How frustrating.  So, let’s go through this latest fear-tactic, shall we?

Enough Democrats will be elected into the Congress to create imbalance.  Choose a Republican for president to balance them out.

A number of reasons why this irritates me:

1. McCain is no longer campaigning for himself.  He’s campaigning on every fear-based idea he can drudge up.  Everything I get from the RNC has nothing to do with McCain or Palin, but instead focuses on Obama and some recent rumor.  Apparently, voting FOR them just doesn’t work, so let’s just tear apart the competitor.
    
2. If Democrats win the majority, perhaps that’s because the people wanted to let them have a try at governing for a while.  Afterall, hasn’t a Republican-dominated Congress and White House gotten us where we are today?  If the people vote for Democrats, then why should we be afraid of them controlling Congress - that’s what the people decided!
3. A Republican president cannot outdo a majority of Democrats in Congress if they really want to get something passed.  If the people are actually voting for a Congress that leans one way or another, there isn’t going to be a whole lot that a Republican president can do to stop it.  This shows just how lame this fear-tactic is. 
4. Why are so many Republicans endorsing Obama then?  If the Republicans really felt that Obama didn’t support many of their platforms and was the best option, why would they vote for him or endorse him?  Why would McCain’s own advisors “defect” and endorse Obama?  If having a one-sided Congress was really an issue, don’t you think that they would toe the party-line?  That they would throw their support behind McCain?  It’s apparent that this is a non-issue to them.  McCain’s fantastical claims are overrun by the fact that even his own party prefers Obama.
5. Have we gotten to this point of no return?  Where we lack so much trust in our government that we PURPOSELY elect people to the Congress and Executive branch so that we can accomplish nothing?  Do we really want the Congress fighting about how to move forward when what we really need is to move forward?  By creating a deadlock in our Congress, they become the lame-duck group that squanders money and debates endlessly - fulfilling our low expectations.  Perhaps instead we should empower them to solve the financial crisis in America.  Perhaps we should support them in taking action, instead of fighting each other.
6. What ever happened to electing people for their ability to lead based on what the country NEEDS and the American people WANT, not one hard line or another?  Why is it a big deal to “reach across the aisle?”  There shouldn’t be an aisle!  There should only be what the American public wants, and what will work to keep us moving forward as a country.  Why do we support one group or another, despite the fact that it doesn’t aid us?  Why do we have groups at all?  Why can’t we decide on leaders who represent us, and represent how we want the world to view us.

Imagine McCain.  His sneers.  His air-quotes.  His privatization and his flippancy towards the rest of the world.  Do we really want someone who believes in supporting his private investors more than the common American people?  Do we really want someone like McCain or Palin, who immediately turn to smearing opponents instead of dealing with issues?  Do we think that is an effective way to lead a country? 

Remember when Bush mentioned the “Axis of Evil” and we were all ashamed that our leader so brazenly bypassed diplomacy and called names?  Or how about when he called the leader of North Korea, a “pygmy”? Don’t we see that now, in our own country, with McCain/Palin throwing out labels and accusations of socialist, terrorist, and “celebrity”? 

We aren’t happy with Bush’s diplomacy methods - how could we support the same in McCain and Palin? 

How many times have we shaken our heads when Bush would come out with gaffes and errors in his statements?  And now we want to elect McCain and Palin, the top gaffe-makers in our country today? 

And how many times have we questioned the Bush tactics and strategies that deliberately lead us into situations that are designed to benefit himself and his cronies?  And now McCain and Palin are using the same cronies and political campaign advisers as Bush did.  How many times did we say we disliked “flip-flopping” but ignore the fact that McCain’s entire campaign has been a flip-flop.  He was against torture, but ended up supporting Bush in it anyway.  He was for campaign reform, and now he’s been taking advantage of every loophole that exists.  He was against tax cuts for the wealthy, and now supports them again.  He left the 2000 campaign after Bush’s campaign smeared him and his family terribly.  Now he’s using the same people to smear Obama.  He says he puts his country first, but ask Americans how they feel Palin fits that theme.  He claims he’s moderate, but then takes up all the most conservative ideals of his party.

He’s shown his disdain for what Americans want at every turn.  We don’t like the negativity - he does more of it.  We don’t like the idea of privatizing health care, he makes it a pivotal part of his campaign.  Just what does McCain stand for that Americans really want?

Fear-mongering is tiring.  Our country has been at Orange Alert for so long that no one even pays attention anymore.  McCain wants people to question “Who is the real Obama?” when we really should be asking, “Who is the Real McCain - and which one is trying to be president?”