Is Palin Obama’s Achilles Heel?

It would seem that the Obama/Biden campaign is struggling to effectively take on the Palin factor. They are tredding carefully for various reasons I am sure.

1. They don’t want to scare away potential women voters. Any harsh criticism toward Palin could seriously injure the Obama campaign by scaring women away, and whether that would be true or not, Obama isn’t willing to take the chance.

2. Palin isn’t from Washington. She has gone against her own party. She has proven herself to be extremely successful as a governor. She is change. Walking the walk is much more powerful for voters and the public and it is hard to deny. Obama will try to brush it off and say that she isn’t change, but he obviously knows its going to be hard to compete against, and with someone else with that background and stating that they are change, it takes the wind out of his sails.

3. Palin just took any chance of Obama convincing a large majority of Republicans on the fence to his side. Obama has been making initiatives to get Christians and Moderate Republicans to vote for him. While this was particularly hard to believe that he would be successful at this, it is most definitely dead in the water now. With this door closed, Obama will have to reorganize and try to find another way to gain more ground.

Side notes that could also injure Obama’s campaign. Obama is known for being extremely liberal. Biden is also very liberal. McCain is know for being moderate. Palin is known for being conservative. They are more diverse in the political spectrum. Palin will bring the conservative base with her. McCain will get the moderate Republicans and Democrats. All Obama will get is extreme liberal democrats and minority voters. Which, lets be honest, isn’t enough to win in November. With a voting battleground that heavily depends on wooing indepedents and moderates, the McCain/Palin campaign could seriously do some heavy damage.

Once again, the country is divided. No one should have any illusions about this election being a cakewalk for Obama. While Bush is unpopular, congress is just as unpopular if not more so, which means that Democrats are also to blame for the nations woes. People (mostly meaning indepedents) may take this into account and want the campaign that will actually take on big wigs, corruption, and Washington insiders.

Posted by Alcamadus

Selling Out Your Beliefs Due to Culture Pressure

One of the main social lessons they tell you as a child is not to give in to peer pressure. If your friends tell you to do something you know is wrong (i.e. Drink, take drugs, lie, cheat, steal) then you don’t give in to the peer pressure. Recently, there was an article I read on CNN.com about how Gay Republicans are telling the GOP they are on the wrong side of history. That if the GOP doesn’t get on board with legislation for gay marriage, they will basically be considered the bad and evil party that oppressed and pushed against civil rights.

We are facing an entirely new and dangerous problem in our country today. It is the conflict of morality. Morally, many Republicans feel that marriage is for a man and a woman, to say otherwise would mean destroying the institution of marriage. Culturally this view is under attack and it is growingly becoming a majority. In our increasing post-modern, morally relativist culture the idea of absolute morals is diminishing and the pressure to follow the culturally moral wave is ever present. In other words, whatever culture says is morally right is right at that time. To say otherwise is being considered “out-dated” and “naive”, and thus we are back to the pressure against the Republican party.

These conservatives have moral convictions against these practices. What happens when immorality becomes the majority and thus culturally pressures those to follow suit? We have our current dilema. One group is firmly against it. One group is firmly for it. Now, however, the group that is for it is culturally pressuring the other group to give up their beliefs, convictions, and values because they are “wrong” and will be on the “wrong side of history”. What if the wrong side of history is the right side? In other words, they are saying it is the wrong side of history because currently it is becoming a less and less popular view, but what if it is right morally? I remember when I was in school they had a banner that said, “What is popular is not always right, and what is right is not always popular”. A great and relevant school proverb. We could argue our faces blue on the moral philosophy. I suppose I am just making an observation about our cultural change in philosophy, our current dilema, and also expressing extreme empathy and support to conservatives who are standing firm for what they believe in under tremendous pressure to do otherwise.

Posted by Alcamadus

Palin Jolts the Republican Heart into Action

I just read an article about how Palin is apparently jump starting a new craze of Republican support across the nation. It’s an interesting read. Check it out:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080831/pl_politico/13016

Change We Don’t Want to Believe In

It is pretty obvious the Democratic party is pushing the idea of “Change”. My even writing that sentence should make me “Captain Obvious”. Obama mentioned the different things he wants to change in his nomination speech, and several campaign workers and Joe Biden have been quoted saying, “That’s not change, that’s more of the same”.

