Do you ever get the feeling that your one little vote doesn’t actually make a difference in the grand scope of things?  That you know that for your one vote, there is someone else in line next to you who is just going to cancel your vote out?  Well, this is my fourth presidential election that I can vote in, and each time previously, I had that feeling that my one vote was inconsequential, but that I was just doing my civic duty because I had the right.

This time, however, I get the very distinct sense, that my one vote may actually matter.  Given the past two elections where the contest was EXTREMELY close, and what is at stake this time, I think we can all agree, or should at least know, that our one vote does very much matter.

So this is my final urging, my begging, my knees on the floor, hands clasped with plead and desperation, genuflection of implore that each and every one of you

GO AND VOTE TODAY!!!!!!

Let your voices be heard,

Let your ballot be cast.

Play your part in history,

Because it DOES matter!!!

What are the differences in the candidates?  I can’t think of a better starting subject than the economy, so here goes…

From John McCain’s website:

“John McCain is calling for National Commission on Workplace Flexibility and Choice. This Commission would bring together a bi-partisan set of leaders representing workers, small and large employers, labor, and academics.  The Commission would make recommendations to the President on how modernizing our nation’s labor laws and training programs can help workers better balance the demands of their job with family life and to enable workers to more easily transition between jobs.

For home owners, John McCain has proposed a new “HOME Plan” to provide robust, timely and targeted help to those hurt by the housing crisis. Under his HOME Plan, every deserving American family or homeowner will be afforded the opportunity to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects their home’s market value.”

Small business will benefit from low individual tax rates, lower corporate tax rates, minimized expensive mandates, and access to capital from low tax rates on dividends and capital gains. McCain would institute a one-year spending pause, which would mean he would freeze non-defense, non-veteran discretionary spending for one year and use those savings for deficit reduction.  He touts that he will take back earmark funds, and perform a comprehensive review of all programs, projects, and activities of the the federal government and reprioritize - promising to eliminate wasteful spending.”

Barack Obama’s website claims that he will “jumpstart the economy by enacting a Windfall Profits Tax to provide $1,000 Emergency energy rebate to American familes, while also providing $50 billion to prevent 1 million Americans from losing their jobs.  He will cut income taxes by $1000 for working families, eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000, and simplify tax filings for middle class Americans.  He plans to create 5 million new Green jobs, while providing tax relief for small businesses and start up companies.  He claims that he will protect homeownership by creating a universal mortgage credit, ensuring a more accountable subprime mortgage industry, mandating accurate loan disclosures, and closing bankruptcy loopholes for mortgage companies.

Obviously, there is so much more to address, so please, if you don’t know the candidate you are supporting, go to their websites and read more.  This election is so important, and there are only 6 days left to make a good, solid, informed decision.

For more information, go to http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/  or http://www.johnmccain.com/Issues/jobsforamerica/

AND DON’T FORGET TO VOTE NEXT TUESDAY!!!!

            My father has lost over $250,000 in his 401k plan, and he feels lucky.  My very good friend and former boss is losing his home to foreclosure, and he hopes that he will be able to repair his credit enough to be financially independent again, someday.  My coworker is looking for serious employment after her husband was relieved from his job of 14 years.  Too-many-to-count young high school graduates are unable to move onto colleges, despite their excellent grades, accomplishments, and potential, due to rising prices of tuition, living, and energy costs.  We do not have the advantage of going into this election avoiding the issue of the economy.  Such a strategy is overwhelmingly dangerous in a country whose economic system balances on the edge of what appears to be the sharpest knife we have been cursed with in over 75 years.  

