I don't have the answers. I just don't believe that Romney and Obama are that much different from each other. I've had it posited here that Obama modeled his policies on Romney's policies in MA. If that's true, we know how poorly they've worked. Is the problem that there's not enough cowbell? (to turn an expression)
The problem is that the Democrats and Republicans are too close to each other in this one, as they were in 2000. Voting for one or the other is just voting for more of the same.
It is just not true. I have no idea at all, where that notion came from, how it got started and who started the rumor - but these two visions could not be more glaringly different.
- Romney, wants to increase military spending to over $1 trillion as a matter of new structural budget design.
- Obama, wants to freeze military spending at current levels and draw it down over the next decade by design.
These are two enormously different policies that will have enormously different impact on our economy and fiscal policy going forward.
-Romney, wants to privatize your child's K-12 education and improve both teaching and testing.
-Obama, wants to improve teaching, testing and publicly fund at adequate levels the infrastructure that already exists.
These are two enormously different policies that will have enormous impact on your child's education and their access to education.
-Romney, wants to privatize social security to extend its life.
-Obama, wants to restructure social security to extend its life.
These are two massively different approaches that will impact the availability and level of social security in the years to come.
-Romney, wants to declare China a currency manipulator and thinks it will increase exports.
-Obama, wants to apply diplomacy and increase exports organically.
These are two very different approaches to dealing with a nation that owns the highest ratio of U.S. Debt obligations and the biggest trade imbalance on record, second only to Japan, with Germany in third position. China, holds the cards. Push them over the cliff and they can retaliate with Tariffs and Duty, which hurts any chance for U.S. companies to ever reach a level playing field. Push them hard enough, and you end up with full-on Trade Wars with China. These are two hugely different policies with respect to how to deal with China and its currency.
-Romney, wants to get tough with Russia.
-Obama, wants to get diplomatic with Russia.
Two very different approaches that could easily turn-up the heat on a Cold War that has long since been over. Both countries have more than adequate nuclear capability to destroy the world several times over. How you deal with Russia, is never the same with how you deal with a nation that has no strategic nuclear weapons program. This could have stark implications for both U.S. and Russian Citizens, if not handled very carefully into the future.
-Romney, wants to grow the economy from the top down, by offering the wealthiest a tax cut to stimulate job growth based on a fossil fuel model.
-Obama, wants to partner with the private sector, to develop new energy technology products for energy independence at home and for export abroad.
Again, two very distinctly different policies for growing our economy and making the United States energy independent. One looks back to the old fossil fuel dominated economic model, where we continue to rely on oil but do nothing about manufacturing here at home. The other looks forward to new economic model for the future, where energy independence is the baseline from which energy, energy related products and energy related technology can be used to boost the economy through exports to other countries who become dependent upon the U.S. for its innovative resolve.
And, these are just some of the highlighted differences between these two candidates. So, when you say that you don't see much difference between the two, I would strongly suggest that you spend some time actually studying the differences that do indeed exist on a massive scale. We are literally talking about living in two entirely different countries within the next 25 years or less, depending on who you vote for in 2012, and "IF" both men would be successful in delivering on their stated plans for America.
To the contrary - based on the facts of their campaigns, they are not even remotely close to each other except on issues related to some foreign policy such as how to deal with Iran. But, even on foreign policy, I'll give you another very important distinction:
-Romney, wants to directly arm the Rebels in Syria.
-Obama, wants to encourage the Rebels through diplomatic back-channels that fosters more regional support.
If heavy U.S. weapons end up in the wrong hands (like it has in decades of bad foreign policy decisions) and then gets turned on our allies, or even back on the United States, that will obviously be a huge problem. Once you uncork that bottle, you cannot put the danger back inside the bottle. So, simply talking tough about "arming" people, really has to be understood before you arm the wrong people, for the wrong reasons.
-Romney, wants to draw "red lines" in the sand on Iran, which by definition means military action in Iran.
-Obama, wants to maintain the strongest international sanctions in history against Iran, and force them to the table diplomatically.
Again, two very distinctly different paths to dealing with two very difficult problems that can get out of hand. Right now, Iran, is signaling that the pressure form the sanctions is actually working. That is why you are hearing reports that they now might be interested in coming to the table after the elections. In Syria, putting arms deliberately into the wrong hands, or mistakenly into a group that you really don't know if you can trust, is highly problematic and could easily come back to bite you in the end (how many times has that happened over the decades?).
These are very different men, with two very different messages. You have to study those differences and not allow the MEDIA to snow you. The MEDIA is NOT your friend. Our MEDIA is predicated on propaganda that best pumps their ratings. That's what they care about - ratings. They long since stopped caring about truly informing the public. They don't simply Report the news anymore. Today, they are in the business of Making news and then reporting it. Or, they Report the news but ONLY after Spinning it one way or another.
You have to dig for real news and then apply common sense to what you know.