The first question I have to ask is, “What audience are they speaking to?” It is obvious that it’s a largely liberal, Democratic party audience. This audience wants any scent of the Bush Administration out of the White House. Thus, all the “McCain/Bush Administration” statements that Biden and other campaign managers have been throwing out. They are trying to link McCain and Bush together. However, it would seem they are also trying to convince Independents (and maybe some on the fence conservatives) that Bush’s policies have been bad and that change in Obama is good. However, a lot of what Obama had to say for change isn’t actually change at all. It is just change to the Democratic policies. So, let’s be clear, this isn’t some kind of perfect, beautiful, and universal American change that everyone agrees with, this is the Democratic parties version of change. I am sure that Ralph Nader wants to create lots of change too if he became President, but that doesn’t mean it is the change we need. And even McCain mentioned that he wants to bring about change as well (and has criticized the Bush administration) but he says we need the right kind of change.

I suppose I  am just tired of the Democratic parties brainwashing rhetoric about change as if their change is some awesome, all-powerful change from on high. And let’s just get down to the basics here, if you like Obama’s policies and the Democratic parties policies, then vote because of that, don’t vote because they are brainwashing you into believing in some universal change. If you like McCain’s policies than vote for McCain. We are a divided nation; a large part of the country doesn’t actually agree with Obama on what he wants to change. There are a lot of people out there that don’t think we need a lot of change. And make no mistake, there will always be things to change, but once again not necessarily in the way that Obama is plotting.

So, when you read articles about people saying, ”Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies. That’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same,” he [Burton] said.” Just ignore it and focus on the issues. Vote not on change alone, but on what candidate will actually bring about a better focus and goals for the country, because in the end this is what they are really telling you:

“We don’t agree with anything that the other side says and you need to agree with us that those things are wrong. Thus, it will never be the ‘change we need’.”

I could find a whole lot of people that would say that the above issues that Burton mentioned is exactly the change we need. Once again, we are a divided nation.

Posted by Alcamadus

The More People in a Room the More Stupid they Become

Conventions and parties are for sheep. Created to get the sheep to elect the wolves into office, conventions and parties serve their purpose well and effeciently. I see thousands of them, the sheep that is, following their candidates with blind adoration unwilling to ever believe anything bad about them. They wave their banners high, screaming loud with hope and adoration in their hearts that change will come, that peace and harmony will prevail, that the wolves will be triumphant. The parties know that this will happen and they know by utilizing the sheep they can gain a stronger base of power.

Lambs to the slaughter, they probably don’t think twice about the possibilty that the wolves wouldn’t actually keep their promises.

In the political world, parties are a nescessary evil. Thomas Jefferson soon learned this when he ran for office at the dawn of the 19th century. Initially, he believed that parties were against the ideals of democracy, that they would create a divide, and do much more harm than good in a democratic nation. But, once he ran against the Federalists, he soon realized that there would be no way to gain enough power to be elected President without a party. So, he created the Democratic-Republic party and found the value in their benefits. The wolves began the hunt.

I believe this is part of the reason why I am an Indepedent. I value critical thinking, free thought, and political freedom. I have no intention of being a mindless sheep following the herd, and will evaluate my options come November. I give both candidates a listening ear and I hear what they have to say about the issues. I evaluate their history, their voting records, their arguments, and their character. I evaluate the chances they are lying, the chances they are going to make decisions based off of reason rather than idealism. I evaluate their experience. I want as well rounded of a perspective as I can get before voting.

Being part of a party already makes you susceptable to bias and limits your ability to evaulate the situation critically and with an open mind. It makes you initially want to vote for your party memeber, and that is a natural decision when you are in a party, but once again I have no intention of sitting in a situation like that, nor do I want to be dragged around like, yes, a sheep. So, I obviously don’t believe that being in a party makes you stupid, but if anything it makes you bias, and that bias more often than naught turns into anger and hartred for the other side, and that clouds your judgement. For all you know, your candidate could be a crook (i.e. Nixon) or weak (i.e. Carter).

There are other reason why I am an indepedent, but I will save those for another day.