Friday, September 07, 2012

Two Paths Diverged in a Yellow Wood

“When all is said and done — when you pick up that ballot to vote — you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation,” President Obama said last night. “Over the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington, on jobs and the economy; taxes and deficits; energy and education; war and peace — decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our children’s lives for decades to come....

"The two sides of those decisions couldn’t be clearer....

“On every issue, the choice you face won’t be just between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different paths for America....

 “Unlike my opponent, I will not let oil companies write this country’s energy plan, or endanger our coastlines, or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers.

“When Gov. Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy — well, how did President Clinton put it? You do the arithmetic. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I’m president, I never will....

“I will never turn Medicare into a voucher. No American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies....”

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

No difference. They both will pursue the same totalitarian agenda.

Some powerful special interests will benefit, but most Americans will lose.

brotherdoc said...

OK, then, I don't guess you will bother to vote at all, Anon. Since you don't have ID you probably couldn't anyway in a lot of states....

Anonymous said...

No, Anonymous 10:47 is right. Romney is just like Obama. There is no conservative candidate.

Anonymous said...

bd, I can certainly understand George Carlin's attitude about the subject.

Not Really said...

Anon 10:47, I hear a lot of people saying what you said, and I am very worried about the effect that special interests play in politics today - especially the power that wealthy individuals and groups have these days to influence elections.

But it's just not true that there is no difference between the parties. Yes, both parties accept donations from corporations and wealthy individuals. But there are very clear differences in the policies they push to implement that are made clear in the party platforms. Campaign finance reform is just one of those - check out any coverage of the Citizens United ruling, the one that has allowed the free flow of anonymous money for political ads, and you'll see that Democrats have opposed it and fought to have it overturned or reformed, while Republicans have fought to keep it in place and make it even easier for people to produce political ads without ever disclosing where the money comes from. But there are so many other issues where the differences between the parties are huge: abortion and reproductive rights, equal treatment of gays and lesbians, funding for education, foreign policy (the potential for war with Iran is one of my biggest fears if Romney wins).

So don't let the anyone convince you that your vote doesn't make a difference. Just think, a few more votes for Gore in 2000 might have saved us from the war in Iraq and all the other bad policies we got saddled with over 8 years of George W. Bush. The outcome of this election really will make a difference and apathy could mean a return to the warmongering and the ill-advised tax cuts for the wealthy that turned the Clinton-era budget surpluses into deficits.

brotherdoc said...

Not really, you are so correct. And Anon, George Carlin was a comedian who has been dead for about 4 years. Why would you listen to him? If you want to listen to some smart comedians, we have Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Anonymous said...

BD, dead or not, he made some very pertinent points. Wisdom is ageless.