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An anonymous reader writes in with some criticism of, well, politics in general:

I honestly don’t support truly either republican or democrat. I am a moderate . . . I personally don’t think either candidate is good for presidency. I am forced to vote republican to balance out the liberal congress and senate.

I’ll respond to some of their specific points and try to explain why voting republican is not in their best interest this election:

I, for the most part, believe that republican base values, not right wing nutism, like self control, responsibility to us and our country are important.

How much self control have the Republicans shown in the last eight years? They’ve been running up huge 400 billion dollar deficits while provoking wars that they have no money to pay for? How can you justify massive tax cuts when you can’t pay for the spending you’re doing? You don’t need a business degree to know that you can’t keep borrowing money forever. It’s also worth noting that the last time we had a balanced budget was under President Bill Clinton.

Lots more under the fold, and the full email in the comments.

We need less BS and more efficient spending of our money (both parties are guilty).

I agree absolutely. A huge source of wasteful spending comes in the form of subsidies to corporations (like Exxon-Mobil) with record breaking profits, and other groups represented by lobbyists. One of the first things Democrats did when they took back congress was to pass a huge reform bill that weakens the ties between those lobbyists and members of congress. You certainly didn’t see any of that coming from the Republican congress. Do I have remind you of the K-street lobbyist scandals (Jack Abramoff)? And of billions of dollars of no-bid contracts to Halliburton?

I’ll be the first to tell you that Democrats aren’t blameless either, but at least some of them are pushing back against this problem.

We need less laws and more common sense. We need better parents to teach our kids self respect and responsibility. This would solve most of our problems.

You’re absolutely right - the government can’t, and shouldn’t legislate values - that should be up to parents. So why are republicans giving millions of dollars of government money to religious programs that teach things like abstinence-only education? Why are republicans trying to pass laws saying who can marry who? Why are republicans wasting time trying to make “In God We Trust” bigger on all of the coins, and passing resolutions saying, in essence, “Christianity is awesome”.

The last time I checked, I was free to decide for my own family what religion my children should practice (if any at all) and to teach them about what is right and what is wrong. Republicans are the ones trying to force the government into our private lives, instead of letting parents do their jobs.

Republicans have also been at the head of the largest expansion of government power in decades. The government now reads your mail and taps your phone lines. That’s hardly the “less-laws”, “small-government”, and “individual-rights” party of old. That party is dead and has been corrupted by power-grabs at every level of government. If you’re for personal freedoms, you should be voting democratic in this election.

Thanks to Mike for editing and the links. We welcome any feedback, either through the comments, or via email at turningtexasblue AT gmail DOT com.

The full quote as received:
“Well well Michael. I see that you are getting more active politically. I honestly don’t support truly either republican or democrat. I am a moderate. Unfortunately for Hispanics that choose democratic all the way, we are giving the political party exactly what they want. We are giving them control over our rights, making us more dependent on them. Democrats crying rally is that “We want to help you”. What they don’t say is that they want us to be dependent on them. We are becoming a society with our hand out, asking for more rules on our person. We willingly give up control over what we can do by wanting legislature to make rules for us. We as a society are not taking responsibility for our actions; we want the law to do that. Soon, we won’t be able to think for our selves. We as Hispanics aren’t doing well monetarily; therefore we want more free money. Yes, let’s give welfare, but let’s make it hard to get off. Let’s encourage people to stay on welfare. Let’s punish those people that earned or are able to keep their money by charging them more taxes. Don’t tax the poor. They deserve everything free. Well, what is poor? Poverty line? 50k? 100K?

I personally don’t think either candidate is good for presidency. I am forced to vote republican to balance out the liberal congress and senate. I, for the most part, believe that republican base values, not right wing nutism, like self control, responsibility to us and our country are important. We should pay the taxes that we owe. We need less BS and more efficient spending of our money (both parties are guilty). We need less laws and more common sense. We need better parents to teach our kids self respect and responsibility. This would solve most of our problems.”