20 Reasons Why I Can’t Vote for Obama

with facts, figures, and references

By Charles Meek

June 2008

1. 1.      Barack Hussein Obama has been objectively rated the single most liberal member of the US Senate—100^th out of 100. Is this just so many words, or does it mean something? Well, let’s take a look.
2.  
3. 2.      Obama has promised the abortion industry that the first piece of legislation he will sign is the Freedom of Choice Act. This act would overturn every piece of state or federal legislation that puts any reasonable restriction on abortion. For example, it would overturn partial birth abortion restrictions , abortions after viability, abortions after the baby has a heartbeat and fingerprints, parental consent legislation, health and safety rules for abortion clinics, and required education and waiting periods for women wanting abortions. This is no longer merely a religious issue. Because science has allowed us to see the unborn baby in the womb (and doctors are now operating on unborn babies under 22 weeks of age), there is even now an emerging pro-life atheist movement. And it is no longer a Republican issue as many Democrats in the Congress are now pro-life and the majority of Americans want reasonable restrictions on abortion. Obama’s views are ghastly and out of the mainstream.
4.  
5. 3.      Obama has a dangerously naïve view of the War on Terror. His approach is to pull out of Iraq immediately and focus our attention on prosecuting terrorists through the courts. Think about this. We only get the opportunity to prosecute terrorists through the courts after they have committed an act of terror, and then only if we can catch them. Prosecuting the terrorists who committed the World Trade Center bombings did not prevent 9/11. One of the masterminds of the World Trade Center bombing who avoided the law was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_Shaikh_Mohammed). He became the principle architect of the 9/11 attacks and several other terrorist acts. While none of us like the war in Iraq, the facts are clear: President Bush has prevented further terrorist attacks on our soil for 7 years. As Ann Coulter said, “Produce one person who believed, on Sept. 12, 2001, that there would not be another attack for 7 years, and I’ll consider downgrading Bush from ‘Great” to ‘Really Good’.” During the War on Terror, some 20,000 terrorists have been killed and so will never be able to hit us on our own streets or in our malls and office buildings.  And our military has kept a lot more of them pinned down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, if Obama were to surrender in Iraq, the terrorists would re-gain their momentum.  The logic seems undeniable that our risk would escalate. My professional life has focused a lot on RISK. This is not fear-mongering. To elect Barak Obama would be a change that would be very risky.
6.  
7. 4.      Obama said he would meet without pre-conditions with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad), a man who has vowed to obliterate Israel. This may sound reasonable to some, but again it is a dangerously naïve view of the War on Terror. Prior to World War II, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain) took a similar approach to Hitler. At the time, Hitler’s position of authority was weak as he was appointed Chancellor while his Nazi party only had 37% of the votes. Chamberlain’s visit to Hitler in Germany strengthened Hitler’s prestige and power and this policy of appeasement ultimately weakened the Allies’ preparedness. Even Obama’s Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton warned against Obama’s approach to appeasement of this extraordinarily dangerous Iranian leader. Obama must be criticized for not learning from history.
8.  
9. 5.      Obama has a utopian view of evil, similar to others on the far left. He thinks that we can just all be nice guys and get along. All of history proves this to be wrong. The great American leaders have had one thing in common—the willingness to stand boldly against evil. Think of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. Barack Obama would sell the American soul to the forces of evil in a utopian dream. The danger of this cannot be overstated.
10.  
11. 6.      On the economy, Barack Obama simply does not understand basic economics. For example, he favors a windfall profits tax on oil companies. Look, the more you tax something, the less of it you get. We need MORE oil not less. Jimmy Carter tried an excess profits tax with devastating effects (http://www.taxhistory.org). It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now. Carter’s experiment stopped domestic energy exploration and made America more dependent on foreign sources of oil. And why would Obama single out the oil industry? The facts are that the oil companies make about 8.3 cents in gross profit per dollar of sales. This is far below many other industries—for example, electronics companies make about 14.5 cents per dollar of sales. Oil and gas companies made $86.5 billion in profits in 2007; at the same time, the financial services industry made $498.5 billion. Obama is pushing nonsense.
12.  