            To avoid discussing the issues - the origin, the guilty parties, the blame, and most importantly, the solutions – reeks of disrespect and disregard.  How dare the candidates focus on such absurdity as far-reaching connections to a former radical; how dare they point fingers over who-fired-whom and for what reason.  People in America have a resolve, and despite our declining rate of college graduates, we also have a basic intelligence that screams for recognition from our elected officials.  I don’t want to hear anymore about Obama’s middle name, and I don’t want to hear Tina Fey’s mimicry of Sarah Palin’s dewy grasp on foreign policy and her remarkable ability to “see Russia” from her home.  What I want is for the candidates to embrace the fact that my family is losing their retirement money; that my friends are losing their homes; that young adults are forced to relinquish their right to an education; and that everyone should be caring about what the government is doing with $700 billion of our hard-earned money.

            At a time with consequences so harrowing, we don’t just have a right to seek the knowledge that will guide us into making well-informed, proactive decisions, we have an obligation.  As citizens, teachers, parents, students, and humans, we absolutely must educate ourselves on the best course of action, and not be led by the sophistries of the most vocal among us. 

            I am not endorsing a candidate here; this blog is non-partisan.  However, there are some serious issues that must be taken up, if not for the safety of the candidate, than for the overall health of our Union. There is a growing reticulum of uninformed people, filled with trepidation and assumptions cultivated by dishonest and desperate measures that have begun to change the tone away from “drill baby drill ”to“ kill baby kill!”  When the supporters are chanting, “off with his head!” or “Kill him!” or “Terrorist!”  the candidates have an obligation, not just as a candidate seeking the highest office in a representative government, but also as compassionate, sentient beings, to immediately dispel the dishonest rumors, and calm the nervous crowd.  These fears were mostly culminated by Obama’s innocuous loose ties to that of a man who, when Obama was 8-years old, helped form a radical, violent, anti-government group, but has since been honored with a “Citizen of the Year” award and has done overwhelming work with education and public school reform.  These specious attacks have vitiated the credibility of McCain’s struggling campaign; more and more people are getting angry.

            I am angry.  I am angry because none of the campaigns are focusing where they should be.  I am angry because in the debates they spend more time coming up with one-liners and personal zingers than they do discussing what went into the $700 billion “recovery plan” and what will potentially come out of it.  They spend more time repeating themselves and speaking half-truths, than they do addressing  the issues that, this year, desperately matter… and no matter what side you are on, everyone should worry when people begin calling for the death of the opposing candidate.  This is not how we do politics in America, we should not condone it, and McCain and Palin should NOT allow it to take place on their watch, ever.

            As students, a lot of us may have no care, or feel we have no vested interest, in the state of our economy, but we should.  Our tuitions will be going up, and classes will be harder to get into.  We have a $3 billion-dollar budget shortfall this year and education funding will be slashed, there is no way out of it.  We have a “rainy day fund,” that started at $400,000 when Tim Kaine was elected, and at one point got to as high as $1.8 billion.  However, we have borrowed from it since its peak, and there will probably only be $600,000 left to help cushion that debt.  There are a lot of numbers, but what it ultimately boils down to, is that we will be hit, and hard.  We do need to realize our stake in the economy, and in the political process.  As college students, we have a voice, and we are declining in numbers; we owe it to our generation to sound our voices where it matters.

            Don’t listen to the campaign rhetoric.  Listen to what John McCain said and check out his record.  Check out their websites and find their plans.  Read their proposals and ask the tough questions.  Do NOT get swept up in the non-issues, and don’t let any of it distract you.  Who cares that Todd Palin played a strong behind the scenes role in Sarah’s years in office?  Who cares that Obama once served on a board with a man who had a nefarious past?  Demand that your candidate focus on the issues that matter.

McCain, who also realizes that the downright scary problems on Wall Street, and within the mortgage industry, are the key to his doom, made a shift in his focus today, by steering clear of the economy. Instead, he is focusing on Obama’s connections with Reverend Jeremiah Wright; convicted Chicago businessman and contributor Antoin “Tony” Rezko; and William Ayers, a 1960s-era radical and a founder of the Weather Underground group blamed for several Vietnam War-era bombings.  These were people brought up early in the campaign, and we will see if Obama responds.  Many people are speculating that he won’t respond at all, as it will only make it more of an issue, but a few close advisors say that they will gladly reiterate that Obama was only 8 when William Ayers was a part of Weather Underground, and he has not condoned his actions. 

