Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Ughh... politics.

Well, the big election is coming up pretty fast so I figured I should do some research on the top two: McCain and Obama. It's kinda surprising that this is my first real post because I really don't like politics. When I think of politics I'm reminded of a quote that my dad has in his office at work: "A committee takes hours to put into minutes what can be done in seconds." Especially after working with NASA last year I experienced first hand the craziness of bureaucracies and some of the politics involved.

Anyhow, I've posted my excel list comparing McCain and Obama side by side on the right side of this page under "The Sweet Spot" section. Just click on "Compare the Candidates." At the bottom of the spreadsheet I included my references, and anything in blue is my own comment. I only included the issues that were of real interest to me. They are not in any particular order, although there's definitely certain issues that I'm more concerned about than others on the list. Particularly, the environment and renewables (including reduction of foreign dependence) is high on my list. Also, our foreign policy: how we treat other countries and the global issues that we choose to address (like poverty and the Millennium Development Goals). Not only will this help diplomatic relations, but it fights terrorism peacefully, protects our country, and I believe it's just the right, sensible, and inexcusable thing to do. And yeah, I kinda left out health care cuz it's so confusing to me. If anyone can ever find an easy way to explain what's going on with that, let me know! haha.

The only other thing to note right now is that it was interesting going through the candidate's websites. A common complaint about Obama is that he is too vague about how to address the problems. But so far, I've found it to be the opposite; McCain's website describes a lot of promises and hopes, but lacks specifics, whereas Obama's website outlines his plans as well as his goals quite clearly.

Again, I'd love to hear feedback. Please fill in any blanks I'm missing on the spreadsheet or correct anything wrong or unclear. And comment what you think is important. I hope it all makes sense... I wrote it in note form, initially thinking I'd be the only one reading it. So if you're not sure what something means, ask me or google it!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Kyle,

Thanks for the list. I'm always looking for stuff like that. When it comes to politics, I don't have the patience to read through everything. I just want to know what each candidates' stand on the issues is. Although the key is to read more than a few of them, to try to get a full unbiased list.

The issues that matter for me are education, the environment/energy, and Iraq. The future is coming up fast, and these are the three things that I think will affect the happiness and well being of the populace at the root of the problem. I'm also interested in their stands on technology issues, but that's just because I'm me. :-P

I'd say more, but I abhore politics. It's just not in me to care about people who talk their asses off while sitting on their words.

Anyway, hope you're well, and I look forward to future posts.

-Evan

Unknown said...

I'm in a similar boat. I'm not interested in all the BS issues. Nothing against gay people, but at about 2-3% of the population, there are more pressing issues for the whole of us. Things you guys listed, like the environment. That affects everyone.

My most important issue, though, is going to probably be how they fund scientific research, since that's going to most directly affect me. I'm also figuring that whichever candidate supports science more is more likely to listen to scientific reasoning, and perhaps make smarter decisions about things like energy consumption and the environment.

I could go on for a while, but I tried to condense it down to what it all basically means for me.

-Zach

Rachel said...

I have to admit to liking politics..with one exception: I loathe bitter partisan politics. Our government should not be about each political party slamming the other and trying to grab as much power as possible for themselves. America needs a president who will be willing to work with the opposition, forming compromises and agreements that will satisfy both parties. Having said that, either Obama or McCain will be a vast improvement over our current president.

When considering who to support, their are 3 major issues that are important to me: Iraq, U.S. foreign policy, and education.

Iraq: not as hopeless as some claim. However, our military operations should end (with the exception of maintaining a small military presence there to help with security operations). We have spent billions on training the Iraqi police forces and rebuilding their army (both of which we had completely dismantled shortly after we invaded). We can't afford to spend so much money there - our generation is already going to have to deal with a HUGE debt due to this war. At this point, we should be helping rebuild infrastructure and civil society over there.

Foreign Policy: Bush's foreign policy was a disaster. Under his leadership, our country acted in an incredibly arrogant, abrasive way, damaging many important relationships with nearly all of our allies. His "go it alone" and "you're either with us or against us" policies have had terrible affects. Our next president has to reverse the damage Bush has done to the U.S.'s reputation around the world.

Education: No Child Left Behind was not a complete waste, but there are some serious flaws that need to be corrected. For instance, when a school has been struggling from a lack of funds and underqualified teachers, taking away even more money is NOT going to improve the situation. I'm not saying to throw money into the school and the problems will disappear - the government (preferably the state government, since education generally is their responsibility) needs to monitor the schools to make sure they use the money where it is needed.

I didn't mean to write so much. Oh well. I wasn't kidding when I said I liked politics:)

Unknown said...

Kyle-

Serious effort or energy put into politics is a waste of time.

Politicians will say anything to get you to vote for them, but they will be unable/unwilling to do it when elected.

That's human nature for you.

John

Elliot said...

Well, according to your list, I pretty much agree with everything Obama has to say. Not that I'm surprised.

Kyle Gaiser said...

Thanks guys, and gal, for the comments so far.

Rachel, I'm glad you like politics... someone has got to! lol. I pretty much (as in exactly) agree with everything you said.

Zach, I never really thought of the GLBT issue like that... like how much it affects the population versus other issues. I think that is a really good point, although I do think that the decisions a president makes regarding the issue has other implications that may affect more than just 2-3% of the population. Anyhow, I don't know which president plans to give more of the mulla to science funding.

Mr. Varga... yeah, often times politicians will be like that, but you can still get a good gist of what they stand for, how they will present themselves/how effective they'll be in office. Plus, we can look at their voting record and their personal life to see if they're more than just talk. I think it's better than doing nothing.