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Does It Really Matter Who You Vote For? - Aren't All Politicians The Same?

Democrats and Republicans....what does it matter? That was the tone of a comment that I just read on a post where the discussion was about the current low opinion ratings that both Congress and The President are currently receiving.

While I can understand that person's frustrations and I can even agree with him that in some ways all of the politicians, with the exception of Ron Paul and a few others, do seem to be alike. That is; money grubbing ideologs that are more concerned with lining their pockets and lining up political paybacks for as soon as they leave office.

But I do think that it does matter which political party that you support, if not belong to. If you don't believe me, can you imagine how different our world would have been if Al Gore had become President when he was elected back in 2000? While some of you may wince at this possibility, that is proof in and of itself that things would have been different.

Whomever took office after than election, be it from having gotten elected as Al Gore did or having been installed as Bush was, would have started from the same place. The dot.com bust would have had to have been dealt with. Iraq...well, if Gore had been selected Saddam Hussein would have probably still been alive and a thorn in our side, but he still wouldn't have been able to fly from one end of his country to the other without our permission.

My point is that Gore would have probably handled things differently than Bush did. Our energy policies would have been different, we wouldn't have had the tax cuts for the rich, while we may have ran some deficits, I doubt that our spending would have ran as out of control with Gore as President than it has with Bush. We'll never know, but I'm willing to bet that it would have been DIFFERENT!

So, while it's easy to shrug it off and declare that it doesn't matter which sides wins, the last 8 years have proven to me that it does matter. Bush and the neo-cons have had there way for 8 years now and look where it's gotten us?

Ronald Reagan asked the American public a simple question when he was running against Jimmy Carter. He asked, "Are you better off now than you were 4 years earlier? The public spoke and Reagan was elected.

Well now I'm asking you, are you better off than you were 4 or 8 years ago? How about the country as a whole? Is it better off than it was 4 or 8 years ago? Personally, I don't think so and I think that a lot of people agree with me. If you're one of these people, then get past the frustration. Recognize that we do have still have a voice.

Voting for a Democrat is a vote against the status quo. It's a vote against the policies of the last 8 years that have favored big business and the wealthy, not to mention the same policies that have driven our country to the point of bankruptcy. Is this next election going to wrestle our government back from the big corporations? I doubt it, but it's a step in the right direction!

The fact that it's a step away from the failed policies of the Bush administration is enough of a difference for me! Get out there and vote! Volunteer for a campaign. Do your best to get your voice heard

R.B. "Bob" Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Bob Mitchell is president of ValueList Real Estate Services, St. Louis' largest discount/full-service real estate and mortgage company. If you would like to find out more about Bob, ValueList or our flat-fee listing program, please feel free to visit our web site at valuelistre.com

Posted by Bob Mitchell - Realtor St. Louis on 07/15/2008 03:58 PM

Comments (27)

obama for president, your vote matters, voter frustration

Post is included in group: The Economics of Real Estate
Post is included in group: Blatant Politics

27 Comments on Does It Really Matter Who You Vote For? - Aren't All Politicians The Same?

JUL

2008

I refuse to vote for either national party. I will find the candidate that I feel is best and vote...but not the top two...they are pandering.

Team DiMuria: I understand your frustrations....I too wish that there were more parties that have a chance to win that we could choose from, but in this election...after the last 8 years....I'm going to vote for the Democrat on the hopes that it's the best way to bring about real change. Thank you for your comment!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Bob,

I say be careful of insertion of too much politics into AR. I understand your frustrations but I'm on the opposite side although I won't be voting for McCain (who is a dem.) But yes I'm much much better off than I was 8 years ago. It's hard work and tenacity..not our politicians that determine our future. And it's easy to blame Bush (yes he's done his part) and his neo-cons..but part of this came directy from his predecessor. Ya know...my husband is from St. Louis...his dad feels the same way..Are all St. Louis folks liberal Democrats or is there a good mix..just wondering.

Please tell an engineer with a doctorate who spent 6 years doing post-graduate work getting that degree that all they need is “hard work and tenacity.” Many in fields like that have routinely worked 80 hour weeks only to have their jobs outsourced or an H1B replace them for half the salary. These people are NOT better off then they were 8 years ago and would not think kindly on that kind of self-righteous statements. I know – because I’m one of them – although my doctorate was focused in biomedical science (immunology and genetics.)

Most people from large cities are liberal because they are smart and sophisticated and understand how markets really work. The only thing that keeps republicans in office is the electoral college that skews the votes towards areas of low population.

