Future Redbirds

About that ad on the sidebar

Some of you I’m sure have noticed the Mike Huckabee ad on the sidebar. If I didn’t feel so strong about this, I wouldn’t be posting it on this site and you’ll probably never see another post like this again. If politics isn’t your bag, or you’ve already made up your mind, then feel free to tune me out. These are my views, and may or may not be shared by AZ or anyone else who’s contributed to the site.

Living in Iowa, I had to pick a candidate earlier then the vast majority of the American population. I consider myself an independent and I’ve voted for candidates of both parties for different offices before. Huckabee caught my attention with his brilliantly hilarious commercial “Huck and Chuck Facts”. And Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse a candidate, he tells you how it’s going to be! Any politician paying money to quote Chuck Norris facts on air with the man himself is pretty cool in my book. I then started to pay attention to him in the debates. The press had written him off as a niche candidate- the pro-life, evangelical choice of home schooling moms and churchgoers. Normally that would turn me off, but hearing his answers that were delivered with candor and heartfelt sincerity drew me in.

Huckabee is much maligned by the “Wall Street” crowd of conservatives, that’s a plus to me. Like I said, I was a bit standoffish of Huckabee, but looking at his record and his consistent stance on the issues made me realize he is more then a former Baptist minister. I now see the plus to his preacher background and how that ties to him not fitting in with the fiscal conservative crowd. He’s dealt with people from all different walks of life, and he has compassion for everyday Americans. Mike wants average Americans to go higher and not just corporate interests or partisan politics. And that perspective is lagging in the Republican Party these days. Here are some of Mike’s stances that made him my favorite candidate:

-His support of the Fair Tax. Our current tax system is preposterous, as most of us already know. Here’s some of my personal experience: Every quarter at my fabulous and exciting job I qualify for around a $1,000.00 bonus. And with every bonus, the government penalizes my hard work by taking over 40% of it away. How does this make sense? With the Fair Tax, that sort of stuff will be gone. It will un-tax the poor. It will bring transparency to our tax system. There’s a lot more to it then that I don’t have time to go into, but you can find out more at fairtax.org.

-As governor, Mike also cut taxes and fees and left a surplus of $850 million. He has signed a pledge promising not to raise American’s taxes. Not bad for someone beat up by the Beltway Boys and has been labeled a liberal.

-When it comes to education, Mike believes children should be left and right brained trained. With the emphasis so much on math and science nowadays, a lot of kids are bored. He values the arts as being essential to a child’s education, as a parent I like that.

-Mike was endorsed by Jim Gilchrist of the Minuteman Project and will be use tough love in treating the situation of illegal immigration. He also understands that it shouldn’t take 13 years to get to come here legally, and has vowed to make our nation one where everyone can hold their head up high and not feel they have to slink around in the shadows. Having lived in Oklahoma for 5 years, I can tell you illegal immigration is a big problem. Mike understands that while it’s great we live in a country that people are trying to break into and not of, they need to get in line like everyone else.

-He’s been criticized for saying George Bush having an arrogant bunker mentality. I think he’s honest and I find it cool that he’s not one to toe the line. Our foreign policy has been shaky at best. Our national guard has been spread too thin and families have been hurt by these long tours of duty. I believe Mike knows we need to give our troops the resources to win and to let the generals run the war in Iraq, not the politicians. Huckabee and I disagree on whether we should be in Iraq in the first place, but I do not agree with the notion of pulling out and leaving the region to terrorists.

-He also strongly disagreed with the federal and local governments revoltingly awful response to the Hurricane Katrina situation, and being the governor of the neighboring state he helped 75,000 victims, putting people ahead of paperwork while the federal and state governments were in meltdown mode.

- As a guy who didn’t know how to say no to some good fried chicken and cornbread, Mike was given ten years to live from his doctor. He worked hard to get his weight under control, and he personally understands that an ounce of prevention is better then government funded pounds of cure. He will work with the private sector and others to make our system a “health” system, not just a health care system.

-He is the strongest candidate on 2nd Amendment rights. I’m not a big gun buff, nor do I currently own one. But I have had the experience of coming home to a burglar in my house before. Thankfully he didn’t take anything, but he uttered out threats to my wife and me and from some telltale signs on our garage, he did try and come back and carry the threats out. People have the right to defend themselves.

-He is by far and away the strongest pro-life candidate on the ballot. I’m not a single-issue voter, and I hate how the Right panders to churchgoers and portrays itself as having a monopoly on morals. That’s a load of blarney. But for Huckabee I believe he’s 110% sincere regarding being pro-life. It’s funny how much more pro-life you become when you become a dad; maybe that’s just me.

Is it because he’s been the benefactor of the Colbert bump? Is it that he’s Chuck Norris approved? Is it because he’s a Cardinal fan? Yes, yes and yes. But it’s also because in my view, Mike represents to me someone who is genuinely cares for all Americans. He seems like an everyday, affable guy who I could relate with, even joke around with. Mitt Romney strikes me as a panderer who will say anything to get elected, even if it means distorting and flat out viciously lying about his opponents. I can’t stand the man. John McCain seems to be credible because he’s so independent and is a war hero, but I see him getting chewed up in the general election after watching his last pitiful debate performance. I have listened to Hillary and Obama and I am not sold, Hillary strikes me as being too polarizing and although I admit Obama’s talk of “change” is refreshing, it comes across like a lot of hype and light on substance, but again, maybe that’s just me. Huckabee was the governor of Arkansas for a little over 10 years and has more experience then anyone running, and he has effectively worked with both sides of the isle to get bring change, so much so that Time magazine rated him as one of the our country’s best governors. Iowa is a lot of things, but it’s people aren’t stupid, I believe Huckabee won our caucus because he had the time with us to get his message across. Don’t let the media spin this as a 2-man race for the Republicans. Elections shouldn’t go to the man willing to spend the most money. If you’ve already made up your mind, then that is totally fine. But if you have not, I highly encourage you to take a another look at Huckabee.

Since I know politics are a hot button issue, I have turned the comments off. Again, these are alone my views, and you don’t have to agree with them to get along with me, that is for sure. I’m a pretty open-minded guy, or at least I fancy myself as one. You can always email me at eriknmanningATgmailDOTcom if you care to agree/disagree.

Huckabee/Colbert 08!