Talk about a nail-biter...

Today I voted for the first time. I know... 20 years old and voting for the first time? I don't really have a good explanation other than I was nearly 17 for the 2004 election, and I didn't really care about the 2006 election.

But this one I care about. Because, like many people, I understand that this is a turning point in our nation's history.

No matter what, this will be an election for the history books. We will either have America's first African-American president and its first Catholic VP, or we'll have America's oldest president and first woman VP. Let me say from the beginning that I admire and respect all four candidates. It takes a lot of hard work to get as far as they've gotten, be it a governorship or a chair in the Senate. It takes a lot of guts to be the first-whatever, and it takes a lot of ambition to attempt to run for our nation's highest and second-highest offices.

Now to the reason I'm writing this particular entry.

I've been asked several times in the last couple of weeks who I'm voting for in this historical election. Up until about May, I had absolutely no idea. I knew nothing about Barack Obama, and I didn't particularly like John McCain (waffles too much for me). The media seems to like Obama for president, which is all well and good. But as I was listening to the media and listening to what Obama said, I realized something.

I can't, in good conscience, vote for Barack Obama.

--It's not because he's Black. I could care less whether the man was black, white, pink, orange, red, or yellow. If an African-American with good character and good politics ran for president, I'd vote for him in a heartbeat.

--It's not because he's Democrat. I'm not a Republican, I'm not a Democrat, I'm not a Libertarian. I'm an Independent. I registered that way because I don't want to hold to any party whatsoever. There are things in all the parties that I agree and disagree with, and I refuse to let partisanship stand in the way of voting according to my conscience.

--It's not because he's Muslim, or whatever he is. I could care less if the guy was Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Jewish, or even some obscure tribal religion from the Pacific Islands. The Constitution says that a person's qualifications to hold office do not rest on their religious affiliation, and since the Constitution is the highest law of the land, I completely support it. Come to think of it, I have absolutely no idea what his religion is.

--It's not because I'm a feminist and want to see a woman get one of the highest offices in the country. While I admit, it would be nice, I honestly don't care. A person's gender has absolutely nothing to do with politics, or at least it shouldn't. We've survived for over 250 years without a woman president or vice-president, and I have a feeling we could survive without one for as long as this nation exists. We're not Britain.

Here's why I can't, in good conscience, vote for Barack Obama.

-- Abortion.  Over fifty MILLION children have been killed since Roe v. Wade in 1973.  That's over fifty million potential presidents, Bill Gates, governors, congressmen, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters.  Not only does Barack Obama support Roe, he also supports expanding the Court's decision to include partial birth abortion and limit even further the parental notification laws.  Partial birth abortion - where the doctor takes the child as it's coming through the birth canal, stabs it in the head with a pair of forceps, sucks out its brains until the skull caves in, and then pulls it out to dispose of it.  Does this sound humane?  As Christians, we are to value life and value children.  Proverbs says that children are a gift from God, and blessed is the man who has many of them.  Life, especially unborn life, is to be valued and protected, not thrown away because of some selfish urge to maintain a wild lifestyle or to not deal with a genetic problem like Down's Syndrome.

-- Homosexuality.  I'm not calling him gay, because I know he's not.  I don't hate homosexuals.  But I do believe, and Scripture backs me up, that homosexuality is a sin.  In Leviticus, God says that a man lying with another man is an abomination.  Just look at Sodom and Gomorrah.  Those two cities were wiped off the face of the earth because of their debase lifestyle.  And what is the sin that they committed?  Homosexuality.  It is a perversion of something good and beautiful that God created for a husband and wife to experience together.  Barack Obama supports allowing homosexual marriage.  He believes that homosexuality is not a choice (and there is no medical evidence to suggest that it is inborn).

