We The People Politics

There are just over two weeks left until the general election, and for those of you who have yet to make up your minds about your presidential vote, you are not alone. Most national polls put the percentage of undecided voters between eight and 11% - about 21 million voters, according to statistics from the US Census Bureau. As all 21 million of you search for who you think is best fit to lead the country, keep in mind one key point: Politicians spin truth better than Joey Chestnut eats hot dogs.

That being said, I think now is a perfect opportunity to look at the myths surrounding this election; to separate half-truths and whole lies from the undeniable facts of the election and the circumstances our nation is in, and do our best to come away with an answer. The research for this article was performed by simple searches at http://www.FactCheck.org, “a nonpartisan, nonprofit ‘consumer advocate’ for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.”

Let’s start with Barack Obama, since the rumors about him are fairly widespread. First of all, he is not a Muslim, he is distantly related to Dick Cheney, is an American citizen, was sworn in with his family’s bible, puts his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance, and no, he has not been endorsed by Hamas - unless, of course, Colin Powell is part of it. Obama is not going to fine small business owners for not providing health insurance, and his healthcare plan is far from socialist - it actually simply allows an already existing government program to cover any of the 50 million uninsured Americans if they so choose to take it, and it will continue to coexist with private insurance providers. His tax plan is not going to raise taxes on anyone who is not making more than $200,000 that files individually, or $250,000 for couples filing jointly. Also, the claim about his record for voting “present” is not accurate; he voted present 129 times - a little more than 3% of his total voting record.

Of course, let’s keep another couple of facts in mind: Obama was not born in a manger, and has yet to be seen with a halo. He has made dubious claims about McCain’s advertising strategies, claiming that 100% of McCain’s ads were negative - and while many recent ones have been, it’s simply not true that ALL of them were negative. Likewise, Obama’s claim that his healthcare plan will save Americans $2,500 a year on insurance premiums is a bit far-fetched. That number is only realistic if the savings are added up over two presidential terms, if that. Oh, and those 68 million acres of “untouched” oil reserved are not particularly untouched, but according to 2006 statistics from the Bureau of Land Management, “a total of more than 15,000 holes that were being proposed, started or finished….”

As far as John McCain is concerned, there are simply not as many rumors about him as one would presume at this stage of the election. There are some unsubstantiated reports about his bad temper, some verbal abuse directed at his wife, etc., but there is very little by way of verifiable evidence to prove them. Here’s what we do know: He comes from a family with a long naval tradition, and served in the Navy during the Vietnam conflict. He was taken prisoner by the Viet Cong and was held for more than five years (in case you’ve missed any of McCain’s speeches where he touts those facts). He did graduate fifth from the bottom of his class at Annapolis, and he was born in Panama in 1936 (in U.S. territory, making him a natural-born citizen). He did court his current wife while divorcing his previous wife, Carol Shepp, but Shepp has said that she and McCain are “still friends.”

McCain, however, has made several false claims throughout the course of his campaign. During the second debate, McCain regretted that the U.S. was forced to “withdraw in humiliation” from Somalia in 1994, but he once proposed to cut off funding for troops to force a faster withdrawal. He has said, in regard to our oil trade and the energy crisis, that the US should not be sending”$700 billion a year to countries that don’t like us very much,” while the numbers show that the $700 billion is actually significantly less (as his predictions were made at a price of $140 per barrel of oil - nearly double current prices) and a third of that money goes to Mexico, Canada, and the UK. McCain frequently calls Obama’s healthcare plan a “single-payer system” or “socialist,” and clearly (as mentioned before) it is far from it. McCain’s healthcare program would actually only provide a tax credit of $2,500 to individual taxpayers, and $5,000 to families and couples.

Please keep in mind that these are only a few of the various missteps, miscalculations and misinterpretations stated by the two major candidates running for President. As you go forward on making your decisions, keep in mind that the pure and simple truth in politics is rarely pure, and almost never simple. Do your homework and make an intelligent decision when heading to your local high school gymnasium/library/polling station, and your nation, and we at We The People Politics, will thank you for it.