McCain’ Stuff

I did a rundown of McCain’s official website and his listed plans. I’m trying to stay away from personal attacks or stuff that he might have said. I did not quote directly from his site, but you should be able to find his words on his site.

American Energy:
A lot of “I like this and that” that are not the Feds job to do. Some things that are good though. Getting rid of special subsidies and requirements and lifting bans on producing energy. Ta da!!! What a concept the Government should not stop people or business from doing stuff. Aside from those good points his policies are way too fed happy and don’t honor the “left to the states or the people” clause. (BTW this has become a big one for me as you may notice).

Economic plan:
We start with a long list of workplace requirements for things that are the employers and employees issues. Not losing access to retirements and health care might be outside of that, but if so only slightly.

He has a good idea in the Gas world to tax less. That’s a good thing.

Taxes:
Some good news here by trying to lower taxes, but he’s talking about a band-aid when we need major surgery. Lowering corporate tax from 35 to 25% is a move in the right direction, but why not 5%. Take the Wal-Mart approach instead of trying to hit a few people for as much as possible hit a lot of people for as little as possible. The total removal of tax on business could really help create jobs and bring a lot of companies back to the US.

Healthcare:
Like his ideas on Taxes a step in the right direction, but not near enough. He is right we should punished Medicare and Medicaid fraud. We also need to protect health care people and companies from lawsuits when they are doing a good job. However it is NOT the feds jobs to provide healthcare to people. He wants to improve access and make things more affordable. In simple terms remove the red tape and the cost will drop and access will improve. (One study I ran into whole researching health care cost says that 20% of all cost is paper work). We are so busy trying to regulate how the job gets done that there is little time or money left to do the job and thus the increase in cost.

Reform Washington to regain trust:
A trustable Washington would be a good idea. As is his desire for a balanced budget. He wants to cut spending. I’m all for it. Its quite easy to do. You simply have the Federal government stop spending money on things they are not supposed to and spending will drop very quickly. On a side note if there is a lot less money running through the federal system it becomes a lot harder to attach pork. So if the feds stick to national defense and sorting out the squabbles of the States. Address a few issues like air traffic and other multi state problems the bills would be so short and simple that adding pork would be caught and shot down in a heartbeat.

Iraq: A lot of talk not much said. This is however one of the few areas where the president and congress are supposed to make decisions so he gets a pass on the constitutionality of his plan.

Education:
Many of our schools suck and can’t get the job done and we should stop forcing kids to go to them and let parents choose schools that do work. Not bad this is naturally a state by state issues per that old peace of paper, but the idea is right.

Climate change:
A call foe scientifically sound policy. Whatever that is you can get a “scientist” to tell you anything you want to here. Again the issues of is this the feds problem. To a degree it is as some pollution does cross state lines.

Service:
Lots of lets do more stuff. Service is a good thing. Contact your local scout troop or united way if you want to get involved its not for the Feds to worry about.

Homeland and Border Security:
Once again we have issues that are part of the Feds responsibility to protect the States. I could spend a long time discussing the pros and cons of the specifics, but it is within the scope of the feds job description to handle these issues.

Human dignity and the sanctity of life:
It is not the place of the feds to allow the killing of innocent unborn children. Here we see what is needed in nearly every policy statement to return the control over most issues to the states. In this particular issues however I would think that saying the states can decided is sort of like what we did with slavery in the past let each sate decide which lives have rights and which ones don’t. McCain also wants to protect kids from online predators and pornography. While most law enforcement is a state matter the internet is a worldwide thing and so it is acceptable for the feds to step in.
He also wants to protect marriage and although this is not a direct responsibility of the feds it is not okay to allow a few persons to impose on the majority their view on this issue.

Crime-fighting strategy:
This is a bit long, but frankly impressive. My only complaint on the basics is that he wants to keep federal funding for local and stat programs. This should end and the States could each fund their own programs.

Second Amendment:
Not too bad he gets the main points. I see only two problems with his policies. He is not calling for the repeal of the NFA (the 1st major restriction on firearms ownership) and he wants to require gun makers to include trigger locks with all guns. A person should store their gun in a safe way. We don’t need a law requiring a person to have a particular device to secure their guns There are many ways to store a weapon. Some people just keep their weapon on them 24-7. Gun lock’s don’t stop theft of weapons and having a gun lock and a safe etc. is absurd. He does not quite get it, but he’s closer than most of late.

Veterans:
As part of defending the nation the feds hire and train the men and women who do this. All compensation for their service including long term hospital care does fall under their jurisdiction.

Judges:
McCain sees the problem with judges who think they are in another branch of government and the danger the pose to the constitution. Now if he can just apply that understanding to his work in the senate and run for the white house we can get back to what this nation should be.

Technology:
Why we need a policy on this I don’t understand the feds are to insure that a person has copyright protection to their stuff. They should not engage in anything else unless it becomes multi state or international. No funding no regulation nothing. BTW this does mean no NASA.

Reform:
A lot is needed he did say he wants to “seal the pork barrel” We need a lot more, but getting the feds out of none fed business is the quickest way to get rid of corruption. When there is very little blood to suck on the leaches will go away.

National Defense:
Another area where the feds should be calling the shots.


Conclusions:

The guy does not really get that the feds are not to be in everyday life for the average citizen. Aside from that his official policy’s are not too bad. I still think he is a twit and a sellout on far too many issues, but the bulk of his policies as state on his web site are sound.