Things I hope America considers before Tuesday

I can imagine that I am not the only one that will be happy when Tuesday's election is complete, the political ads have been shuttered, and news stations across America will be freed up to talk about important issues like who will cast the next Star Wars movie versus unimportant things like the economy, the rise of terror in the "new Middle East," who's paying or not paying their so-called "fair share" of taxes to support our ginormous Federal bureaucracy (or Bureaucrazy!) in Washington, and the alleged and fictitious "war on women" Republicans want to wage.

But seriously, Tuesday's vote may be one of the most important in decades... at least since 1980, perhaps 1932.  The visions and philosophies of the two candidates vying for the White House could not be more different.  However, I'm not certain if we're really (and I mean, really) voting based how the candidates would actually govern and what the government would actually look like if Romney or the current President were in office on 1-20-2013.

What bothers me is that we have experienced in a small way the vision of the incumbent's governing strategy in the form of six years of Democrat rule (2 years of controlling the House & Senate under Bush + 4 years of President Obama), and yet this election is not only close but could re-elect a man who can't run on his record but is instead demonizing his opponents and making contraception a major campaign issue (Yes, I watched the DNC... this is not a stretch of the truth).  So, in hope someone in this group of "undecided voters" in one of the 6 states that will decide this election read this... before you go to the polls on Tuesday please consider this:

• We have run up almost $6 Trillion dollars in new debt over the last 4 years under Obama, much of this spending from entitlement programs and "stimulus" either created by the Pelosi/Reid Congress and passed by President Bush and then accelerated when Obama took office with additional stimulus spending and entitlements.  To put this in perspective, this is over 12 times the yearly earnings of the largest oil company (Exxon-Mobil).  Yes, we overspend by over twice the earnings of a massive global oil company every year.  
• For all of this great spending, what have we gotten out of this?  Well, unemployment is sitting at around 8%, which doesn't include underemployment and people that have just given up looking for work.  If this was factored in, the number would be much higher.  
• Oh yeah, and the rating agencies downgraded our Federal Government's debt.  This would be a first.  Consequently, Massachusetts was downgraded before Mitt Romney was elected governor and as a result of fiscal policy under his administration, Massachusetts regained it's "A-rating" debt status.  
• Welfare and food stamps recipients are at an all-time high.  Certainly not an accomplishment.  
• Instead of dealing with the causes of high Healthcare costs, a 100% Democratically controlled congress and President Obama passed a massive Federal Healthcare overhaul bill, known affectionately as "Obamacare," which equates to a full-scale overreaching of Federal power into 1/6 of the U.S. economy without addressing the real issue being the cost drivers of healthcare.  As a result, most of us will pay more in premiums next year despite these promises and soon many small business employees and workers will likely be forced onto inferior government exchanges when the mandate takes place... because honestly that's going to be the only way a lot of businesses will be able to compete in this new environment, and they are seriously worried about it.  In case you forgot, Obamacare was passed despite it's being highly unpopular, through a series of Senate measures intended to kill debate, and was opposed by folks across political spectrums, including someone like John Mackey (the CEO of Whole Foods, by no means a GOP bastion (Whole Foods alternative to Obamacare Op Ed)
• On the foreign policy front, yeah we did get Osama Bin Laden and the troops are no longer in Iraq (I'll give the President credit for that).  However we were attacked again on 9/11 of this year and the administration covered it up by blaming a stupid (and I mean, really stupid) video on YouTube, Iran is accelerating its nuclear program against the wishes of the free world, and radical Islam elements are in governing authority all over the Middle East.  Oh yeah, we're still borrowing lots of money from China and our border with Mexico is still porous.  But hey, Hugo Chavez has endorsed the current President for re-election, that's got to be worth something.  So, we've got a lot to be proud of, eh. 

So - I guess if you want more of this, and perhaps a little more of an unfiltered view of the current president's agenda (in case you didn't notice what he said when the microphone was off in Russia), then feel free to re-elect him.  I understand that there are folks that believe that expanding Federal power and giving them more influence over our lives is a good thing, and if that's the case please vote your conscience.  I respect you if that is the case :-)

But if you're like me and want to see America be great again, value individual rights and the rights of our State elected officials to make the best decisions for us, then please consider what the last four years have been like and the implications of continuing these policies into 2013 and beyond would mean.  Don't believe the slogans, the hype, and the promises of government benefits that will disappear if the current administration's fiscal policy catches up with itself.

Please consider this, and vote to change course... It's not too late.