October 2, 2008

McCain is part of the problem, not the solution

Democrats Calling
By JOE CALIENDO

    Alleged "Conservatives" today have seen the biggest spenders Government has seen in many decades.
    They spend money the U.S.A. does not actually have, they borrow money from anyone who will write a check (like China) and when they spend these funds it is usually on people from another country.
    The United States is currently fighting wars it cannot afford, supporting the profits for companies that it should not do (since that practice is called "socialism") and promoting private sector profits and socialized losses in industries.
    There is nothing actually functional in the Conservatives of today. They say one thing, and do another. They say they'll spend wisely and then they turn around and break the bank.
    When President Bill Clinton left office there was a budget surplus and the U.S. was at peace. When President George Bush leaves office, it will be with the highest overseas debt in the history of the country, fighting a dubious war that the country cannot afford and should not have been in.
    Sen. John McCain claims to be a Conservative, and has said he want to see the U.S. in Iraq for many years to come. I won't hold him to the "thousand years" he was talking about, but he said that nonetheless.
    Along Main Street America, the nation's economy is dying for the money that the U.S. Government is dumping out everywhere else in this world. The U.S. Government doesn't actually need to give money to businesses, because if it didn't take money away from them in the first place for unnecessary taxation then it would all work out.
    President Bush has given a historic amount of money to foreign countries, and he's borrowed a historic amount of money from foreign countries. And, America has nothing to show for his time in office. John McCain represents more of the same for this country, its business and economy.
    In general, Republicans have destroyed this country and its place in the world during eight long years. John McCain would turn eight bad years into 12 bad years. But, just how many more of these years can America take?
    I know a lot of people from my time that would just not vote for someone who was black. There is still a lot of racism happening in this country. But, there are times to set aside personal prejudices - like when it has to do with an economy that will be destroyed by more Republican nonsense and when it involves young service men and women being killed in a war that was a mistake in the first place.
    Sen. Barack Obama may not look like presidents of the past, but there is a time and a place for things to start changing. In my opinion, this is the time and the United States is the place.
The only thing I absolutely know about an Obama administration is that:
1. He will be more able to salvage the economy than John McCain and
2. There will be fewer Americans killed in Iraq, because there will be a timetable for their exit.
    It is time for a change, because more of the same has brought this country very close to the abyss, and now is the time to bring it back from the edge. John McCain cannot do that, because he was one of the people who put the country at risk in the first place.

(Joe Caliendo is the chairman of the Middletown Township Democratic Party. He has been active in municipal government and politics since the 1961 campaign of former President John F Kennedy.)