McCain is also focusing on where exactly Obama’s funding is coming from, calling into question his “refusal to disclose the names” of those funding his campaign.  Calling for an investigation into Obama’s campaign funds, and looking for an illegal contributions, he has taken the focus away from the economy and more onto the question, “Who is Obama really?”   

The campaigns are definitely starting to take their gloves off, and I can only imagine how negative it will get.  There was a certain bite and sting to the Vice Presidential debate last Thursday, and I encourage you all to watch the debates tomorrow, Oct 7^th, and then again on Oct. 15^th.

Today was the last day to register to vote, if you did not do it, you will not be able to sound your voice in this year’s historic election L

Hello Everyone-

I figured that seeing as how we have but a mere 8 days left to register to vote, I would write a quick reminder to everyone to REGISTER.  Don’t miss out on potentially one of the most important votes of our generation by failing to register!  October 6^th is the last day to register to vote in the state of Virginia.  If you have not registered, stop by the Student Activities Office and grab a registration form – we will be glad to send it in for you!

While I am at it, here are ALL the candidates and their websites:

Democratic Candidate:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden

http://www.barackobama.com

PO Box 8102

Chicago, IL 60680

Republican Candidate:

John McCain and Sarah Palin

http://www.johnmccain.com

PO Box 16118

Arlington, VA 22215

Independent Green Party Candidate:

Chuck Baldwin and Darrell L. Castle

http://www.votejoinrun.us

5522 Hinton Street

Springfield, VA 22151

Green Party Candidate:

Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente

PO Box 123

Atlanta, VA 30309

Libertarian Candidate:

Bob Barr and Wayne A. Root

http://www.libertarianparty.com

2600 Virginia Ave,

NW Suite 200

Washington, VA 20037

Independent Candidate:

Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez

http://www.votenader.org

PO Box 34103

Washington DC 20043

Nice title, could I be any more alarmist? Well, I think it is time to address the economy.  It has been a terrifying roller coaster the past week or so in the US economy, and people, especially those whose eyes are fixed upon the stock market, are getting a little panicky.  With government buy-outs of financial institutions and the mortgage industry in a tailspin, it is understandable that some people are left with their hands on their head in shock, but what does it mean to the average American?  The US government spends more money than it has (we live outside our means… that’s where I got that bad influence!), and so it relies on the global economy to invest in our treasury, which is still, at this point, going strong.  However, outside investors are now taking pause, and they are starting to insist on higher interest rates as a way to make up for the added risk.  It is already extremely challenging to get a loan these days, and this situation could make it even worse, both for our financial systems and the global economy.  So, how did we get into this mess?

Deregulation

Beginning in the early 1980’s, the government decided to deregulate the banking industry and the laws that controlled how banks could give mortgages, how much interest they could charge, and who could take one out.  For many young, new, and not-so-wealthy people (that was me), this opened a completely new world of opportunity for home ownership.  Suddenly, we were allowed mortgages, despite our financial ability to pay it back.  With no down payments, low interest rates, and variable rate mortgages, the housing market boomed and many people caught on, making a quick dollar on property turn-around.

Case-in-point: In early 1997, I bought my first house, which happened to be a duplex, for only $65,000.  I rented out the bottom half and lived mortgage free.  This plan worked well, and so in 1999, I bought my second duplex for $45,000, renting out both sides, which paid both the mortgage and gave me $600 in income every month.  The only negative thing I encountered was a freaky, child-molester tenant who was discovered and raided by the police, and who left behind some pretty nefarious sexual paraphernalia that I don’t care to describe here… But, my point is, I sold the second duplex two years later at $110,000, which gave me a profit of $65,000, and a few years later, I sold my first duplex for $212,000, giving me a profit of $147,000.  This meant that in five years, just from buying and selling, I made $212,000 – all the while living rent free and making $600 a month in rental profit.  Without the deregulation, as an 18-year old, only having been at my job for 2 years, and just out of high school, I never would have been given a mortgage.  Well, I sold at the right time, because shortly thereafter, it became next to impossible to find a house that you could purchase at anything but an extraordinarily inflated price.  What happened is that the whole mortgage industry was gambling on people’s ability to pay back questionable loans, and when increasing numbers of Americans suddenly couldn’t afford their payments, it sent many large banks into a tailspin, which is what we are dealing with today.

