The Electoral Choice

There is Much at Stake

There is much at stake in this election.

For seniors there is the matter of Social Security and Medicare. Both are matters of great significance to me since, all of a sudden, I am a senior. Romney has set his sites on both, and that makes me very nervous. Privatize Social Security? A voucher system for Medicare? Not on my watch!

Romney says he wants to bring jobs to Americans. This is the most difficult statement for me to believe. He and the folks at Bain Capital etc have spent a lifetime buying/closing businesses and shipping our jobs overseas. How can we possibly believe this past behavior will change if, God forbid, this man becomes President of the United States. Do you suppose he will suddenly change his stripes?

Romney and Ryan want to lay off Police, Fire, EMT's, and Teachers by the hundreds of thousands. They want to eliminate the Department of Education. They want to further decimate government. You do know that means jobs. Hundreds of thousands of jobs!

Contrary to making jobs, the net effect will be to dump hundreds of thousands of Americans back into the streets without any safety net.

We know from the Republican policies of the past that unbridled deregulation leads to catastrophic economic failure of the sort we saw under Bush. The job losses were on the order of magnitude we haven't seen since the depression.

Our life savings were decimated by greedy bankers and financial institutions which we saved with our tax dollars. In a cleverly orchestrated slight of hand, they kept that money and made more while we were left wondering what happened!

Romney and the rich pay less than we do in taxes. He wants to keep it that way. Why should you and I pay more in taxes than the rich pay?

Why won't Romney show us his tax returns?
Where does he keep his money? In offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands? Is that really true? Yes!
How can he possibly claim to be a patriot if these things are true?

Why should we give welfare to huge corporations? Do you fail to see that GE etc. pay NO TAXES whatsoever? In fact we also subsidize many corporations with our tax dollars? Why do we subsidize oil companies with corporate welfare?

Romney has said he wants to repeal "Obamacare". It is an unbearable irony to me that he has taken this position since it is essentially the same plan he developed when he was governor of Massachusetts. He says he wants to keep the "pre-existing" clause in the plan, but that will only count if you already have health insurance. I am very concerned about this since millions of my fellow countrymen/women are without such insurance. They will be left out in the cold. They will be left to die penniless.

Students are burdened with horrendous debt. This is important to me since one of my sons is struggling for work and is also struggling to meet his student loan payments. Romney has set his sites on student aid and will make it more difficult for kids that aren't rich, to go to College. He will make it more difficult for them to repay their debts.

Romney/Ryan want an invasive government to decide what a woman shall do with her own body and remove her freedom of choice. They even want to turn the clock back on birth control. Men, of course will remain free to walk away from women and children as they always have done when the rabbit dies!

And as for the poor...Romney/Ryan want a nation that will turn their backs on them and say; "Tough!"

Romney was an embarrassment in London and in Italy when he went to Europe this summer to show off his international "savoir-faire". And he has the nerve to criticize the President on foreign policy. He knows how to make glitzy statements about foreign aid to Egypt, and how to brandish his sword toward Iran, but can he carry out a sophisticated foreign policy with skill and intelligence? (That's a rhetorical question).

Yes, he finessed the last debate, but when it comes to substance, Obama won hands down.

Now then, the choice is ours. Would you rather finesse over substance or substance over finesse? Much rides on the choice we make in November. It is a puzzlement to me that so many Americans vote against their own self interest. A puzzlement indeed!

Think about what it will cost/benefit you and those you love before you cast that ballot.

You can well imagine where I stand on these essentially moral and ethical issues.

Peace with Justice to America!

Fr. Paul