13. 7.      There is no quick fix for high gasoline prices. But if the Congress had acted in the 1990’s to spur oil production, we would not be in the fix we are today. The fact is inescapable that liberal Democrats are squarely responsible for blocking all initiatives at a comprehensive energy plan. I am tired of obstructionists stopping America from moving forward on energy. We are producing no more oil domestically now than in 1948! We need to move forward NOW to open drilling with modern environmental safeguards. We need nuclear energy, more coal, more natural gas, and more oil. We need to open the door to offshore drilling, onshore shale oil, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). By the way, ANWR is a frozen tundra with no trees or rivers. The liberals’ (i.e. Obama and Company) consistent blocking of development there is based on false utopian ideas of pristine wilderness. Not only are these ideas false, oil development of the region would not spoil what is there. Development of ANWR will impact only about 2,000 acres of the 19.9 million acre refuge. Even the residents of the area support drilling there (http://www.anwr.org/people/people.htm). We heard that the Alaska pipeline would decimate the caribou; but the caribou are thriving where the pipeline runs. Obama’s response to cries for help from the American people about $4 gasoline is a deafening silence. Where is the leadership on this key issue from this man? (If he caves on this between now and the election, it is clear that it is only because of public outcry.) The problem is NOT energy speculators! The high prices are from REAL DEMAND versus LOW SUPPLY. There is no sense hoping to solve the problem by squelching speculators or through conservation. We are in a new era of demand from emerging nations that will overwhelm efforts at conservation. While the deepening American recession may drop oil prices in the short run from current prices around $136, we should not let any such drop slow our efforts at a comprehensive energy policy.
14.  
15. 8.      The ultra-environmentalists want to focus all their attention on wind and solar. Great. Let’s go for it. But it cannot solve all our problems. I have extensive personal knowledge of wind and solar. Because of unique circumstances, my wife and I have to rely on a solar/wind installation for 100% of our power for our rural Texas home. I can tell you that off-grid power is so expensive that it will never pay for itself, no matter how high the price of grid power gets. And it is incredibly wasteful of resources. Environmental religionists conveniently ignore how much fossil fuel energy it took to mine the lead in our necessary 48 battery bank (each battery weighs 200 pounds)—not to mention the fossil fuels expended in constructing the building to house the batteries, the resources to produce the solar panels or the large back-up generator to provide power (when there is inadequate sun and the batteries are depleted). We are so green we are in the red. By the way, I am as much of an environmentalist as the next guy. I have worked to pass environmental legislation in our area. I am enough of an economist to understand that when there are spillover costs (pollution), the government has a legitimate role to play. But the problem with extreme environmental positions is that they go beyond science to a utopian philosophy which pits capitalism against environmentalism. This ultimately harms not only all of us but the environment as well. It is no accident that the country with the best environmental record is the USA, which happens to be the beacon of capitalism.
16.  
17. 9.      As a Christian, I feel a sense of responsibility to be a good steward to what God has given us. But Jesus’ principle commands are to love God and serve our fellow man; there is no mention in the Bible of worshipping a Mother Earth. By the way, it should be noted that the no-energy-policy-global-warmist approach is anti-poor. The poorer one is the more ultra-environmentalism damages the family budget. See http://www.gerrycharlottephelps.com/2008/06/core-says-globa.html. Where is Obama’s sensitivity on this? Well, Ok. I’ll give him credit for not being uncaring toward the poor, so he must just be ignorant of this effect.
18.  
19. 10.  Here’s the way I see the ultra-environmentalist movement. When its proponents are unwilling to listen to contrary evidence, it ceases to be science. There is plenty of contrary evidence against Al Gore’s thesis. But it is accepted by many on faith in the face of evidence against it. Ultra-environmentalism is a fundamentalist religion. And Obama is a priest of its dogma.
20.  
21. 11.  Obama said that small-town Americans “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” out of bitterness over lost jobs. I must say, this statement stunned me. I was beginning to have some suspicions about who Obama really is, and this confirmed it for me. Those who say that he is a liberal elitist have evidence to back it up. Such comments are especially telling coming from a man who claims to be bringing Americans together. I’m proud to have friends from all socio-economic levels and am concerned that a President Obama would push this country further in the direction of the “two Americas” of John Edwards and Howard Dean. This is not healthy. I want to see America ONE Nation under God again, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder against evil and toward noble shared goals such as going to the moon and energy independence.
22.  
