A Letter to my Republican Father
(Until his retirement, my father was a small town businessman who could not bring himself to vote for a Democrat – even if he thought the Democratic candidate in an election was the best person for the job. I followed in his footsteps, and worked for and with two Republican Governors and a United States Senator.)
Dear Dad,
This could lead to a long conversation, so let me begin with the 9 issues that will influence my vote for President of the United States in 2008:
1. You lived through the Great Depression, and we seem to be facing an economic crisis of our own today. John McCain has said he doesn’t know much about economics, and has often pointed to ex-Senator Phil Gramm of Texas as his economic guru. Fortune Magazine called Gramm "McCain's Econ Brain." John did not choose wisely. As chairman of the banking committee in the Senate, Gramm was one of the key architects of the deregulation that is at the heart of the financial crisis we face today – and John McCain was one of his strongest supporters.
Did you know that in December of 2000, hours before Congress was to leave for Christmas recess, Gramm slipped in a 262-page amendment that forbade federal agencies from regulating many of the financial derivatives causing the current crisis? Gramm also helped create the “Enron loophole,” which paved the way for the Enron scandal. As recently as July of this year, Gramm dismissed the economic downturn as a “mental recession,” and complained that the people of America had become a “nation of whiners.” This economic thinking, at the heart of McCain’s lifelong views - and those of his life-long associates - will not be able to resolve the financial crises we face today.
2. Another of the major issues we face is long-term energy policy, and it concerns me greatly that John McCain, who has no background or expertise in this area, would say that he will rely on a governor from Alaska to shape his policy. Alaska is a major oil-producing state, and its economy and thinking reflect that point of view. Except for Texas and Alaska, the other 48 states are oil-dependent states, and what will work for them with regard to energy issues is totally different from what works for Alaska and Texas. (Could President Bush’s Texas oil background be part of the reason he has been unable to develop a comprehensive energy policy for the rest of the country?)
Just one example: Because of the oil revenues in Alaska, the state has no sales tax or income tax. In fact, each person receives a substantial payment each year from the government from oil revenues. (This corresponds to Saudi Arabia more than it does to the rest of America. How does it make any sense, then, that Alaska has also lobbied for and received more dollars in earmarks per person from the U.S. government than any other state?)
In any case, a person whose views on energy correspond almost completely with those of the big oil companies, whose husband works for big oil (a foreign company at that), and whose political career has been in a state dominated by oil interests, is probably not the person to devise an energy policy for the rest of us in the United States.
3. Dad, you and I have always believed in the necessity of a strong military, and that war cannot always be avoided. But I am troubled by this war in Iraq, in which the justifications have turned out to be untrue, our own generals say we are dangerously over-extended, and there are daily reports that we have alienated allies and emboldened adversaries all over the world. Most troubling of all, after more than 5 years – with 4,000 American dead, and 30,000 wounded - there is still no strategy to bring this war to an end.
John McCain has been one of the biggest cheerleaders for this war from the beginning, and remains so to this day. The fact that we have spent or committed to spend as much as 3 TRILLION dollars (borrowing it from China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia - collapsing the dollar) does not seem to deter him. Yet this expenditure is bankrupting our country, and is a major cause of the financial crisis we face today. People at home are suffering, but John McCain wants to press on to what he calls “victory.” What on earth does victory mean? That we will be fighting there forever? At what cost in lives, treasure, and attention diverted from all the other problems we face at home and abroad.
From what I read, we have now given one faction (the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, who represent about 20 percent of the Iraqi population), primary control of the Iraqi police, army, and much of the government. The surge is keeping them in power. But they are only one of the factions within the majority Shia, and not even the most populous one at that (the Sadr block holds that distinction). Besides the Shia, there are the Sunnis, the Kurds, and many other smaller groups. As long as we support and protect the SIIC, as they are sometimes called, against the other factions, they will refuse to hold elections or share power with the others. That is why elections have been endlessly postponed - as they use our troops to gain more and more power for themselves.
It is therefore especially distressing to discover that this faction is the one most closely allied with Iran. It seems, then, that our efforts are having the perverse effect of increasing Iranian influence in Iraq. This is not a path to victory. I have heard no ideas from the McCain campaign about how to achieve his victory, what it would cost, nor even who it is he thinks we can turn the country over to that would constitute a “victory.” New thinking is desperately needed in this war.
