Every four years we grind out a presidential election. It is sometimes a battle between parties, sometimes a virtual three ring circus. Most of the time most voters are casting their vote for one of two reasons. Either it is for a candidate or, more usually it is against a candidate. However, in this year of 2012, we are faced with a quite different reality. This time  it is more about the future of our nation and particularly the state of the union over the next decade and whether, or better, who will survive and in what condition will they find themselves. The presidential election for 2012 has implications for so many on so many levels. It is more than an election. It is, indeed, a choice of monstrous importance and of frightening consequences.

On the one hand, we have the incumbent Democrat.

While there are some flaws in the path that the President has taken, the intent to bring this nation back on to some level of an even keel is clearly evident. While he has been criticized for increasing the debt, one must acknowledge that, as did FDR, the administration rightfully found it necessary to spend in order to stimulate. According to Professor Joseph Stiglitz, noted economist, former Vice President of the World Bank and professor at Columbia University, “… no national economy practicing austerity policies has succeeded in turning around economic crisis.”During the past three plus years, the administration has made some progress on a domestic agenda, in spite of calculated gird lock in Congress.We have seen the passage of the Affordable Healthcare Act which, while it has some issues to be worked out, does or will in fact open the doors to health care for millions who previously could not afford care, assuming SCOTUS doesn’t screw it up. We saw subsidized COBRA for the unemployed with an extension of benefits to ninety-nine weeks – a provision only to be reduced to fifty- nine weeks by the GOP controlled House, causing over 230,000 unemployed to lose benefits in June 2012.We saw the Lilly Ledbetter Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act , passage of the the Dodd-Frank Act, the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau, the Violence Against Women Act ( blocked by the GOP in the House) and the rescue of the auto industry. In the face of blatant obstructionism on the part of the GOP, there are some things to celebrate.

And one MUST present the picture of what the economy was at the start of this administration in January 2009

After a period of Democratic control , with fiscal controls engaged, a reduced debt level, we had an actual budget surplus, At the end of FY 2000, a Democrat finally not only balanced the budget but handed over at the close of his term, a budget surplus of over $237 billion dollar surplus. By the end of FY 2001 -September 30, 2001, the Bush Administration had already decreased that surplus to  $127 billion, having incurred a $33.52 Billion dollar deficit by year’s end – ( source- CNN Money and other sources ).  Through fiscal policies which included unpaid for massive tax breaks for the upper 10 % of income earners ( costing to date over 2 trillion dollars ), an unpaid for wars in two theatres  (in Iraq alone the bill was $829 billion, covered by loans to the Overseas Contingency Fund ) and unpaid for pharmaceutical plans, the previous Republican administration  added 71.9 % to the national debt,  bringing the debt to over $11.2 trillion dollars. This was the fiscal starting point in January 2009.

On the other side of the coin is the GOP presumptive nominee. This is a  highly successful venture capital business executive who specialized in take over profiteering to gain hundreds of millions in profits. Acknowledging there were a number of companies who succeeded under Bain Capital, many were destroyed and the taxpayer was left holding the bag for pension funds. Is this the type of model we wish for government ? Remember Hoover and his business model ! This is a candidate who is already on record as unequivocally supporting the Ryan Budget Plan- one which would eliminate Medicare and replace it with a “Supportive Voucher” plan, forcing seniors to go to the private insurance market for coverage ; one which would cut Medicaid by $810 Billion and block grant it to the states with the provision to opt out entirely. A plan, which according to the CBO, would in fact add over $240 billion to the debt. A plan which would make permanent the Bush era tax breaks (costing to date over $2 trillion in revenue ), sacrificing even more revenue at a time when it is needed he most. And one needs to ask the question, do we want someone in the White House who wants to eliminate EPA, Commerce and Education ? One who at one time supported universal health care with the individual mandate but now is adamantly opposed ?  One who believes that if you can’t afford college, shop around for a cheaper style of education ? One who believes that the auto industry should have been left to crash into bankruptcy ?  Should government be all about profits? And all this while maintaining Cayman Island and European bank accounts to avoid paying taxes.

It should be clear where this will go and I fear that, paired with widespread political ignorance and wholesale misinformation flooding the media, along with an extremist far right anti government mentality gaining more and more traction,  this nation will continue down a road to perdition. But that’s my take and, in the end, the decision is up to each individual voter and huge money special interests notwithstanding, that still remains the CHOICE !