Vote for Obama - It's the Economy

[WayneSL]

I'm registered Independent, because the Progressive Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party_(United_States,_1912)
is defunct, and both of the parties that actually get people into
office have failed my trust time and again. Still, when I read my
cousin's email copied below, I was inspired to applaud and pass it on:

My American Sisters,
Many of you will say that I am preaching to the choir. Some of you
may be offended because you always support the candidate who opposes
legal abortion. But I must do everything I can to try to persuade
everyone I know to vote for the Democratic ticket in six and a half
weeks. We may not have a woman on that ticket, but we'll just have to
save that feat for another year.

Most of you know me as a social liberal, but I have been a banker all
my adult life and believe in fiscal conservatism, which is not
practiced by Republicans or Democrats. McCain (for all his talk about
change) intends to continue current economic policy. The Republican
economic theory (that when you lower taxes on wealthy people, they
will be motivated to invest and that will create jobs for everyone)
has not worked, obviously. Under the Republican stewardship of this
country, the very wealthy have grown much wealthier, and the gap
between them and the rest of the citizens has widened. McCain now
roars that he is going to reform Wall Street, but it is his party,
with his full support, that has reviled and minimized regulation of
business for decades. Inadequate regulation permitted recklessness in
the financial services industry that has thrown us into recession.
Now McCain pretends he wasn't part of that problem.

Republicans seem to think that you can be fiscally irresponsible in
every way, but if you deliver a tax cut, you can call yourself a
conservative. When did borrowing money and spending it with wild
abandon, including a war that is enriching private contractors,
leaving overwhelming debt to our children, become conservative
behavior? Electing McCain to control the executive branch of
government will keep the same people in power behind the scenes, to
continue the wrong-headed economic policies that are failing us now.

We cannot maintain our economic power militarily, or by controlling
oil. It is the fuel of the past. Economic reality is changing, and
we need to be forward thinking and partner with our friends around the
world. Bush and Cheney dragged us backward in foreign relations, and
another Republican administration would keep us there. McCain has not
stated any plan to change foreign policy. We've had a belligerent
hothead in the White House for eight years, disastrously. McCain and
Palin are two more belligerent hotheads, and proud of it.

McCain has said that he wants to make permanent the "temporary" tax
cut given to the wealthy at the beginning of Bush's term. That makes
it even more outrageous that McCain plans to tax workers on employer
contributions to our health insurance. In other words, if you buy
health insurance through your company, and they pay part of the
premiums on that insurance, McCain wants you to pay income tax on
that. He is therefore proposing, in an underhanded way of course, to
raise working Americans' taxes. And how, exactly, does this do
anything for the current health care mess?

Obama may not have all the answers. But he is an impressive
intellect. When he discusses the financial markets, it is clear that
he gets it. He surrounds himself with smart people who want to move
the country forward. McCain's first selection is a pretty woman with
very limited knowledge, who has briefly governed a state with fewer
residents than the City of Orlando. But the Republicans love her -
she looked good while she delivered a sneering, negative speech that
mocked the public service of others. This is statesmanship?

For those of you who agree with me, please do everything you can to
promote voter turnout for Obama. Forward this message if you think it
will convince anyone. For those who find the McCain ticket
attractive, please consider the financial consequences of choosing
them to govern. Thank you and please forgive me for imposing my views
on you. It is that important to me.
Geri