I think that if John McCain wins the presidency this November, I am leaving the country. Next year, I am graduating from high school and going off to college, and I will probably try to spend as much time abroad as possible. Why? Because I believe that, if elected President, John McCain will hurt America.
First off, he supports the war in Iraq. We should all support the troops themselves, but the war itself has dragged on for too long. John McCain affirms on his website that he desires that the US should stay in Iraq until American troops have, "secure[d] a long-term peace and security" there and "Iraq poses no threat to its neighbors and contributes to the defeat of terrorists." I don't think that any of these goals will be reached anytime soon. Most Middle-Eastern nations, likely, most nations in general, have a number of terrorists. Radical factions, sometimes comprised of Islamists, exist and are not often put down. If anything, ridiculously right-wing groups usually end up in power, just as the Taliban did! Not to mention that the US is currently more than $9 TRILLION in debt. Do we need to pour more federal money into Iraq? I think not.
John McCain wants to make abortion illegal. His website explicitly states this. He wants Roe v. Wade to be overturned and to allow states to decide whether or not abortion should be legal. He wants more community- and faith-based initiatives to combat abortion. The USA would be the only modernized Western nation without a state religion to ban abortion. (Chile is Catholic and does not allow abortion.)
Do you like homogenous, "traditional families" and shun all others? Then you'll LOVE McCain! He wants to favor one-man, one-woman families and make gay marriage and civil unions illegal. While there is nothing wrong with being raised by a mother and a father, it's not right to favor those families over others.
So, if you like the huge national debt and the War in Iraq and hate abortion and gay marriage, vote McCain this November!
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I too am a believer that the war in Iraq should never have happened and that our current presence there is not helping the situation. I have been a supporter of withdrawing our troops as soon as possible. However, I am just starting to realize why that might not be a good idea, because that is what we did in Afghanistan. We supported the freedom fighters there against Soviet forces. Once the Russian troops were beaten back, the US troops left Afghanistan a ravaged, broken nation, whose population consisted mostly of kids under 16 years old. Of course with the education system blown to bits and the abandonment of US support, it was easy for a group like Taliban to take power. I do not want a similar situation happening in Iraq. This is why I am realizing now that we cannot just leave. On the other hand, I also do not want another Vietnam.
perpetual questioner
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http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/perpetual-questioner