On Saturday August 11, we attended the wedding of Daniel Cox and Maggie Gilliland. Dan is the son of our Pastor and good friend Steve Cox. We've had the privilege of watching Dan grow into a fine young man, and Maggie is a sweet match for him. The wedding was held at the Nevada Baptist Church, which we attended for several years. We lived in Nevada when we first moved to Iowa in 1996 until 1999. Nevada is located about 8 miles east of Ames, where the straw poll was taking place on the same day. BTW, I thought it would take Dan at least a half hour to get into that car, but he was determined (other things to do??) and had all the Saran Wrap cut off in about 5 minutes!
For the past several months, I've been investigating the merits and claims of many of the presidential candidates. I've never gotten involved in a presidential election this early in the process before, but with the condition of our country right now I thought it was important to be as prospective as possible, instead of jumping on a bandwagon later in the game. The person elected in 2008 will have a HUGE task of repairing a severely fractured country. In my opinion, the divisions within our country now are as large as any we've faced since the Civil War.
The older I get, the more conservative I become. The liberals just continually raise taxes and throw (our) money at the problems. They also want to use (our) money to fund other detestable programs such as tax-funded abortions. When I see how much of my paycheck goes to the government and think about how much more it could be if say, Hillary were elected- I cringe!
After much investigation, I decided several months ago to support Mike Huckabee for President in 2008. I read an intro piece on him in World Magazine and became intrigued. I then searched the web for more info and read his position statements at wwwmikehuckabee.com and decided he stands for many of the things that I do. I went to a "Meet Mike" function in Mason City and heard him speak, shook his hand and asked him questions. He was very cordial and seemed interested in hearing what everyone had to say. He went through the room, looked every person in the eye and shook their hand- introducing himself and making small talk. I was very impressed with his demeanor.
I'm not going to say that I feel Mike Huckabee is perfect on every issue facing us. He supports the "Fair Tax" which is a national sales tax that would do away with the federal income tax and the IRS. He will have a difficult time implementing this. Mike also states that: "While there is value in the "No Child Left Behind" law's effort to set high national standards, states must be allowed to develop their own benchmarks." I feel that NCLB is unconstitutional. The constitution nowhere discusses education. This is a state function.
However, none of the candidates is perfect. They all have areas where their views don't align with mine. In my humble opinion, Mike Huckabee is the best candidate in a crowded field. I was proud to cast my straw poll vote for Mike on August 11. I hope his strong showing at the poll will vault him into the national consciousness as the race goes on.
3 comments:
Hoo, boy. FairTax scares the crap out of me- anything that gets rid of the capital gains tax and enables the super-rich to passively accumulate more and more wealth means that they'll have even more to spend, not just buying goods (by the way, it would be reeeeally hard to purchase 23% of one's money when one is worth billions, making FairTax inherently unfair), but also buying power, influence, presidencies, etc. I dunno, John... it seems good on the surface but I'm just not buying it.
Not that what we have now is any better. :-/
~Sher
Oh yeah, and give my congrats to the Coxes!
~Sher
I have doubts about FairTax for different reasons.
First the pre-bate which is supposed to offset the tax on clothes etc which are part of a normal existence. This check is going to be sent to each family with an income below a certain threshold, which means that some government agency would need to know all of your financial info to determine if you qualify. It ain't none of their stinking business The government has no more moral right to know how much I make, than it does the right to know how often the lovely Mrs. farmer and I have marital relations. It ain't none of their stinking business
Second, while they claim that they will eliminate the IRS with the FairTax the money will have to be collected by someone, the pre-bates will have to be dispersed by someone, which means some government agency, I'm sure it will no longer be called the IRS. It will be something like Legislative Enablement Agency Collections of Hired Earnings Service or LEACHES.
Done correctly all tax would be collected by the states, as a sales tax, then once a month the states would send a check to the federal government. If the feds get out of line, NO CHECK
Post a Comment