Putting the "goober" in gubernatorial
I originally wrote this a week ago, but Blogger has been giving me fits, and for some reason it wouldn't publish properly. Time to try Ye Old Cut and Paste.
Let's get this out of the way right up front. I'm not voting for Ron Saxton. This is a man who has stated he is against any law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, lest that become a "back-door approach" to legalizing same-sex marriage. He believes in punishing the children of illegal immigrants by kicking them out of school. He is adamantly anti-tax, pledging to cut the capital gains tax and repeal the estate tax, but promises to increase pay for teachers and expand arts and physical education programs in schools, in addition to increasing money for higher education. All this while not raising taxes or instituting new taxes. Lots of reasons not to vote for this guy, but financial naivete and social bigotry are fairly high on the list.
That brings us to Ted Kulongoski, our incumbent moderate Democrat. Kulongoski has spent four years trying to keep his liberal base while simultaneously courting conservatives. He has attended every funeral for Oregon's soldiers who have died in Iraq, which is commendable. Other than that? He has an odd affinity for taxes that don't make sense for Oregonians. He has always championed consumption taxes over income taxes, most notably pushing for a sales tax, which disproportionately affects those with lower incomes and has been voted down repeatedly by Oregonians. His latest idea was to add a "fee" to automobile insurance to raise money for state police. That hardly seems fair. The police don't only serve people with cars. The burden should be shared across the board through our current system. I am not anti-tax, but I'm anti-stupid-tax. I prefer the income tax model we currently have, and obviously, since we keep raising a surplus, we're gathering enough money this way. Fine tune the regulations so we can use the money we're collecting more efficiently and effectively, but don't mess with something that works pretty well already.
So, that brings us to third party options. First, we have Mary Starrett, Oregon's own Ann Coulter. She signed up as the Constitution Party candidate primarily because Ron Saxton isn't pro-life enough. That's all I need to know to give her a big fat no.
I was considering voting for Libertarian candidate Richard Morley, until I found out that he is also very much in favor of a sales tax. I do love that he has the World's Smallest Political Quiz linked to his website, but taking the test only proves that I am not a Libertarian, after all. He's a better candidate than the first three I listed, but my views are different enough from his that I'll be voting for...
Joe Keating, Pacific Green candidate. I do not believe in voting for the "lesser evil" unless there is true evil involved. (I'd vote for Hillary Clinton over Dick Cheney or Karl Rove, for example; otherwise, I'll probably vote third party if she ends up with the Democratic nomination in 2008.) I believe in voting for the candidate whose views most closely match my own, whenever possible. That candidate happens to be Mr. Keating. My views don't match his 100%, but on the things that matter most to me (including education, environmental issues, health care and keeping the government out of social relationships and private decisions, etc.), he's closer than the rest. Plus, he's not your typical Birkenstock granola greenie. He's an Army veteran and former investment banker. Plus, he's from New York. If only I had time to ask him whether he preferred the Yankees or Mets. Ah well, he has my vote either way.
Let's get this out of the way right up front. I'm not voting for Ron Saxton. This is a man who has stated he is against any law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, lest that become a "back-door approach" to legalizing same-sex marriage. He believes in punishing the children of illegal immigrants by kicking them out of school. He is adamantly anti-tax, pledging to cut the capital gains tax and repeal the estate tax, but promises to increase pay for teachers and expand arts and physical education programs in schools, in addition to increasing money for higher education. All this while not raising taxes or instituting new taxes. Lots of reasons not to vote for this guy, but financial naivete and social bigotry are fairly high on the list.
That brings us to Ted Kulongoski, our incumbent moderate Democrat. Kulongoski has spent four years trying to keep his liberal base while simultaneously courting conservatives. He has attended every funeral for Oregon's soldiers who have died in Iraq, which is commendable. Other than that? He has an odd affinity for taxes that don't make sense for Oregonians. He has always championed consumption taxes over income taxes, most notably pushing for a sales tax, which disproportionately affects those with lower incomes and has been voted down repeatedly by Oregonians. His latest idea was to add a "fee" to automobile insurance to raise money for state police. That hardly seems fair. The police don't only serve people with cars. The burden should be shared across the board through our current system. I am not anti-tax, but I'm anti-stupid-tax. I prefer the income tax model we currently have, and obviously, since we keep raising a surplus, we're gathering enough money this way. Fine tune the regulations so we can use the money we're collecting more efficiently and effectively, but don't mess with something that works pretty well already.
So, that brings us to third party options. First, we have Mary Starrett, Oregon's own Ann Coulter. She signed up as the Constitution Party candidate primarily because Ron Saxton isn't pro-life enough. That's all I need to know to give her a big fat no.
I was considering voting for Libertarian candidate Richard Morley, until I found out that he is also very much in favor of a sales tax. I do love that he has the World's Smallest Political Quiz linked to his website, but taking the test only proves that I am not a Libertarian, after all. He's a better candidate than the first three I listed, but my views are different enough from his that I'll be voting for...
Joe Keating, Pacific Green candidate. I do not believe in voting for the "lesser evil" unless there is true evil involved. (I'd vote for Hillary Clinton over Dick Cheney or Karl Rove, for example; otherwise, I'll probably vote third party if she ends up with the Democratic nomination in 2008.) I believe in voting for the candidate whose views most closely match my own, whenever possible. That candidate happens to be Mr. Keating. My views don't match his 100%, but on the things that matter most to me (including education, environmental issues, health care and keeping the government out of social relationships and private decisions, etc.), he's closer than the rest. Plus, he's not your typical Birkenstock granola greenie. He's an Army veteran and former investment banker. Plus, he's from New York. If only I had time to ask him whether he preferred the Yankees or Mets. Ah well, he has my vote either way.
posted by Corvallist at
11:09 PM
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