23. 12.  A bit more on this “two Americas” notion. Have you noticed how some liberals—though certainly not all—tend to vilify successful men and institutions? I don’t think I have to name names of those on the receiving end of this hatred. If I am wrong, none will come to mind. If I am right, many will come to mind. But I will mention one group—evangelical Christians, of whom I am one. Never in my life have I seen this group experience such disdain. The idea of tolerance from liberals stops here. I’m sure that when people figure out that I believe that Christianity is true—all of it—that my arguments in this essay will be rejected out of hand, no matter how reasonable. I welcome the other side’s views if they can back them up with reason and evidence. But I don’t think this openness comes back the other way. Thus the times we live in.
24.  
25. 13.  And what of this Rev. Jeremiah Wright association? Along with Rev. Wright’s hateful comments about the America I love we note Michelle Obama’s comments about how she has never before been proud of her country. It seems that Senator Obama lives in a world of hatred and distrust toward America. How can we expect to get anything better if he is President?
26.  
27. 14.  In a Wall Street Journal interview, Senator Obama discussed his view that we are in a “winner take all” economy, in which “the gains from economic growth skew heavily toward the wealthy.” Actually, I have some sympathies for this view. I am inclined to agree that corporate CEO’s, as a group, are overpaid. But I disagree with the one-sided generalization Obama makes.  To a very real degree, when the companies large and small thrive, so does the entire economy. Obama’s idea of boilerplate redistribution of wealth is pure socialism. His attack on the successful is not justice. It is theft! I want to see leaders that encourage every American to work hard and make personal and family decisions that improve their chance of success, rather than preaching negativism—that success is beyond their control because of race, class, poverty, etc. As Cal Thomas says (http://www.calthomas.com/index.php?news=2294), “America once was a country of overcomers. Today, we are not about overcoming. The successful are not studied to see how they succeeded. Their stories of overcoming obstacles are not told, at least in their totality. If they are told at all, it is just the success and wealth part, not the part about how they got there….Obama’s economic doctrine subsidizes people who make wrong decisions and does little to encourage them to make right ones.” 
28.  
29. 15.  Obama says he won’t raise taxes on the middle class. That’s going to be a pretty hard promise to keep, given his list of new programs including government subsidies for free college, social security, health care, etc. While I am fed up with Democrat’s and Republican’s continued failure to balance the budget, I have more hope for Obama’s opponent than for Obama. John McCain has been a long time champion against pork barrel spending. He is unusual in that he has never garnered any pork for his own state. When he says that he will veto bills with pork in them, I’m inclined to believe him. I’m very uneasy about Senator Obama’s ability to pull off a change in Washington to balance the budget.
30.  
31. 16.  I’m frazzled about Obama’s socialization of America. The comments Obama has made about ignoring the Constitution are alarming: http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/06/20/obama-the-living-constitution-and-the-socialization-of-america/. His stated criterion for appointing judges is that they have “empathy.” Good night, nurse! The President of the United States does not promise to uphold empathy but to uphold the Constitution! 
32.  
33. 17.  Obama is proving to be a flipper in the vein of John Kerry. He has changed his mind on Iraq, campaign finance, NAFTA, corporate tax rates, and Social Security: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=298769662128800. What next? He seems to be for change all right—for changing his mind.
34.  
35. 18.  Obama supports gay marriage. Goodness knows that Americans come down on different sides of this issue. But whenever it goes before a vote of the people, Americans usually vote 2 to 1 against gay marriage. Obama wants to appoint judges that will force gay marriage on us. This whole debate is based on the idea that some people are born gay. That idea has no basis in science. The real problem for those in a homosexual lifestyle is not discrimination, but rather physical devastation (http://www.familyresearchinst.org/). This lifestyle has much greater statistical incidence of disease and addiction. In fact, the best evidence we have on it indicates that the life expectancy of homosexuals is 20 to 30% shorter than others, not even accounting for AIDS. The real bottom line is surprisingly simple: Every child has the right to a mother and a father. Statistics confirm that children do much better in a traditional family. The definition of marriage as between one man and one woman is rightly discriminatory for children in family formation. While there may be more research left to be done, let’s allow the people to decide how they want marriage to be defined in this country. 
36.  
37. 19.  Obama’s solution to everything is to have government tax it or nationalize it. This is Big Brother on Steroids. Maybe “change” means that we can emulate great societies like, well, Venezuela.
38.  
39. 20.  Obama is the most inexperienced person to run for President in my lifetime. Even he has admitted that his experience makes him unqualified: http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/06/barack-obama-says-he-is-not-experienced.html.