Elections 2008

Soon is the time we’ve all been waiting for. In less than 24 hours we might know the results of the Presidential elections of 2008. According to the recent polls the democrat Barack Obama is leading (touch wood) before the republican John McCain. As far as I’m concerned, the majority will vote democrat here in California. My host family is as much democrat as one can be. By organizing a big Obama fundraising dinner, which contributed to his campaign with $ 20,000, they’ve done as much as they can to help.

As a democrat, Obama has got more liberal opinions on many of the issues of current interest than McCain, who as a republican is more conservative. Maybe a little bit influenced by my host family and the people they associate with, but also based on my own thoughts and opinions I’m hoping for a democratic victory – I’m hoping for a change. After following the debates every now and then and listening to where each candidate stand on each issue there are some that are more distinct than others.

Whether gay couples should be able to adopt children is one controversial question. McCain opposes this while Obama supports it. Some people claim that a child is given a better adolescence with one dad and one mom, but you can’t take that for granted. A child’s childhood doesn’t depend upon the gender of its parents, nor their sexuality, but on the love it’s given during that period of time. McCain is a but head when suggesting that gays should be denied an adoption.

Personally, I’m against death penalty. I think it’s unfair to sentence someone to death, when there is even a minimum chance that this person’s verdict is incorrect or mistaken. I also believe in improvement of the human being. Even though you’ve committed a crime, you deserve a second chance. I’m not sure if this agrees with every case; imagine that they would catch Bin Ladin and give him a second chance without further notice. Might not be the best idea. However, Obama supports death penalty, but only for certain crimes. McCain, on the contrary, wants to expand the federal death penalty, which I think is scary.

Obama also supports restrictions on gun ownership while McCain completely opposes gun control. Only last week I heard about a boy who committed suicide by shooting himself in the bathroom in his school after being bullied by his friends. This happened in Los Angeles. How did he get hold of that gun? It’s not too hard in today’s society when a lot of Americans have a gun in their home for “self defense”. Why do they have to protect themselves from? There are too many irresponsible persons that can buy guns which constitute a threat to the society…

I doubt that I will be able to concentrate on anything else but the elections tomorrow. I will return with more information tomorrow, after the final result has been revealed. I hope it will be good news!