In Which I Am Frightened to Blog about Politics

Dooce recently blogged a very polarizing post in which she ranted about why she is voting for Obama.  I knew the comments would be explosive, but I had no idea that so many people would so vehemently believe that Obama is a socialist, or that McCain is a fundamentalist.  Are they both parts of these - yes, they are.  But I also believe that they are a little more middle of the road than that, and frankly I thought most Americans were more middle of the road as well.

I respect that people feel so very passionately about their candidates, but I think whats being lost in this election is that we are all interested in the same things: we all want a safer society for our children, an ever-improving healthcare system, an overall higher quality of life, freedoms to make our own choices, on and on.  Whats different is how they are approached.  We all want there to be fewer abortions: some people believe this is best achieved through education and prevention of unwanted pregnancy, others believe it should be outlawed.  The problem is that some people's thinking stops there.  Obama believes in improved welfare programs - but I wouldn't call it socialism.  Even if he WERE a socialist - what makes a greater degree of socialism so bad? Let's look at Europe who has a variety of mixes of socialist elements.  In Sweden, people truly believe that their citizens are their brothers and that a rising tide lifts all boats.  They work much less, they stay home with their children much longer, and they are healthier than Americans.  Everyone's so scared of socialist medicine but Americans pay more for their healthcare than anywhere in the world and they have the shortest life expectancy amongst developed countries.  No one knows what socliasm even means - nevermind whether its good or bad!

Thats not to say I think we should turn to socialism, or even socialized medicine here.  What it means is that I have a problem with the labels being thrown around without careful consideration.  I dislike extremes in all forms, and I believe that we need to find a balance.  People are furious that their tax dollars go to 'lazy' people on welfare.  Certainly there are people who take advantage of our system.  But every society has people who fall through the cracks, and we owe it to them as our fellow citizens - as fellow human beings to help those people get back on their feet.  People say they would rather volunteer their money to those people, but the fact is that we require stronger organization than that so people know where to turn to for help.  I agree more with McCain's views on free-market economy, but even he is going to pander to the lobbiests and none of his views will help the Doha round progress.  Why aren't candidates talking about this? We're too busy tossing out labels at each other to understand that very few people are extremists, and frankly I'm tired of being called one based on my political party.