With the unfortunate results of the general election came a small silver lining. The prospect of gay marriage was voted down in every state in which it was on the ballot, including California. This provides strong evidence that most Americans are still socially conservative. However, since that time many in the gay community have protested the voice of the people. Protests have ranged from California to Massachusetts. Polling has shown that a clear majority of the American people are against gay marriage and prefer traditional marriage. However, the supporters of gay marriage have pledged to continue the fight until they recieve what they want (www.msnbc.msn.com). This issue is of particular significance to traditionalists, conservatives, and people of faith. The advocates of gay marriage argue that the "Christian" point of view is one that is irrelevant simply because it has to do with religion (the seperation of church and state). However, that argument is completely flawed. The United States Constitution says nothing about seperation of church and state. In fact, the phrase, "seperation of church and state" is absolutely no where in the United States Constitution. But, the most offensive part of this debate is the opinion that people cannot vote for or against issues because of their religious faith. Any American citizen of voting age can vote for or against anything for any reason. The most important part of this issue is the fact that the proponents of gay marriage will keep protesting until they recieve what they want. One protest in California (in front of a church) turned ugly when a protester knocked a cross out of the hands of an elderly women with the elderly woman being pushed around. Clearly conservative people in American should stand up and let their voice be heard. We shouldn't just come out to vote our position. We should defend our position. We should write blogs. We should write and call our elected officails, both state and national. We should be active in our communities to promote what we believe in. We should promote groups and organizations that fight on behalf of our conservative ideals and values. We should get on the phone and encourage our friends and family of like mind to do the same. If we do not stand up for our values, our conservative christian values, one day we may wake up to find a country that we no longer recognize.   

    With less than one week left before the election Obama clings to a lead in the polls. America will likely elect him the next President. However, he is the wrong thing for America and the wrong thing for every American. He will make cuts in missile defense spending (www. freerepublic. com). He will also cut other military spending (www. dakotavoice. com). In August he accused troops of "air-raiding villages and killing civilians" (www. foxnews. com). In addition to this he stated he would meet without preconditions with leaders of terrorist states such as Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea (www. cnn. com). He will raise capital gains, payroll, corporate, and income taxes (www. humanevents. com). Raising taxes in times of an economic slowdown will harm the economy. That's basic economics. Obama says he will only tax the "rich". But 86% of all federal revenue is paid by the top 25% of income earners (www. taxfoundation. org). The "rich" in this country already pay the highest rates. The United States already has the second highest corporate tax in the world.
Senator Obama also wants to redistribute the wealth (www. cnbc. com). Redistributing the wealth is taking from those who have more and giving it to those who do not. It's not the role of government to play robin hood. That policy will kill ambition and innovation. That is socialism. But why punish success by giving it to others who financially aren't? We shouldn't. He also claims to give a tax break to 95% of American workers but, 40% don't pay income taxes (www. city-data. com). Something doesn't add up. While in the Illinois State Senate Obama voted against a bill that would have required medical care for babies born alive in the event of a botched abortion (www. worldnetdaily. com). Also while in the Illinois State Senate he voted against providing protection for citizens who used a firearm for self defense during home invasions (www. nraila. org). He is also a believer in the ridiculous notion of global warming. This is despite the fact that since 1998 the global temperature has decreased. Senator Obama has a record full of being wrong on the issues. A vote for Senator Obama would be in many ways a vote for the policies of former President Jimmy Carter, which produced 10% unemployment. Now there are many other reasons not to vote for Obama but, if I were to blog about all of them I would still be writing.

    I could not help but notice last Tuesday (The Vice Presidential Debate) that Joe Biden (Obama's choice for V.P.) kept saying things that were simply not true. In 14 different instances the Senator flat out told the American people the opposite of the truth. To briefly mention the subjects of the 14 different lapses of memory by the V.P. to be: Tax Vote, Ahmedinijad Meeting, Offshore Oil drilling, Troup Funding, Opposing Clean Coal, Alternative Energy Votes, Health Insurance, Oil Taxes, Quoting American Generals, Regulation, Iraq, Bailout, and falsely asserting that tax rates under Obama would not be any higher than under Reagan. But this is not just a fluke. This typical of the Democrat party (not telling the truth). For example, in the first Presidential Debate, Obama said that John McCain's accusation that he (Obama) had said he would meet with Iranian President Ahmedinijad was "Not true". But it is true.  When asked the question on CNN, "Would you be willing to meet separately without precondition in the first year of your administration...with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?" Obama, "I would". So yet another example of blatant lying by the Democrat Nominee for President. This is a pattern by Obama and his running mate. So why is there such a need by this campaign to lie? Because if the American people know the actaul positions of Obama they would not like what they would see.