-- Jeremiah Wright.  Now you and I both know that since Wright's debacle a few months ago, Obama has tried to distance himself from his former mentor.  But you and I also know that you can't spend twenty years calling a person "a close friend and mentor" without picking up some of his beliefs.  And Jeremiah Wright believes some outlandish stuff.  He is racist, claiming that God is for the African-American community alone.  And if He's not, Jeremiah Wright believes that that God deserves to die.  It's a heresy known as "Black Liberation Theology", developed by Dr. James Cone in the 1960's.  Look it up.  It'll raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

-- The economy.  We all know that the economy is in severe economic recession.  It's perfectly obvious.  Obama's taxation plan absolutely and completely sucks.  70% of all income tax is payed by 10% of Americans.  He claims to give the middle class a tax break, but in reality the middle class pays only about 30% of all income tax.  So where does that leave us?  It leaves us with CEO's of major companies having to deal with an enormous tax hike, which leads to job cuts to maintain profit margins, which leaves us with paying huge sales taxes on things like electronics and food and gasoline.  Yeah, that's right.  You think gas prices are bad now, just wait.  Oh, and by the way -- gas prices didn't skyrocket until we elected a Democratic Congress in 2006.  Jobs didn't decrease until we elected a Democratic Congress in 2006 (in fact, the number of jobs was on the rise).

-- History.  I'm a student of history.  I love learning about the past, for three reasons.  1) I believe that the past gives us a basis for the present; 2) I believe that the past helps us in the future; and 3) I believe that unless we understand the past, we're doomed to make its mistakes.  Studying the history of the United States reveals a lot of interesting facts.  Our nation's fathers feared a true democracy, a true rule by the people.  That's why, in the original Constitution, the only branch of the government elected by the people was the weakest branch - the House of Representatives.  They have a limited role in Congress, evidenced by a short term.  They are the only branch designed to reflect a popular vote.  In the original Constitution, the Senate was selected by the various state legislators.  The Founding Fathers recognized that a country cannot be run by people who do not understand government.  Those that were to be elected to high positions of authority were supposed to be highly educated people, familiar with philosophy and law and history.  They were to be the elite.  And instead, we've placed the government where it does not belong - in the hands of the people.

That's not the only thing that history teaches us.  Look at the Communist revolution in Russia in 1917.  Russia then was in a severe economic depression, and the people were calling for help.  And that's where Communism begins.  Lenin and Stalin promised the people money, equalization.  Sound at all familiar?  But the people sold them their souls, and Russia entered into a seventy-year period of oppression.  Equalization?  Bull crap.  Look at Germany after World War I.  Severe economic depression with high rates of unemployment and widespread poverty.  Along comes Adolf Hitler, promising to return Germany to its glory days, end the poverty, bring it back to a world power.  And what did it cost?  Historians estimate nearly eight million people were murdered at the hands of the Nazis -- homosexuals, gypsies, Slavs, Jews, Blacks, people with Down's Syndrome.  The same kind of genetic euthanasia that we're seeing with unborn children.  Look at Fidel Castro.  Same kind of promises -- jobs, power, money.  And look what it got them.  Religious oppression.  Economic depression.  Widespread poverty.  History has lessons for us to learn, folks.

--Socialism.  Barack Obama has said that his tax plan will open up the chance for those coming behind us to have money, to equalize us.  There's a fundamental flaw in his logic, though.  America is already the land of opportunity.  It is illegal to discriminate based on race, ethnicity, creed, sexuality, gender, and a number of other things.  Chances are already open for people to make money by working hard and saving even more.  Barack Obama's plan takes money from these hard-working Americans and gives it to people who might not be working so hard.  I don't know about you, but I don't want other people getting the money that I rightfully earned.  That's socialism, people.  It's trying to equalize everyone.  The problem is that not everyone is equal.  We seem to have this skewed sense of fair play.  Hate to tell you this, but life isn't fair.

Here's the real deal.

I don't particularly like John McCain (now Sarah Palin, I like.  I happen to disagree with the vast majority of people, because I think that she can be trusted with our nation's secrets.  She already is).  But I refuse to vote for a man that stands for the exact opposite of everything I believe.  I know America's going to hell in a handbasket, and it has been for some time.  But I firmly believe that if Barack Obama is elected, it will get there a lot faster.  And if I can do something to slow that process, I will.

In the meantime, I gotta start packing, because I just might be moving to Canada after next Tuesday.