4. A number of years ago, John McCain was at the center of the Keating Five influence-peddling scandal. I thought he had learned his lesson – and he has pushed for campaign finance reform since then (even though some of his solutions you would not have liked). But he did seem to believe in what he was doing. In this presidential campaign, however, he has broken the campaign finance laws he helped create. When called on this, he has used legal trickery to put off dealing with the charges against him until after the election. Where are John McCain’s principles? Was all the talk about campaign finance reform empty rhetoric?
5. John McCain’s temper is legendary on Capitol Hill. Numerous temper tantrums have been publicly reported, and stories circulate about hundreds more. Many are recounted by members of his own party. I had hoped that age would have mellowed John’s temper, but that does not seem to be the case, for I have read several recent accounts of such outbursts. To deal with the many problems we face at home and abroad, the next president will need a cool head. That does not seem to be a trait that John McCain has been able to develop. In this light, his half-serious, half-joking song at a campaign event about bombing another country with which we are not at war is very troubling.
6. I used to believe that John McCain was a man of principle. When asked the most important qualification for a running mate, he wisely talked about picking someone who was ready to take the president’s place in case of an emergency. But in making his first big decision as the Republican nominee, John didn’t stick with his beliefs. Instead, he chose a running mate he had met in person only once for about 15 minutes - at a social event. He seems to have known almost nothing about her, because most of the reasons he gave for her selection have now been shown to be false. (Sarah Palin didn’t oppose the Bridge to Nowhere, but supported it; she didn’t oppose earmarks, but hired a lobbyist to go after them; she didn’t act as a fiscally conservative mayor, but left her town saddled with significantly greater debt than when she was elected; she didn’t oppose Senator Ted Stevens, but was on his re-election committee and gave speeches for his re-election; and she didn’t sell the state airplane on eBay, but tried and failed – then sold it to one of her political backers at a large loss to the state. She did build a recreation center in her town, but impatiently started construction before the city owned the land, which resulted in a huge cost over-run.)
Is she prepared to be president? In her home state, from among those who know her best, listen to these comments: The Daily News-Miner in Fairbanks: "She has never publicly demonstrated the kind of interest, much less expertise, in federal issues and foreign affairs that should mark a candidate for the second-highest office in the land.” A columnist for the Anchorage Daily News: Palin “tends to oversimplify complex issues, has had difficulty delegating authority, and clearly has some difficulty distinguishing the line between her public responsibilities and private wishes.”
Given these things, I am sadly forced to conclude that in this crucial decision, John McCain threw his principles overboard in order to pick someone his advisors suggested would help him politically, rather than choosing someone who would be ready at a moment’s notice to step into the most powerful job in the world. This decision does not show very much respect for the American people, nor concern for their ultimate well-being.
7. Perhaps most disturbing of all, on the campaign trail John has often seemed confused about the issues of the day, constantly needing campaign aides around to remind him what the facts are – and even about his own part statements. On the one issue that is supposed to be his strong suit, the war in Iraq, he has been confused about the most basic things, such as which countries border each other, the safety of the streets in Baghdad, and the allegiances of the various factions. I have actually come to fear for my country if this confused thinking comes to control the levers of power – and decisions about war and peace.
8. Dad, unlike you with your “Republican only” point of view, I have gradually come to be a “Throw the Bums Out” voter. If one party has made a mess, then I think we should throw them out and let the other party try its hand. If the other party is successful, then we all benefit. If they make a mess, then let’s “Throw those Bums Out” and try again.
9. I know that voting for a Democrat wouldn’t have been easy for you, but Barack Obama seems to be an intelligent, thoughtful man. He has had a wide range of experiences, earning the most prestigious position in his class at Harvard Law School, getting to know and working to help people at the local level following college, becoming a successful author, serving in the U.S. Senate, living in a foreign country, and most impressively, bringing millions of young Americans into the political process. It is impossible to know what kind of president he will make, but during a very rough campaign stretch he remained cool, civil, and thoughtful. Let’s give him - and the Democrats - a chance to respond to the massive problems we face, and see if they can do a better job. If not, we’ll “throw the bums out” in the next election.
Dad, I wish you were here, so I could read this letter to you in person. I think you might have overcome your “Republican only” bias and voted with me.
With love,
David