And yes, it does matter who is president...that much is obvious. This is the first time I'm voting pure party line. Dems all the way. We need to flush out the laissez faire economic disaster that Bush and conservatives have foisted on the American people.

I'm with you. I intend to vote the Republicans OUT if I and millions of others can do it.

Bob, I usually enjoy your posts and I will say you are engaged these days but there is an AR Group called "Blatant Politics". This would be a good post there.

JUL

2008

Holly: I appreciate your advice and have debated with myself about if it was a good idea to let my political believes be publically known. The facts of the matter are that by the time I had thought about this, I had already been published and a couple of my articles were picked up by national media outlets.

Another wild thing is that a good percentage of my clients have been very conservative with a few of them having originally contacted me BECAUSE of a blog or one of my articles. The end result is that I'm always careful not to degrade to name calling and to always have my arguments ready to back up what I publish.

Regarding your point about being better off, I agree with you that hard work and tenacity can help you to better your situation. I would go as far as saying that it is pretty much a requirement unless you do it the old fashion way and inherit your wealth...or have enough capital to make it work for you.

That said and as RuthMarie points out in her comment, hard work and tenacity doesn't guarantee you squat! Especially, if the field isn't level! Under Bush and the Neo-cons, the field hasn't been level and the vast majority of people who are in the lower 70% of income earners would probably answer that question in the negative.

For example (I read this statistic the other day, but have forgotten where it was), adjusting for inflation, people in the lower 20% of income earners are earning $100.00 a month LESS than they were in 1979. At the same time, folks in the upper 20% have quadrupled their income (again, adjusted for inflation).

Folks in the middle have increased their income during this time period, but are working something like 8 hours a week more than they were then. Factor this in and they've lost ground too!

While I was a big Bill Clinton fan (oddly enough one of the reasons that I liked him so much was that he actually listened to Alan Greenspan and did something about deficits) I will admit that the economy had started to turn down when W. took office. That being the case, I can agree with you that part of what we're dealing with now still has Bill's fingerprints on it, but, in my opinion, not much of it does! George W. and his posse are the ones who've driven our economy to the brink of bankruptcy!

Lastly, St. Louis has a mixture of folks. We've got our bluebloods and we have our poor people. Politically, we've elected John Ashcroft as our governor, but then voted for a dead man who beat him in his run for the Senate???? Go figure? Thanks for your comment! ;-)

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Ruthmarie: As I pointed out in my response to Holly's comment above, I'm a big fan of hard work and tenacity....that said, you can work your butt off to no avail if the cards are stacked against you. The Constitution requires our government to treat each of us equally and this simply hasn't been the case for a long time now...especially for the last 8 years where the wealthy and the big corporations have been feeding at the government trough at the expense of the little guy!

Regarding how the Republicans have stayed in office, I'll give them credit. They've been masterful in getting people to vote against their own interests. Want a good ole boy in South Carolina to vote for you, tell him that the Democrats are out to get his guns! Want a fundamental Christian to vote for you even though you support tax cuts for the richest 1% of the people in our country while increasing taxes for the rest of us? Tell her that the Democrats are baby killers.

Fortunately, I think that people are FINALLY starting to realize that they've been fed a line of crap! That said, not all that the Republicans have done has been bad. Our welfare system was broken and was set up in such a way that people could become trapped in it and it if weren't for the Republicans forcing the change, there wouldn't have been one! Thanks for your comment too!

Barbara: Thanks for the support!

Keith: Thank you for your kind words and I did post these to the Blatantly Political group.!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Be careful what you wish for you just might get it. You have liberal glasses on. Wait and see what the do nothing but complain liberals do when and if they get into office. I hope you will be proud when they do, and do nothing like Nancy Pelosi. Promises promises, but they have a new catering staff, and baseball thanks them for all the hearings!

Nicholas: The funny thing is that I'm not really a liberal. I'm more of a fiscally conservative/socially responsible Democrat. I don't believe in welfare programs or even big government, but I do believe that the government has certain responsibilities to bear.

The most important of which is making sure that everybody has a level playing field to play on. With the Republican's over the last 8 years and even with Reagan and Bush I, this wasn't the case. Big Businesses and the wealthy people who controlled them have been allowed to run wild!

Defense contractors and Oil companies have been allowed to feed at the government trough and it's gotten to the point where their parasitic behavior is threatening us all! It's time for a change!

Thank you for your comment!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

JUL

2008

I do believe all politicians are the same in one way or another. They work for a country that's run by Cooperate America and they are only puppets.

Robert Swetz

Robert: Are you really saying that Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are similar in more than a few ways? I'll admit, that most politician do come off as being puppets of Corporate America, but not all of them. And even while they do kiss up to Corporate America they are still different on how they approach the issues.

