One Week Before Election Day 2008

Just one week and we likely will know who will serve us as President of the United States for the next four years.

The polls have Senator Obama ahead by several points according to what I read. The news media reports seem overwhelmingly to favor an Obama win from what I hear anyway. Nearly all pundits seem to think it will be an Obama victory.

There does appear to be a substantial undecided vote and there is that pesky margin of error reported by the polls.

It does seem to me that Democratic candidates in general should have the advantage this year given the war in Iraq and the present economic issues facing the world.

On top of that many traditionally conservative voters are not terribly happy with Senator McCain as their default candidate.

So given those facts I am surprised that Democratic candidates in general and Mr. Obama in particular are not farther ahead than it appears they are.

My guess, and it is only that and I claim no more, is that it will be a close election. I suspect it may be closer than the polls are indicating.

This will be the 16th Presidential election held during my lifetime and the 14th I actually remember something about. I find that rather amazing in itself.

I've made up my mind. I'll vote, Lord permitting, for Senator McCain.

I believe he is qualified and has actually mounted a rather remarkable political campaign. I believe his well documented behavior during the Vietnam war testifies both to his character and his patriotism. I believe his record of service in government is impressive and mostly in line with my view of political philosophy.

I am particularly impressed with Senator's McCain record of bipartisanship.

I am not concerned about his age.

Senator Obama is also qualified and has run an impressive campaign. His philosophy of government is at odds with mine in nearly every particular. I find him terribly partisan although politically astute in presentation.

I am not in the" absolutely no abortion under any circumstance" camp; but, I am not in Senator Obama's camp on this issue either. I find abortion to be absolutely appalling and especially heinous is the homicide technique known as partial birth abortion. The name itself should be chilling. Does anyone really doubt what partial birth means? Have people not seen the images? What is killed is not a dog or a cat and if it were there would be far more outcry than there is for a helpless human child.

I do not believe in the redistribution of wealth by taxation. It is just another name for stealing. The idea of just taxing the rich is a subterfuge because the definition of rich is rather easily changed. Rich after all is entirely a relative term. I am amazed at the number of people who think they should have part or all of what someone else already has just because the someone else has more. That's not a slippery slope. That's a cliff.

I do not believe in appeasement of our enemies. I do believe we have enemies and I do believe they will attempt to destroy us and our way of life. I do not understand the Democratic penchant for pleasing people who despise us and have said so.

I do not believe in a flexible constitution and I do not support judges who make it mean anything they want depending upon the culture at the moment.

I am not a "citizen of the world" advocate and I do not trust the "new order" thinking.

I do not trust government in general while I am very mindful that the human heart has unlimited capacity for violence and greed.

Regardless who wins it seems unlikely to me that the country will become more united. Rather I suspect we will continue to become more divided.

I think I am about as prepared as possible to vote. I know our state questions and have decided how I will vote on each one. I've studied nearly all of the other races for which I will have an opportunity to vote and I've decided my preferences. There are a couple of judges that are on the ballot and I think they are most difficult to research.

I have my new voter registration card and I know where my polling place is located. I have my driver's license and it has my photo and my address. So I can prove I am me.

Strangely enough I cannot prove I am not someone else, however.

What if my candidate loses? Well, I have had that happen before more than once. I was disappointed but, looking back, the results are not nearly as bad now as I had thought they would be at the time.

What if my candidate wins? I have had that happen as well. I will be happier. I can't say about the results over time.

In the meantime I am carrying on. One thing I am doing is getting Dad's house cleared out room by room so I can have the guys start taking it apart. We did find out that we can call Habitat for Humanity about using some of the parts of the house. Another thing I'm doing is still working on our Target development. It is far less certain now than it was a few weeks ago. Then there is my new house that needs finishing. And the horse and an ill mother-in-law and a few other things.