What McCain Needs to Say: Part 2

My friends (you know he's gonna say it), the American people are faced with a choice not between two candidates, but two philosophies. One- that of my opponent- holds that government should exist in loco parentis, so that it should take care of its citizens from the cradle to the grave. Like children you are not competent to make decisions about housing and healthcare, energy consumption and how you are going to spend your money for yourselves. Such a view means that like a parent, the government will determine what it deems good for you and enforce it. It punishes success and rewards dysfunction.

Senator Obama, who has a lifetime pattern of surrounding himself with people who dislike America all the while he was availing himself of all it had to offer, speaks of America as if it is irretrievably broken, as if it is a third world failed state. This is his vision. His change is not any kind of reform. The Senator seeks no less than to change the American system as we know it. Take his much vaunted healthcare, another massive entitlement program. Our system is flawed, yes. But is the answer really to take away choice? To force small businesses, many of which are suffering greatly and are barely making ends meet, to insure themselves. Now Senator Obama says the government will give you 50 percent. That's all well and good, but where is the other 50 percent coming from?

And his tax proposals. The Senator knows that truly wealthy people will find loopholes he hasn't even dreamed of. The brunt will fall on people who have studied and/or worked their hearts out for decades. Nowhere in his calculations are local taxes. At present, many of these people pay 50 percent of their income in taxes. Think about that: they work an entire half year without making a single cent. Where is the incentive to become a doctor, or lawyer, or small business owner? Now my opponent maintains that 95 percent of American taxpayers will get a tax cut. Since 40 percent do not pay taxes, what does this mean? Many who do not pay receive checks from the government. So is this increased subsidy another version of welfare? It is certainly income redistribution.

And what about the big corporations? Our corporate tax rate is one of the highest in the world. Raising it will lead to increased outsourcing and job loss. Many corporations no longer manufacture in the United States. They export their customer service overseas. Why wouldn't they move to say, Ireland, which has an 11 percent corporate tax rate? The truth is that at a time when we need every job we can get, we need those very corporations. The opposition has repeatedly jeered that the "trickle down" effect doesn't work. Well, I ask you, have you ever seen anything "trickle up"?

Yes, we have difficulties. But it is not our overarching philosophy of freedom and opportunity that is broken. It is the very government Senator Obama would empower that is broken. Think about it, my friends. Yes there are many, deep problems in our economy, much caused by the twin evils of government intrusion into the private sector where it doesn't belong and lax enforcement of the regulations where it does. Think of the congressional leadership. Is this what you want for America?

Now I believe deeply in the promise of America. I have fought for it. And I will continue to fight the excesses and corruption of big government. I will reform our financial system. But I will fix what is broken, not insinuate a revolution in the sheep's clothing of "change." I seek reform; my opponent seeks a mandate to change the system.