Take drilling in Anwr for example. The Republican's generally want it and the Democrats generally don't. I think that it's a stupid idea, therefore I'm going to start leaning towards being a democrat.

Welfare on the other hand. Well, if it weren't for the Republicans we'd still have the same broken down system that gave bad economic incentives that actually encouraged people to stay on welfare. In many ways, it actually "trapped" people. The current system is far from perfect and I do think that the Republican position on certain parts of welfare reform are kind of heartless, but at least now people have an incentive to get the hell off the dole!

Health care and Insurance are another issue that the Republican's are way too heavy in leaning towards big corporate America. The democrats are leaning towards the people....Another point for the Democrats...

Hope you see my point!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Bob, I do agree that in many ways the parties are the same. They just each have their own set of special interests.Republicans are controlled by corporate america, democrats are controlled by the teachers unions and the liberal media. My problem is that I will never vote for a baby killer.In my opinion that immediately puts your integrity at a level not worthy to lead this great country.

JUL

2008

Yes, I am better off than I was 8 years ago. I continue to meet my goals every year regardless of what party is running the country.

To me, a vote for the democrats is a vote against entrepreneurs and the spirit in which most of us conduct business.

There are similarities to both parties. However, the big ticket items are what I base my vote on and I will NEVER vote democrat as long as that party continues to back abortion rights.

JUL

2008

Cheri': Congratulations on your success. I do think that you are the exception to the rule though. From just about every objective measurement; household income, debt service, access to health care, etc. etc. most people have lost ground during the past eight years.

Personally, I disagree with you that the Republicans are better for entrepreneurs due to their overt favoritism of "Big" business. If you don't believe me look at the resources that are earmarked for big business vs what are earmarked for small businesses. While small businesses do the heavy lifting in our country as far as job creation and innovation, small business doesn't get anywhere near the amount of support that it should.

Instead of giving tax breaks and outright subsidies to the oil industry (which has been experiencing RECORD profits) why don't they toss some of those bones to us small business people out there!

Lastly, regarding the abortion rights, I can understand your position on that. While I'm pro-choice, I can understand a person's moral objections to the procedure and especially to government funding of the procedure. I don't agree with that position, but I can understand it.

While how you vote is your business and your business alone, I don't know that allowing one particular issue to blind you to all others is such a good idea. I'm against gun control....or more accurately, I think that gun control is the ability to hit what you're shooting at...but I don't allow the fact that a lot of democrats are in favor of limiting our rights to bear arms to cloud my judgment regarding the democrats over-all. Thank you very much for your comment!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

JUL

2008

Bob, I'm one of those people that doesn't just go with a party because I've joined that team and feel I owe them some misplaced loyalty. I look at the issues, weigh which ones are most important to me and I vote based on that. If I weigh the differences in the two candidates I can honestly say there isn't much difference on the little issues especially with McCain being a liberal Republican.

The big issues with me right now are Abortion, gun rights, taxes. If I throw in with Obama I know he's for abortion, against gun ownership and for higher taxes. I believe in taxing all people equally. If they weren't using "my" tax dollars to fund things that should not be govmt funded then they could easily lower my taxes.

I don't think the govmt should be throwing anyone a bone. NO ONE. I don't believe it's the govmt's job to help businesses be they big or small. The fact that big corporations are favored is annoying at the least. Big corporations are doing less and less for the American people. They are outsourcing jobs and raking in our cash. If you ask me, they should have to pay a fine for giving away American jobs. Seriously. For every position they give away to another country they should have to pay a hefty tax that would deter them eventually from outsourcing jobs. They have one foot in America and another in India, etc. That is wrong. It's like the hispanics people complain about that are here to make money but send it back to Mexico. These corporations don't care about America. They don't care about Americans. The bottom line is....how many millions can the ceo rake in a year. Well, it's time to take back America and I don't see a plan for that from either candidate so I have to set my sights on the remaining issues.

Cheri': You're right that the candidates are very similar on a lot of their views, with the differences being mostly at the margins. That said, the margins are where things add up. After 8 years of big business and rich people first, I'm ready for a change.

Regarding taxes, I think that the government wastes a lot of money and could do a better job of spending the money that we send them. I do however think that there is a legitimate role for government in providing for the general welfare, especially when it's a commodity that the free markets either don't provide or don't provide in an adequate amount. Defense and roads are the two classic examples of this. To me, Health care and education are two more that should be considered "public goods".

Supporting small businesses would be another public good because of the job creation that we bring about, so I disagree with you that small business shouldn't be thrown a bone every once in a while.