 

   The United States of America provides the best enviroment for individuals to become successful. Our free market capitalist system has produced the single most powerful economy in world history. Our capitalist system enables people to make huge sums of money. However, there are sum in this country that prefer to penalize those making huge profits, essentailly penalizing success. This goes against our entire capitalistic system. One of the people espousing penalizing the successful is none other than Barack Obama. Senator Obama believes we should stick it to the rich in this country. The presumptive Democrat Nominee for President of the United States supports raising upper income individual income taxes to 39.6% (www.taxfoundation.org). This is despite the fact that the top 25% of income earners account for 86% of all federal income taxes, as it is. So why should we penalize (take a significantly higher percentage) those who make more money just because they make more money? When asked a question about taxes earlier this year in a Democrat Primary Debate Obama said, "I would look at raising the capital-gains tax for purposes of fairness". This is despite the fact that every time the capital-gains tax rate has been cut government revenues have increased, so essentially everyone wins. But the key word in Obama's response was "fairness". In Obama's response it didn't matter that lower capital-gains taxes are what is best for the country, rather that we should impose higher taxes on those who have used some their hard earned dollars to invest, while others either don't or can't. Obama also espouses a windfall profits tax on profits made by American based oil companies. His rationale for doing so is record profits made by oil companies like Exon. However, what company's goal is to not make a lot of money? Absolutely none, thats how many. Actually United States oil companies only make 8.3 cents of every dollar of sales. But with that aside, why should the government tax profits? That does not fit with our free market capitalist system. And if the government did enact a windfall profits tax on oil, where would it end? And what is a windfall profit anyway? By the way a windfall profits tax was tried once before (in President Jimmy Carter's Administration) and failed miserably. So under an Obama Administration being successful might not be that great.

   I think it's pretty accurate to say that most people know one thing about Barack Obama, change. But most people, including his supporters do not really know much at all about his positions and policies. So this week lets take a look at his tax plan. Lets start by looking at something that impacts every working American, payroll taxes. Senator Obama, "The best idea I think is to raise the cap on the payroll tax." (www.foxnews.com). Senator Obama has also expressed interest in nearly doubling the capital gains tax, Obama, "I would look at raising the capital gains tax." (www.cnbc.com). 100 million Americans own stock and would be affected by this tax increase. The Senator has also expressed raising taxes on coal and natural gas,   "What we ought to tax is dirty energy, like coal and, to a lesser extent, natural gas." (San Antonio Express-News). This would lead to increased energy costs. He is also in favor of a windfall profits tax on oil. Obama, "I think it is appropriate for us to impose a windfall profits tax on our oil companies." (www.barackobama.com). The oil companies would simply push this tax on to the consumer resulting in even higher gas prices. He is also infavor of ending the planned elimination of the estate tax (New York Sun). Also, the Obama Universal Healthcare plan would require a huge tax increase. Senator Barack Obama has proposed over 1 trillion dollars of new spending. Where will all that money come from? You and me. And "change" will be the only thing left in your pockets.

   Senator John McCain is currently trailing Barack Obama by about 4 points in the polls. I along with many others have been extremely frustrated with the way Senator McCain is running his campaign for president. The senator seldomly hits back when attacked by Obama. This week Obama is touring Europe, Afghanistan (for the first time), and Iraq. Of course the mainstream media is covering the television with nothing but positive images of Obama. However, they did not do the same when McCain took a similar trip earlier this year. In fact, a recent study of news coverage of the two candidates, show during the time period of the study Obama received 114 minutes of coverage while McCain received just 48 minutes of coverage (www.foxnews.com). So with Obama getting non-stop positive coverage by the mainstream media, what should McCain do? One issue where Obama and McCain differ greatly is energy and gas prices. What is the number one issue for right now for Americans? The answer, gas prices. Poll after poll show that a clear majority of Americans favor more drilling. John McCain should take some in the mainstream media and their cameras to an oil rig, to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), to a nuclear power plant, to the areas in the Rocky Mountains blessed with oil shell, and finally to the gas station where millions of Americans are hammered every day. McCain should push the issue of gas prices more than any other. He should take every opportunity to emphasize drill, drill, drill, and after that drill even more. He should also emphasize alternative solutions like nuclear, wind, solar, and others while also drilling to help provide relief at the pump. If McCain does this he would resonate with the American People on the most important issue, where Barack Obama obviously does not.      

    Anyone who studies the foundation and founding fathers of the United States know of the value and importance they placed on faith, inparticularly the Christian faith. Now, I could quote John Adams, John Hancock, John Quincy Adams, Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and so many others regarding the importance of Christian faith in the founding of the United States of America but, that would make this blog way to long. So I will just quote three of our most important founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. Thomas Jefferson, "Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus". Also from Jefferson, "I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus". This came from the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence, which speaks of men being endowed by their "Creator". James Madison,  "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We've staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." [1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia] (www.eadshome.com).  George Washington, " It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible". The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established the Bible to be taught in public schools. Part of the ordinance reads "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged". The Northwest Ordinance was passed by MANY MANY of the same founding fathers that helped create the United States Constitution. Last week Senator Obama and Dr. James Dobson traded statements back and forth regarding comments made by the senator in a speech he gave in 2006. In the speech the senator cited old testiment scripture in a condescending manner. Obama, "Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount?" Obama has also tried to use the Sermon on the Mount to justify same-sex unions. Dr. James Dobson said, "There is no need to 'make stuff up' as it relates to Sen. Obama's interpretation of Scripture and the role of religion in the public square. His statements and record make clear his questionable perception of both. ... He is editing God's word to fit his liberal worldview, and the more exposure his views on these matters get, the more obvious this will become to American Christians" (www.cnn.com). The presumptive Democrat Nominee for President either truly believes a warped theology that does not hold water with most Christians, or is trying to decieve the American people, or is not a Christian at all. All I ask of the potential next President of the United States is a little straight talk. Is that to much to ask?