Where I Stand #1: Domestic Policy Positions

Healthcare: I do support Obamacare, but I do not believe that the individual mandate should be kept in place and certainly should not include a fine for not having health insurance. This part of the "The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act" as the fancy name for the health care reform bill goes, would be a disaster both for middle class families and for those who choose not to get health insurance. In the end that is what this country is about: choice. This bill does not seem to provide that choice and prominent Democrats have confirmed as much by adding in the "front-loading" nature of the bill. Front-Loading? No not one of these:
Front Loaded, meaning that the bill takes in lots of revenue before any of the main benefits take place. For example the fines and insurance requirement that goes with it isn't going to be a factor until 2014. The bill raised select service taxes this year however. It's a fancy way of cooking the books to show that the bill breaks even. Just because it wouldn't unless this was done so exactly hasn't stopped the Democrats from quietly touting (Wow, there's an oxy moron) their achievement. The Republicans don't want to do the realistic thing here, no, rather they have decided to let the Tea-Party division of their grass roots do the talking and this will change nothing. I would expect them to try to repeal the bill if they retake the house. Here's the rub though, with the primary win of Christine O'Donnell the republicans have watched the senate go from a 1 seat spread to a three seat spread. Which means that if they have the house they could indeed repeal the law but they don't have the senate and the presidency so effectively there is closer to a 10% chance of repeal than anything. It is unrealistic for the Republicans to try to change the law, which is why they should try to change the law gradually rather than repeal the whole thing.

Energy Policy:
Short, sweet and simple issue for me, the congress should enact legislation placing a good deal of the research at the forefront of our energy policy. We should invest in oil production in the U.S. so long as the environment is not harmed by it. I don't mean to sound like Jimmy Carter here, but we do need to wean ourselves from the highway robbery known as foreign oil.

Taxation:
President Obama is right in this case. Forgive me if I have no sympathy for a single individual making over $200,000 or a couple making over $250,000 in a single year. I have no concept of such a high degree of wealth, and my parents made on average $30,000 a year when I was growing up. I got along just fine, a 3.6% raise in the top tax rate for the highest 2% of earners in the USA would not hurt them very much. It seems that they got over this rate during the Clinton Administration. Or the 50% rate under Ronald Reagan during his first 3 or 4 years. Or the 90% rate during the entire Eisenhower Administration. There was at least one top earner who was threatening to leave the country if the rate went back up. Those top 2% cuts are worth $700 Billion dollars by one count. Again, you'll have to forgive me, I figure that $700 Billion dollars would be better used to balance the budget than cut taxes, or in this case to keep the Bush tax cuts of 2001 that are due to expire in January 2011 in place. Remember most people make it fine on $60,000 to $80,000 a year, and the people at $200,000 (or 250,000 for a couple) are going to do just fine with out an extra $7000 or $8000 dollars.

Social Security:
Simple answer, and a short one: LEAVE IT ALONE! Find a solvent way to fund it but don't attach it to the stock market not even in the partial investment strategy that many republicans want to use (or have advocated at one time or another).

National Defense / The Military/ Etc. :
We MUST work to promote the safety and security of the United States through peaceful methods and we must try to work through the problems facing our nation from Radical Muslims around the world. Please take note: these are not the same as the VAST MAJORITY of peaceful Muslims worldwide who haven't bothered anybody. I do support the war in Afghanistan and I think that the war in Iraq was a foolhardy and silly diversion from our goal of finding Osama Bin Laden. The troops who have put there lives on the line to allow things like this blog to exist should be honored and celebrated. I challenge anybody to support the notion that the troops are killers as groups like "Code Pink" would have some on the far left believe.

Border Security:
The border must be secured because of the drug threat from Mexico as well as the threat of terrorism. The laws are on the books now and they should be enforced. Period.

Illegal Immigration:
It's Illegal so the legal consequences should apply. That was pretty simple right? Well actually yes it is. We need a sort of desert version of Ellis Island so that the poor, tired and huddled masses can come here to renew the inventing spirit of America.

Education:
Go to school where you want to. If a school in another district looks better try to get your kid in there. That's real simple, good kids do not deserve bad schools plain and simple. However speaking as a college student who gets plenty of aid I do feel that college aid should be increased, unlike conservatives such as Sean Hannity who have said in the past that they don't get how these students can accept such loans. See my tax argument above for reasons I disagree. (Hint: it's the money... )