our oil dependency. His goals are lofty, and in the partisan system we have won't be obtainable. I don't believe Obama has "change [I] can believe in".

After reading, and studying, and thinking, both McCain and Obama are both saying the same thing. But there is something about McCain that rubs me the wrong way. I think it was his behavior in the debates. I love McCain's foreign policy experience. However, in the debates he treated Obama really poorly. McCain came across as a arrogant, crotchety old man. I don't want that type of person representing me at a G8 summit. I can't really explain why I am so apprehensive about McCain, but I am. Therefore, I have decided to vote for Obama.

Now, in the State elections, I am voting for Huntsman. But most everyone else is a democrat. I believe the republican party is corrupted. But, that is bound to happen when you have such a large majority. I also believe that anytime your party chairman is a lobbyist, married to a representative you are likely to get corruption. It becomes easier to bend the rules. Don't get me wrong I like the party chairman, he is a nice guy. So is his wife. But something happened over the past 4 years. The republican party leadership has decided that it is invincible, and they have become bullies. Their attitude has become one of "If you don't do what I want, we are pulling funding" I don't think that is right.

The only way in our system to really show displeasure is at the polls. I hope that the republicans get the message. In Utah County every republican should be able to win easily. I hope it takes effort this year. My way of voicing my displeasure is to vote democrat. This decision is easier than voting for Obama, because thankfully, the Utah County democrats are really republicans. They just switched parties because they knew they had a better chance of winning. I don't blame them for that. it makes sense. If I am going to put time and money into a race, I want the best chance of winning. Our primary system, that is based on delegates, makes it really hard to beat incumbents, so why not switch parties. I'm ok with it.

This year we have a chance to show we are upset at how things are run. I know that Utah has been insulated from the recession. Republicans say it was because they were in control. I half-way believe that. When the governor proposes the budget, and the legislature is only given 45 days to approve it, I think the credit really goes to the governor. 45 days is not enough time to really play the budget all that much, so it is basically approved as is every time. I think the democrats, if they were to win a majority would side with Huntsman.

Ok, enough of my rant. I need to go fulfill my civic duty, and lets hope it takes no more than an hour