Bush’s Plan

President Bush’s plan, in a nutshell, is to request the authority to issue up to $700 billion of Treasure securities and whole loans, which would give Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson the complete authority to purchase assets he deemed necessary to stabilize the financial markets.  This would give the government large power to buy the debt of ANY US financial institution over the next two years.  The concerning part of his plan, however, is that Paulson would not be held accountable, or even reviewed on his decisions for any of his money spent.  There is also the fact that it would increase the US debt limit, and it does not have any specifics for what the government would get in return from the companies that use the federal assistance.

Our Candidates Respond

            At a time of financial crisis, our candidates have both been trying to beat each other to be the first to say, “this is not the time for partisan politics,” while then immediately promulgating how their particular side is better.  Such is the way of elections.  McCain and Obama both are largely concerned about the unprecedented power that would be in the hands of Henry Paulson, and both candidates are calling for strong regulation and oversight to this bailout.  While both candidates agree that a bailout is a good idea, they both are dissatisfied with Bush’s plan (though neither have come up with an alternative).  Of course, Obama is pounding in the reality that it is lack of oversight and accountability that got us into this mess, and is the fault of the Bush Administration’s policies on regulation, that John McCain supported, and would continue to follow… And polls seem to indicate that Americans are starting to agree.  On McCain’s behalf, while he HAS repeatedly supported deregulation for smaller business, he has also been calling for new reform and regulation for Fannie May and Freddie Mac for some time now.  Perhaps John McCain’s biggest blunder this campaign is to repeatedly broadcast that the “economy is fundamentally strong,” only to suddenly change is tune this week to an economy “at risk.”  So what does he mean by fundamentally strong?  Sure, we are not as glorious as we were in the 1990’s, but we are not back in the 1930’s either.  Unemployment right now is at around 6%, during the great depression it was at 25%.  Given those drastic numbers, he is correct, we are still fundamentally strong.  But, when Obama has been stating time and again, throughout this campaign, the need for oversight, and then this whole situation comes barreling down, it is helping his case and hurting McCain’s.   

There are big issues in this election that are affecting us very much.  Having just found out this week that a close friend is losing his home to foreclosure and taking his two young daughters down to live with the grandparents, it feels a bit more real, and a bit scarier.  This will be the first election since 1932, which is being run in the middle of a severe financial crisis, and both candidates are walking a thin line when finding the best way to move forward.  Whatever man is elected come November, he will probably inherit a budget that is least $500 billion out of balance.  Not only will they have extreme challenge balancing the budget, but surely their promises and plans will be harder to bring to fruition in light of this bailout.

 For more information on each candidates economic plan go to:

Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/

McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com/Issues/jobsforamerica/

I know plenty of people on both sides of the aisle, and one astonishing similarity between my Republican friends and my Democratic friends, is that they don’t seem to endorse their candidate. Instead, everyone seems to be against someone, as opposed to being for someone. My friend just got a license plate that states, “NOBAMA08.” What is the obsession with being against someone, while completely disregarding the person you are supporting? Is it the negativity that permeates through the political culture or have most people really not found a candidate that they love, but instead found only one they REALLY don’t love, and will do whatever possible to keep that one out of office? No candidate will ever be perfect for every person; it is impossible – we are human. We are destined to fall, fail, lose, hang our head in shame, retract ideas, change our minds, forget our manners, and be naughty every once in a while…we can’t expect perfection from leaders or we would never support a candidate… ever. Not that we should expect our leaders to be the lowest common denominator, I mean, we want the cream of the crop, but we should also expect to never agree fully with any one candidate. Instead, we should each find our biggest issues, our most life-altering, fist-clenching, heart-pumping, passionate issues, and then find the candidate that speaks to those and support them.

