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First, a confession: I am one of those few remaining “undecided” voters still out there.
The consensus view by professional pols is that we undecided voters primarily consist of the uninformed, the ignorant and the out-of-touch. Apparently, then, I am essentially confessing to being a moron.
In the interest of finally committing to a candidate (and shedding my moron status), I have now put together this Voting Guide for those like me who might need some assistance in coming to a final voting decision.
Instructions:
A. For each question, chose either Obama or Romney, and then weight your response with a point score of 1 through 5:
(1: You feel either only a slight predisposition toward that candidate; and/or you clearly favor that candidate on this issue, but feel the issue is only of marginal importance to you.)
(5: You feel very strongly about both the candidate and the particular issue.)
B. Add up your final point tally and pull the appropriate lever.
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THE TEST:
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Tax Policy / Revenue / Entitlement Programs / Economic Philosophy:
Do you favor letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthy, so that upper class tax rates return to the Clinton-era levels? Or do you favor not only making all the Bush tax cuts permanent, but believe that taxes should be further cut an additional 20% in order to stimulate the economy?
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Do you desire a “Grand Bargain”, whereby income tax rates are increased on the wealthy at the same time that government spending is cut (perhaps somewhere in the ratio of $4 of cuts for each $1 of tax increase)? If so, which candidate is more likely to achieve this bargain?
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Do you tend to favor Romney’s “Supply-Side” economic policies? Do you believe it is possible to offset a proposed $5 trillion in income tax reduction by “closing tax loopholes and broadening the tax base“?
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Do you tend to favor Obama’s “Keynesian” economic policies? Do you believe that “deficit spending” is a wise course of action when our country’s deficit is already at record levels?
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Which candidate is most likely to meaningfully restructure our major Entitlement Programs (Medicare, Medicaid & Social Security) so that they are actually sustainable (please accept the fact that they are currently bankrupting our nation)?
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Would you prefer your president to have signed Grover Norquist’s pledge to never increase taxes?
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Which former president’s economic policies do you find were most beneficial to you and the country: Bush II or Clinton’s?
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Currently, an estimated $2 trillion in corporate money is sitting in cash reserves, not being invested in our country’s economy. Which candidate is more likely to entice this much needed corporate cash back into our economy?
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Social Issues & Supreme Court Appointees:
Do you favor preserving a woman’s right to abortion? Do you favor stricter restrictions on this right? Would you prefer the next appointed Supreme Court Justice to uphold or overturn Roe v Wade?
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Are you a proponent of “marriage equality“? Do you support the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the decision to no longer enforce The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)?
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Opponents to the new HHS regulations under Obamacare argue that these mandates: (1) require for the first time public funding of birth control and abortifacients (e.g. “Morning After Pill”); and (2) abridge constitutionally protected religious freedoms by requiring religious organizations such as Catholic Hospitals to provide birth control and abortifacients. Do you (1) agree with this interpretation; and if so (2) do you support these mandates?
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Do you subscribe to the view that amongst the greatest threats to our country’s success is the profound decaying of traditional moral values ? If so, do you favor a return to these traditional values? Which candidate is more likely to encourage the cultural changes you would support?
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Foreign Policy & Military Spending:
Do you favor a $2 trillion increase in defense spending?
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Do you favor a neoconservative approach to foreign policy? For example, would you consider extending our military deployment in Afghanistan beyond our currently scheduled exit date? Are you more inclined to use military intervention in Iran over their nuclear program than you perceive our current President to be ?
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Energy Policy:
Should we focus more money on “green” energy and combating “climate change”, or should we instead focus at this time on our own reserves of fossil fuels — in the interest of creating jobs and making ourselves fully energy independent (with the ultimate hope that we can find new technology over the next 100 years to eventually make fossil fuels obsolete)?
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Healthcare & Regulation:
Would you like to fully repeal Obamacare and start entirely anew to find a better system (or scrap it and make no effort to replace it with anything), OR would you like to keep Obamacare as a framework upon which to build upon, improving and reforming it as necessary?
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Would you like to fully repeal Dodd-Frank and start entirely anew to find a better system (or scrap it and make no effort to replace it with anything), OR would you like to keep Dodd-Frank as a framework upon which to build upon, improving and reforming it as necessary?
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Immigration:
Do you favor a national immigration policy that includes some limited form of amnesty to certain illegal immigrants (e.g. those that have been in this country for at least 5 years and have no criminal record), OR do you favor full deportation (self or forced) for all illegal immigrants, with no offer of amnesty at all?
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Cancer & Chemotherapy Analogy:
Our nation was afflicted with a terrible cancer and we have been on painful chemotherapy for the past 4 years. Our oncology team has just announced that finally, the cancer is shrinking and we are now making very slow but steady progress. Complete recovery, however, will require another very long bout of the same therapy.
A new oncologist, however, has just arrived, claiming that we have been on the wrong treatment plan. He wants to completely change our therapy, arguing that this wholly different treatment will cure us much, much faster.
Would you rather stay on our current treatment plan, enduring these painfully slow but measurable gains, or would you rather risk a complete change of doctors and treatments in the hopes of a much faster cure – all the while mindful that this new treatment plan could backfire and bring back the original cancer?
Miscellaneous:
Does either candidate appear to be of considerably higher moral character in the manner that he lives his own life, and in the manner in which he has campaigned and governed?
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Is there value to you in re-electing an incumbent president, so that our next leader does not have to spend 2 of his next 4 years in office campaigning for re-election instead of running the country?
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Which candidate is more likely to be able to get both Parties working together again?
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Do you believe either candidate is a Kenyan, a Muslim or a socialist? If so, do you also believe in Bigfoot, UFO’s and in secret government programs that spy on civilians (did you just hear something?)
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Can I live with either candidate as my President?
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(Now go out and vote!)
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the politically challenged 