The outsourcing of jobs is a big issue that deserves it's own post.

One question for you though, did you look at Ron Paul as a candidate?

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

JUL

2008

Yes, I did and I'd vote for him over what they are offering us now.

By the way....I probably don't understand what you mean about "throwing them a bone".

If you mean in the way of tax cuts...I'm all for that.

Cheri': I'm not a big fan of tax cuts because you have to be either wealthy or able to hire someone to figure out the tax code for you...I'm a pretty smart guy who actually has some experience with taxes (I'm a certified preparer in addition to having underwritten them for mortgages) and I can't do my own taxes being a small business.

What I meant by "throwing them a bone" is having programs where the IRS actually helps a small business person set up a system to be able to do their taxes or has advisors to turn to if there is something that they come across that they don't know about, etc. Maybe even set asides for government contracts.

As it is now, I've actually seen net worth requirements increasing in order to bid on government contracts or to become FHA approved, etc.

You may be right that government needs to stay the hell out of it all, but as far as I'm concerned if the government is going to be in bed with big business, they should be willing to help small businesses out too!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

JUL

2008

I personally think the govmt needs to stop bailing out big business and start being harder on them.

Unless this election is going to be really close, I probably won't vote for either candidate for President. Both Obama and McCain sorry candidates in my opinion. Are these really the best 2 people in the entire country to be President. I don't think so.

As for Al Gore, I don't think the economy or much else would be different if Al Gore were President except that we wouldn't have invaded Iraq. 9/11 still would have happened. High fuel prices still would have happened. The housing crisis still would have happened. Income taxes would be sky high.

Al Gore had zero interest in the environment during 8 years of being Vice President - what changed is that he got out of politics and environmentalism became his new calling. If he were President, he wouldn't have gotten into the environmental movement most likely.

That's my take on it anyway.

JUL

2008

Rob: Interesting take on things. I don't know that it's true that he didn't have any interest in the enviroment while he was vp though. From what I understand, he had the entire vice-presidential house redone to make it a lot more greener.

Which is odd if you think about it in that now Dick Cheney lives in what might be one of the greenest houses in America! Kind of ironic, isn't it?

Also, if we hadn't of invaded Iraq, we wouldn't be running as huge a deficit as we now are and the dollar would presumably be stronger. Being that a weak dollar is one of the reasons that oil is so high, I don't think that gas would have gone up as much as it did.

As far as McCain and Obama being weak candidates, I don't know that is true either. Obama, at least, has sparked some real enthusiasm and while he don't have a ton of experience in executive roles, maybe that's what we need right now??? We'll see. Thanks for your comment.

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Ruthmarie, you are an idiot, just like the rest of the democratic faithful. Bush merely continued on the path old billy boy clinton paved for him. Bush got us through ridiculously tough times, and now we need another level headed Republican in office to make this country the best it can be...if that flip flopping horses-ass obama gets into the office of president, watch out...change is comming, and it won't be anything for the good.

JUL

2008

The party doesn't matter. It comes down to our system and American's. Most people who want to change the system will never get voted in anyway.

Our governement wether Republican, Democrat or non-conformist need to uphold the consititution and let our US currency stop falling. This is rediculous. The Fed is stealing money from American's and we are debating over party differences. The US economy and system weakens as China grows stronger. That is a fact.

Ron Paul seems to be a breath of fresh air. If Ron Paul actually upholds what he says, then he may could be good for America. Unfortuantely, I think American's would rather bury our heads in sand and ignore our national debt, purchasing power and fiscial irresponsibilities. He actually addresses Social Security too. And people thought Perot was off his rocker!

Jon: Come on man, no need to start name calling....it actually makes you look bad, not Ruthmarie.

As far as the rest of your comment goes, there is a certain amount of truth to what you say about Bush continuing a lot of what Clinton had started....I didn't say that he was ALL bad, now did I? ;-)

The rest of what Bush has done has been terrible. He and the other neo cons couldn't have done a worse job of stewardship of our economy if they had tried. Corky the clown could get elected and he would do a better job!

Ryan: I have to admit, that in many ways that I agree with you. While I'm pro-choice and Paul isn't, I'd vote for him if I thought that he had a chance of winning. I know that is a catch 22, but that's how I feel. If McCain gets in and the Republican power structure has another 4 or 8 years, I fear for our country! Thanks for your comment!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.

Jon; Bob was Right, Obama isn't a horses ass, he is jack-ass, isn't that the symbol of the Democrats party? Seriously, he is a Poverty Pimp if he is anything!

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