My Vote

I've decided to start with a clean slate and dive into this unbiased. I have a bunch of charts in front of me right now and I will evaluate three issues that are most relevant to me. Sorry for kind of ripping you off, Gardner.

Enviromental Issues:

Both McCain and Obama have similar stands on reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Both propose a cap-and-trade program that would reduce gas emissions to 1990 levels. Personally, I like what both candidates have to say and both bring different things to the table. Obama states that he will fund mass public transportation and encourage restoration such as planting trees, restoring grasslands, and undertake farming. He plans to also reduce carbon emissions so that air and water quality can be improved, which is something that affects dense populations like here in the bay Area [though we're doing a pretty good job compared to large cities]. Also, renewable energy sources will make up 30 percent of the federal government's electricity, by 2020. On McCain's side, he proposes to sell clean energy through United Nation partnerships to developing countries, and work with large population-dense countries such as India and China [with China being a large coal-fueled country]. He also proposes incentives to automobile companies for producing clean cars, complying to standards, developing clean car batteries, and the like. Also, he has opposed Arctic drilling which could ruin the refuge that is in the proposed drilling area. It is a difficult decision, since both are equally as appealin, but I'll have to go with Obama's actions on this one, especially with the active solutions with the people involved with saving the enviroment.

Abortion:

I am with Obama on this one, no contest. McCain believes the controversial case of roe vs. wade should be overturned and the debate returned to the states. Obama agrees with the verdict in Roe vs. Wade. As a recap, the case of Roe vs. Wade produced the ruling that abortion is legal to the point where the fetus is 'viable'. According to the ruling, 'viable' means that the fetus is able to survive outside of the mother's womb even if aid is required. This seems like a pretty good and even proposal, since a mother can have her right to have an abortion if she wants to. I believe that it is up to the mother's decision on how to handle her own pregnancy, whether it was willing or unwilling. Obama also encourages increased programs for youth that deal with abstinance, safe sex, and such. I believe there is not nearly enough of that taught in schools, or enough encouragement towards it. I agree with Obama on this issue.

Same-sex marriage:

Hmm, both candidates opposed the Federal Marriage amendment. The amendment states that marriage is exclusive to one man and one woman, and it also bans extention of the amendment to same-sex or unmarried couples, as well as banning polygamy. McCain voted against it stating individual states should have the right to decide on that issue. Obama believes that marriage is a religious bond between a man and a woman. However, he supports the idea of a union between a homosexual couple, without stating it as marriage but like marriage in most ways. He also believes that the decision whether to call it marriage should be left to the states to decide. I'm not quite sure what side to choose here, since both are similar arguments. To be completely honest, I agree and yet disagree with both candidates. To me, there is not nearly enough to convince me to sway for either. I leave my vote on this issue undecided.

2 votes for Obama, 1 undecided.

Hm, maybe I am biased.