What are you really afraid of?

Many Idahoans really fear that Obama/Democrats will take power. From time to time I ask my acquaintances, both personally and in the blogosphere, what’s so bad about Obama/Democrats? What is it you fear? I pretty much get just two answers. Either it’s that more abortions will occur, or that they will raise taxes. A variation of the latter is “get government off our backs and out of our way.” Of course, that means no taxes, no regulation, with regulation being a form of tax because it costs money to comply and because complying with regulation causes lost business opportunity. It doesn’t mean keep government out of my bedroom. So, it’s either about abortion, or money.

Polls consistently show that the majority of Americans are comfortable with the abortion status quo, as stated by Roe v. Wade. It’s a huge issue for the religious conservatives, but not so big to everyone else. I’ve never heard a single Democrat, and certainly not Obama, say “We need more abortions. Let’s find a way to have more.” No, the common statement was coined, I think, by Bill Clinton: “Let’s keep abortion safe, legal and rare.” I think that’s pretty main stream. Thus, if Obama/Democrats take power, the sky won’t fall regarding abortion.

Turning to taxes and regulation, Obama has said that yeah, he’ll let tax cuts for the very wealth expire, but he’ll give tax cuts to the middle class. His plan has been confirmed to do this by independent economists.

Even if taxes go up a bit, and even if regulations are imposed, I think we’ll all be better off. Here’s why. Look at our current economic crisis. When I got back from deployment in late 2005, I had a fair amount of money saved up. I went to an investment advisor, invested with moderate risk, and watched the investment grow a bit. As of today, I now have less money than when I started with in 2005. So I’ve lost all the gain and am worse off than if I’d have stuffed it in a mattress.

In fact, I’ve now lost more money than I’ve paid in taxes during the same period. So it seems to me that had government been on the backs of banks and the investment community a bit more, my gains might not have been as high, and I might have paid a bit more tax to pay for the regulators, but overall I’m pretty sure I’d be ahead. I wouldn’t have lost ground. I and my kids wouldn’t have a share of a $700 Billion Wall Street bailout. The whole country would be better off.

So really, what’s to fear? What could be worse?