Volunteering!

On Thursday, Carrie, Tyler, and I all went over to Obama's Reston Office to do some volunteer work. Most of the phones were busy, so they asked us if we were brave enough to go door to door in the rain. We said we were, so they trained us and sent us on our way. It wasn't until we were driving away that we realized the directions to the neighborhood were from a personal address instead of the campaign office. We had to call back and get the correct directions, but even after we were headed in the right direction it took us a while to finally find the right area. We finally found our first house a little after 7:00, keep in mind we had checked in to volunteer at 6:00. It was only raining a little, but our papers still got pretty wet. We had to ask questions like, are you planning on voting in the coming election?, Do you plan to vote for Obama of McCain? Feder or Wolf? Warner or Gilmore? We funmbled in the dark to mark their answers on the soaking wet paper and moved on. The houses were hard to find, and many people either weren't home, or didn't want to talk, but it was worth it when we found someone that was voting for Obama. It was an interesting experience, but I'm not sure I would do the same thing again, at least not without preparation. I hope to back again soon and do some more work for Obama!

Current Event #1

Recently, I have read about the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout of Wall St. I am worried about what Congress will do because I believe the plan needs work before being passed. Many of the major investment banks on Wall Street are having financial difficulties, and the bailout would help to save them from going under, but some members of Congress are trying to rush to get the bill passed by Friday. It is better to have a plan that will work later, than a plan that will fail now. One of the amendments that I strongly agree with limits the severance pay for corporate executives. I think the bill should not be passed without this limitation because without it the executives could essentially pocket tax payer's money. Another modification requires monthly reports to be submitted to Congress, this takes away the risk of simply giving $700 billion to the Secretary of the Treasury to spend on whatever he wants. I think with these amendments the bailout would be a much safer way to help Wall Street, but I wonder if it is necessary to help them at all. Why should the government help the large companies that made the biggest mistakes, when the small companies are left to fail?

Week 1 - Election post

I am a democrat, and I have been my entire life. I believe it is mostly because of my parents, but I can't help feeling the same way they do about many of the major issues. In the 2000 election, I was a supporter of Al Gore, and I volunteered for Howard Dean in 2004. This year I plan to work for Barack Obama, and I hope to finally contribute to a winning campaign! I agree with what Obama says about many issues, and it helps that he is a much better public speaker than our current President. He plans to create new jobs and lower taxes for the working class. Also, given the recent news about the stock market, I believe we need a leader that believes in government involvement in the economy.

Another reason I support Obama is because he cares about our environment. He believes in global warming and want to do something to, not only stop it, but reverse it's effects. The Obama-Biden ticket supports the implementation of a system to reduce carbon emissions. They will require that large polluters pay for the emissions that they release. Obama will also invest $150 billion over ten years in advanced energy technologies. He will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East within the next ten years by increasing the use of hybrid cars and establishing a nation low carbon fuel standard. This will provide a long term solution for both our dependence on foreign oil, and the pollution caused by using it. McCain's solution, drilling in Alaska, does neither of these things. He proposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but ask yourself, is it really worth the potential cost? Personally, I don't believe it is. The oil available is not enough to justify the environmental damage that the drilling could cause. McCain does not seem to take into account the negative effects of his solution, but instead focuses only on the possible gains.

Senator Obama's economic plan offers much more to the average American family than John McCain. Obama will provide tax cuts for working families, giving up to $500 tax credit per person, or $1000 for every working family. Their "Making Work Pay" plan could free ten million Americans from income tax. Obama would also eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 a year. He will simplify the tax filing process, cutting the time consuming process down to five minutes or less. Obama and Biden also plan to provide the economy with $50 billion to jumpstart the economy and prevent the loss of jobs. He will also create five million new jobs, to help combat America's rising unemployment rate. These jobs will also work to help our environment and improve American's lifestyle. I believe Obama is dedicated to bettering the United States, and if elected, he will fulfill the promises he has made.

Starting up!

Hello. This is my first blog, and hopefully I will be posting much more to come. I look forward to learning and posting about the coming election and current events.