John McCain:Education: Unfortunately, to me John McCain does not have an educational plan. He wants to build upon No Child Left Behind and continue with the emphasis on standards and accountability through testing. John McCain believes in a Student Centered classroom which according to teacher pedagogy- is a classroom where the students learn what they want to learn based on their interests. His main issue, is getting kids out of schools which are under performing (you know, instead of providing that school with sufficient tools to teach the students) and transferring them to schools of their choice near their area (which means extra funding for transportation for students who most likely will transfer out to play football or be with their friends) which are “better suited to fit their needs.” This means your students are at risk if they live in an area with a desired school- of overpopulation with 40-50 kids in a class. John McCain does not offer support for this however. As far as the teachers goes he’s going to promote Alternative licensure programs which means after I go through all my theory classes and classroom management classes and how to teach “fill in the blank” classes and have classroom experience for five years, Joe Blow can come in with his CPA and decide to be a teacher in six weeks he can become a teacher and I’ll be competing for jobs with him. We don’t need more mediocre teachers- we need more training and certification.
Some things that I cannot avoid agreeing with John McCain are the protection of marriage: The family represents the foundation of Western Civilization and civil society and John McCain believes the institution of marriage is a union between one man and one woman. It is only this definition that sufficiently recognizes the vital and unique role played by mothers and fathers in the raising of children, and the role of the family in shaping, stabilizing, and strengthening communities and our nation. The intolerance of Abortion and the promotion of Adoption. McCain said: "At its core, abortion is a human tragedy. To effect meaningful change, we must engage the debate at a human level." John McCain will seek ways to promote adoption as a first option for women struggling with a crisis pregnancy. In the past, he cosponsored legislation to prohibit discrimination against families with adopted children, to provide adoption education, and to permit tax deductions for qualified adoption expenses, as well as to remove barriers to interracial and inter-ethnic adoptions. Unfortunately for John McCain- these reasons alone are not sufficient enough to win my vote due to the fact that he FLIP FLOPS on them as the wind blows. I cannot in good conscience vote for a man who doesn't hold true to his beliefs- whatever they may be.
Barack Obama:Education: Believes that NCLB is a huge problem with good intentions. The issues are that associated with NCLB are average kids are being left behind, high dropout rates are occurring and people are not going to school because of the cost of college. His plans include a “0-5” plan which will include a universal preschool, and expand on the head start program. He will reform NCLB as teachers should not spend entire years teaching students to fill in the bubbles on an exam. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them. He will make science and math a national priority in order to keep up with the demand in the economy. Expand after school services, and outreach programs. His plan for teachers: recruit, retain, and reward those who are worthy. He also wants to make college more affordable for every American.
Iraq: The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 – more than 7 years after the war began. A phased withdrawal will encourage Iraqis to take the lead in securing their own country and making political compromises, while the responsible pace of redeployment called for by Obama’s plan offers more than enough time for Iraqi leaders to get their own house in order. Under the Obama plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel. He will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism.
The Economy: Provide Additional Tax Rebates to American Workers, Establish a $10 billion Foreclosure Prevention Fund: Given the downturn in the economy, Obama is calling for immediate creation of his Foreclosure Prevention Fund that will dramatically increase emergency pre-foreclosure counseling, and will help families facing foreclosure to responsibly refinance their mortgages or sell their homes. Obama’s plan will not help speculators, people buying vacation homes or people that falsely represented their incomes. It is meant to help responsible homeowners through this difficult period. Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.
I am choosing Barack Obama because I believe he is the stronger candidate. I believe that he truly believes he can influence our nation for the better, improve our economy and our lives. I have no confidence or trust in John McCain. I am a republican. I live conservatively and would (under normal circumstances) vote republican. Nevada Senator and fellow Latter-Day Saint (and Democrat no less) said in an address to BYU students that it is easier to be a good latter-day saint and a Democrat than a republican- so I guess he would be proud of my very difficult decision. I urge all of you to watch the news, listen to the reports, and visit barackobama.com and johnmccain.com for more information on each of the candidates and what they believe in. Vote for what is right, not for your Republican or Democrat Candidate.
4 comments:
Interesting. And I still love you.
Personally, neither one is worthy. I feel that I will be voting more AGAINST one than voting FOR the other.
I think you are very brave for declaring you are voting for Obama considering how majority of Utahns feel about him. I'm glad you are voting based on issues rather than party lines---same thing I teach my kids. I'm not going to say who I'm voting for. I'll tell you, however, that on social issues I tend to be a democrat but on fiscal issues I am a conservative republican. It's easy to be progressive and socially conscious when one is not in the income bracket that pays the biggest chunk of the tax revenue in this country and practically finances all social programs. So easy to be generous with other people's money! But then it's also easy to worry more about your money when you don't have love ones who are affected by the social issues beseiging us right now. Hmmm--who to vote? What a dilemna...
I would remind Grumpyangel that the "poster" of this post now lives in Nevada. (but she is still in the will :o)) But what about the respected Gov. from Alaska
I think McCain picked her as VP so he could gain the women's votes, but no one really knows anything about her- not that I would be opposed to it, but I feel as a man who has gone on record like McCain has saying "I don't know that much about the economy" and then doesn't go for Romney for VP...I think he made a mistake going for an unknown who has done good but what do we really know about her?
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