I’ve had a couple conversations recently about politics with people more conservative than I am and all of the reasons given about why they supported John McCain had to do with fear of an Obama presidency. The amount of fear(most based on misinformation) should be a cause of concern, but that that fear is people’s primary reason for making a decision is very sad to me. There are many reasons to support a John McCain presidency. Maybe his ideology and worldview line up with yours more than Barack Obama’s do. Maybe you think we need someone with a lot of experience at this point. Maybe you think we need someone with a military background. Maybe you are a one issue voter and he is with you on that issue. Those are valid reasons. Fear is not. Fear is not a valid reason to make any decision. Luckily John McCain himself has spoken out about this a couple times recently. Senator McCain said “I want to be president of the United States and obviously I do not want Senator Obama to be, but I have to tell you — I have to tell you — he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.” And I would hope we can all say the same about Senator McCain. There is no reason to be scared this election season. These are both decent men who we don’t need to be afraid of.
I suggest 2 good blog posts(first and second) that tell what the reaction to his speaking out has been. The first one also talks about the smear campaign John McCain endured in the South Carolina primary 8 years ago. Interesting read.
I think politics is largely about fear, Dan. Fear of a military enemy, of differinhg politics, of differing religions.
I fear politics. I guess that sums it up.