Issues and Elections

The bombast and sham of the Republican "debate" got me thinking. Who will I vote for and why? It's simple. Every Republican on that stage still supports trickle-down economics. It's a failed economic policy that screws the middle class. I don't care about the race or gender or wealth of any candidate of either major party. Here are my issues in order of importance to me: 1 - Tax the rich. Just raise their rates a little. Don't wipe them out. Don't even tax them enough to lower their standard of living. But definitely make them pay more. Republicans are universally against this. I will not vote for them. 2 - Raise the minimum wage. It's the decent thing to do. All this BS about how much harm it would do our economy is just a lie. Democrats all support raising the minimum wage. 3 - Leave Obamacare alone or fix it. All Democrats support this. As far as I can tell, all Republicans oppose it. 4 - Immigration: give all long-term, non-criminal illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. No fines. No punishment. They've lived here, built homes here, paid taxes here. Let them stay. Jeb is closer than any Republican to this, but I will mention him later. 5 - Leave women alone. Let them make their own choices about their bodies and their futures. Don't impose your religious beliefs on their wombs. Sorry, a fetus is not a baby. No Republican supports this position (it wasn't so long ago when moderate Republicans were allowed to be pro-choice). I cannot in good faith vote for any anti-choice politician. Fund Planned Parenthood. 6 - Global warming is real and our government has to do something about it. Some Republicans accept this; most do not. 7 - Marriage equality is the law of the land. I'm happy about that. It's the right thing to do. Leave it alone. Most Republicans want to go back to what we had before. Just no. 8 - Peace and diplomacy first. If Iran is a threat to Israel and Saudi Arabia, we've spent a fortune arming them. They can defend themselves. We shouldn't have to. All of that means that Republicans will try to make this election about "character." Attacks on the personal lives and character of the eventual Democratic candidate will be relentless. Republicans have lots of practice. They have attacked Obama and his family constantly for the last 7 years. They've been attacking Hillary Clinton for just as long. Benghazi demonstrates something quite simple: even when they have nothing, they will keep attacking. Not one accusation has proved credible, but Republicans continue to spend time and money trying to smear her rather than conducting the country's business. But these attacks will have no effect on my vote. None. Because the issues that are important to me won't change. Even if Hillary is proven to be evil incarnate. Even if she only changes her underwear twice a week. Even if she's not a true blonde, she will still do more to advance the causes I believe in than any Republican. That is also why it won't matter who the Democrats nominate. Socialist Bernie? Better than any Republican. Joe Biden? I think he'd be a great president. Jim Webb? I'd hold my nose, but I'd still vote for him. I'll still pay attention to the Republican primaries, but more for entertainment. It's still not certain if Republicans can get a moderate candidate through the primaries. In my opinion, part of the reason Romney lost is that he ran as a moderate once he got the nomination. He lost more than a few Tea Baggers in the process. Jeb Bush is trying to stake out turf as the moderate. He was #2 in the polls before the debate. I suspect his numbers will go down in the next polls. And, see, he's the moderate. The one who says Americans need to work more hours. The one who says we spend too much on women's health care. The one who has to pretend he's not the son and the brother of two failed Republican presidents. One couldn't even get the support of his own party to get reelected; the other left the country in shambles. Yeah, I wouldn't vote for him, even though I do believe he wouldn't be as big a disaster as his brother. Well, that's where I stand on the election process. I'm pretty sure I won't change much, no matter what the billionaires say in their PAC ads.