I am sorry to say that I sat out yesterday’s primary. I just could not figure out what was truth and what was lies and what was half truths. So I could not even pick “lessor of two evils.” I grow more and more disenchanted with the whole process. I will clearly have to do more research before November.
Related to research I took a questionnaire at http://www.votehelp.org/ today. It gives me about an 85% match with McCain and a 74% match with Obama. Actually though I agree with Obama on slightly more things than with McCain but the weight I put on the various issues tilts the balance toward McCain. Even with about 30+ questions some things I worry about did not make their list so as unclear as this result is things are worse in real life.
My tiebreaker issue in recent elections has been the Supreme Court. As unhappy as I have been with very much of what Bush has done I think he’s done ok by me with Supreme Court selections. The recent decision on the DC gun ban case was huge in my opinion.
The VP choice is not such a big deal for me. I am cynical enough to believe that both choices were more about political expediency than real serious thought about who would be the best person to take over as President. Candidates just don’t think they’ll die in office. Even still we have a choice between one person who may not be experienced enough to get things done and another who is experienced enough but who would do things that scare me. Not a great option either way.
I got a 92% match with Obama and a 66% match with McCain. I had trouble answering some questions, though. Do I support “very strict controls on government spending?” We need better oversight, for sure, but “very strict controls?” That needs to be defined better before I can answer. I said no to supporting more spending on defense, but mostly because it was a vague question — if, say, Iran and Russia were to both go as crazy as they seem, we’d probably have to, and I’d agree it would be the right thing.
The government “helping” to provide health care is touchy, too — I think everyone deserves to be able to afford to stay healthy, but I’m also not a fan of “socialized medicine.” (Which isn’t at all what the Democrats have proposed, but I digress.)
I disagreed with agriculture subsidies, but may have wiped out our farming sector in doing so. I don’t really know enough about the issues to actually make a decision there. So I went with my gut, which is that farmers get ridiculous amounts of subsidies as it is.
And I said no to “absolute right to own a gun.” 18+, no recent violent crimes, sure. But, as the court ruled in DC vs. Heller, “[l]ike most rights, the Second Amendment is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose… [It] should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.” I’m just bothered by the phrase “absolute right,” given that even the First Amendment isn’t absolute.
So I worry that my interpretation of the questions is going to skew my results. :-