Election Day

Well, it's here. November 4. The day we not only elect our new president, but local representatives, senators, and school board members. For those of you that have talked to me about the election in the past few weeks, you have heard that I am changing my vote, and will vote Obama today. I didn't reach this decision easily, so let me tell you how I got here.

I was a McCain fan in 2000, and I was extremely excited when he announced his candidacy this year. My excitement, however, has turned to apathy, then disillusionment as I saw McCain fight rightly into the GOP's model of W. I saw Rovian politics at work again, and as time has passed I question the decision to pick Sarah Palin as his VP.

Early on, my concerns with Obama were that 1) he didn't have the particulars lined out and 2) there is no executive experience on the ticket. As the campaign has progressed, Obama has lined out the particulars- diplomacy, alternative fuels, and getting out of Iraq. And on the experience note, I agree with friends who have argued that nothing really ever prepares you for the job of President. Ex. John F. Kennedy.

While I don't agree totally with Obama's agenda, I do like his focus on foreign diplomacy rather than just relying on brute force and military strength because if you haven't noticed, our military is not the strongest in the world any more. I honestly believe Obama will do more to heal our global image and do more to build back burnt bridges than McCain. On top of that, I despise McCain's health care policy and his plan to get the economy back on track. I honestly believe that Obama will provide the tools to get over the recession faster than another four years of Bush economic policy. More transparency, oversight, a balanced budget, and alternative energy will be the tools to get our country back on track.

I know I will have comments disagreeing with me, but please keep the political trolling off the comments.

Energy Crisis

I had been at a loss of ideas (as well as time) for new blog posts, but I figured I'd post my ideas about the world's energy crisis. It's tragic, really, that we let it get this far before trying to finally do something about our dependence on non-renewable sources of energy. Bush's solution to our high energy costs is just to feed our reliance on oil by drilling offshore... horrible idea. The Dems in Congress want to nationalize all of the nation's oil refineries... another horrible idea. McCain may have the brightest idea of the group, calling for 45 new nuclear reactors and $2 billion a year toward achieving clean coal. Alternative fuels are not only a bright idea in reducing our reliance on foreign oil, but it's also a step toward reducing our environmental impact. Like I said in an earlier post, the high price of oil is beneficial in the sense that it makes people think twice about letting their car idle forever or in leading the public to demand public transportation and bike paths.

All in all, the solution to our energy problem is not to nationalize the oil industry or to drill offshore or in ANWR, but to find alternative sources of energy, of which nuclear is by far the most effective.