Throughout the current election season, there are certain terms that have been haphazardly tossed around for the American voters to try and decipher and decode. Words like “change”, “hope”, and “maverick” have all been staples on the 2008 campaign trail.
I’ve got news for all of you, Republican, Democrat, or Independent: those words are all ambiguous. They are all meaningless and are merely used to make each candidate’s speech a half second longer in duration. It’s time that the American voters get down to business and start sorting through the policy issues that we as a country are facing today.
By Steve Meredith
Senior Staff Writer
Throughout the current election season, there are certain terms that have been haphazardly tossed around for the American voters to try and decipher and decode. Words like “change”, “hope”, and “maverick” have all been staples on the 2008 campaign trail.
I’ve got news for all of you, Republican, Democrat, or Independent: those words are all ambiguous. They are all meaningless and are merely used to make each candidate’s speech a half second longer in duration. It’s time that the American voters get down to business and start sorting through the policy issues that we as a country are facing today.
Senator John McCain, the Republican Presidential Nominee, has spent much of his life in service to his country. Now, he wants to serve her in the highest and most noble way possible, as her President. McCain promises to restore the American economy in several ways.
First and foremost, he wants to end our dependence on foreign oil. McCain is proposing a “gas tax holiday” that would have an immediate impact on the American people. This “gas tax holiday” calls congress to suspend the 18.4 percent federal gas tax and the 24.4 percent diesel tax rate from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This would, in effect, not only drive the cost of gas down, saving the American people 6.8 billion dollars in taxes during the summer, but it would also drive down the cost of groceries and other consumer items. In turn, the American dollar would go further than it has gone in the past eight years.
McCain also pledges to keep 200,000 to 400,000 Americans from losing their homes. He believes that no tax payer money should be spent on bailing out real estate speculators or market participants who fail to exercise diligence in assessing credit risks. Under McCain’s plan, any individual seeking a home loan would have to apply and be approved for a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) home loan. Once the person is approved, the FHA contacts that person’s mortgage company, the mortgage servicer writes down and retires the existing loan, replacing it with a FHA guaranteed home loan.
Finally, McCain pledges to keep our taxes low. He believes that the entrepreneur is the individual who keeps America going. He creates jobs, and with those jobs, security to keep the employee from living in fear of outsourcing. Entrepreneurs should not be taxed into a state of submission, which is why McCain wants to keep the top tax rate at 35 percent.
Additionally, McCain wants to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent. McCain has come under fire for this policy, but he believes that America needs to cut the corporate tax in order to stay attractive to companies in the global market wishing to do business with the United States. Currently, the U.S. has the second-highest corporate tax rate in the world, making it extremely unattractive for any company in the global market to want to do business with our great nation. McCain’s plan, in effect, would keep, and create more jobs in the U.S., simply by virtue of the fact that global companies will want to do business with the U.S.
Senator Barack Obama’s “tax cut” is merely an extension of the tax cuts put in place during the Bush Administration in 2001 and 2003; but for the purpose of political rhetoric, Obama has taken credit for the extension. Currently, families are receiving $1,000 dollars per child tax credit. Because the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010, in 2011, the per child tax credit drops to $500 dollars per child. The Obama campaign is merely pledging to take the per child tax credit back up to $1,000, therefore extending the Bush tax cut, which means that American families would pay no more than what they are already paying today.
The translation: no actual tax cut, just something that sounds like a tax cut, but when put under a microscope, is merely a falsehood.
I’m voting for McCain for a couple of simple reasons. First, I believe that all hard working Americans deserve the money that they are paid, and secondly, I believe McCain will keep his promises. Call me and my Republican constituents what you will, but in actuality, I’m voting for McCain for the same reasons that those who support Obama are voting for Obama; because I believe that McCain will lead this country in the right direction and restore any luster that she has lost throughout the years.