My goal for this election is to not be swept up in negativity. I want to stand for something, not against it. I want to make sure every vote counts, and not just the ones I agree with. I want new voters to stand up and find the courage to identify their own political voice and pull that sound from the dark cellar of indifference and unconcern. We are a country of over 300 million persons; our president is simply a microcosm of the country’s whole. Let our voices be loud, clear, and distinct this fall as we elect the officials that will represent our needs the best, and let’s make it fun again! Once upon a time ago, elections were a huge, weeklong party extravaganza of excitement, where people gathered (well, men) from far and near to the center of town to cast their votes. It was a highlight, not a chore. There was beer and cigars, turkey legs and potatoes, sword fights and jesters… wait, that’s renaissance. Point is, is that Election Day should be a huge deal! Work the polls, then come home to a highly decorated house, and a whole living room full of people, food, and balloons, and watch the election results come in. Election night is like New Year’s Eve at my house, it’s a big, huge party – after all, we are creating history; new years come and go, but what we do on election day determines what happens in those years, and I am proud to have a voice in that process.

The scene is hot out there this year, not just nationally, but locally. Former Governor Mark Warner will face off against former Governor Jim Gilmore in Virginia’s senatorial race, and virtually no one will deny that our state is up for grabs this year, which means we will get a lot of attention from the national candidates. Typically, Virginia has voted red in the past, in fact, it has voted Republican for the past 44 years, but the gap is being slowly bridged, and right now Democrats and Republicans are in dead heat for our state. No matter what side of the bed you get up on, Virginia is going to play a significant role in this year’s election, and the candidates know it! Obama has opened 33 new offices in a state that no Democrat usually bothers even visiting, and it was here that he received his very first endorsement from Governor Tim Kaine in February of 2007; we might be seeing a lot of McCain and Obama as they battle for our state this fall. Only two weeks ago, Obama chose our Chester campus for a town hall meeting, highlighting the significant role that community colleges seek, and succeed, at playing in our state and the country as a whole. We extend the same invitation to John McCain in the hopes that he too will come join us at our campus (and perhaps even make it open to the students this time!!).

So how about our state? What do Virginian’s care about? Well that is a question isn’t it? Let’s narrow that down a bit, what do WE as students care about? I think we can all agree that education is important (ahem, we had better all believe that education is important!). Well, here is some shocking news: statistics are showing that the number of college graduates in this country has reached a plateau and is actually beginning to decline, which means that this current generation may possibly be the first to have less education than the generation before it. That is a terrifying trend folks, and as students, we should be the first to fight for good education plans, positive policies, and vote for the politicians who embrace them, especially on the statewide level. Political groups like the bipartisan VA21 have canvassed long and hard to bring about the Community College Transfer Grant, which has the potential to help students exactly like us. This year, we intend to make the John Tyler’s VA21 Chapter extremely successful, and the first step you all can take, as students, is to join our chapter and fight for issues we want done on our campus.

In the next few months, I will do my best to layout the plans and views of each political candidate on both national and state levels. I will discuss education, the war, the economy, energy, and all the other issues that you are interested in, so that you can all make good decisions as to what candidate espouses the views that closely mirror your own. In the mean time, I wish you all a successful semester here - learn a lot, study hard, and REGISTER TO VOTE!!!

p.s. If anyone is interested in being a poll worker, Democracy 101 is here to help! By becoming a poll worker, you will ensure that there are no mistakes, glitches, cheating, or misunderstandings at the polls on Election Day. We need over 200 poll workers in the areas surrounding John Tyler Community College, and registrars are willing to pay $100 to John Tyler students who help work the polls this November 4th (and you will also receive a T-shirt from VA21). For more information contact me at scs255@email.vccs.edu or go to www.virginia21.org/dem101.