Mainly About The Economy

Just a bit about me before I start. I am a SAHM of a college junior, a high school senior and also a junior. My husband and I have been married almost 23 years. Religiously, we are a somewhat split house. My sons and I are practicing Catholics, as of six years ago. My husband and daughter are not. We attended a Presbyterian Church when all the kids were young. The kids have attended private school almost exclusively although there were a couple of years of public middle school for the two older ones. One of the reasons we chose to go with private is because we wanted them exposed to the concepts of social justice that are not allowed to be taught in public school.

This election year is somewhat exciting for our household. Our two older children will be voting in the upcoming election and both have shown quite an interest in the candidates. It has been very eye opening to see the process through their eyes. My husband and I both generally vote republican and it appears that the kids will follow suit.

The economy is a huge topic with many of our friends. Personally, I don't feel that a political party and the way they vote is responsible for the financial crisis today. Instead, I attribute greed and the expectations of wealth over the past twenty or so years as the problem. Our parents' generation believed in hard work and the American Dream. That dream was an education, a job, (that usually included health insurance) an adequately sized home, one car and the chance to build a better life than that of their parents. Credit just wasn't used. You saved for something until you could afford to buy it. My parents had all of this as teachers and provided us with a lifestyle that was just fine for that time period. We weren't rich but also not poor.

My opinion is that the general public now expects to have the huge house, the big screen TV and twice yearly vacations but do not have the means to have it all. This lifestyle is expected and people have borrowed themselves into a huge hole. It is not the government's responsibility to rescue everyone because of bad decisions. The average person knows what they can and cannot afford based on their financial situation. You base your spending on how much you make, not how much you want to make. Yes, catastrophic things can happen to a family such as an illness, death or loss of a job. That is when there should be a place for people to go to get short term help to get back on their feet.

Regardless of your stand on the war, I think it is our responsiblity as a country to support the men and women who are serving in our military. They deserve the entire country's respect and applause and to know that we as a country are aware of the important job they are doing.

I believe that the President of the United States is the figure head of our country. He is not the one who makes most of the policies but rather it is those in our House and Senate. He is not directly to blame for the demise of our economy just as those before him were not directly responsible for the highs and lows of our economies for the past 100 years. Just as it takes a village to raise a child it takes a village to build or destroy this country.

With that said, I support the McCain/Palin ticket. I feel that they represent more of what I want and hope for this country.

I will just throw this out there to see if anyone agrees. I am all for a flat tax instead of the current income tax. If everyone paid the same rate based on their income, without any deductions, I think it would be fair for all families. I have no problem paying my share but what exactly is that. We get very few deductions, we contribute a large amount to various charities as well as help support two other households just because we feel that it is the right thing for us to do. What would happen if everyone contributes financially to the running of this country with the expectation that the government will get it's finances in order.

I promise this is the longest post anyone will ever see from me!!!!