The One-Issue Voter

I have met many people that are voting for a candidate based solely on one issue--usually taxes or abortion--and I have mixed feelings about them because they are probably the most played voter group. They are voting on an issue that is near and dear to them but there is one important factor that candidates for office neglect to tell them: voting for that person won't end that issue. I am a little disgusted with candidates that pander to the feelings of voters in this respect because they are counting on the idea that the voter does not know that they have no or little power over the subject.

In the case of taxes, the president can only suggest a tax plan...Congress has to approve it. So unless you have been actively campaigning for Congressional candidates in enough states to back the tax plan, there is still a significant chance that said tax plan will never see the light of day, especially in the original form proposed by the candidate-elect.

The abortion issue is a bit more straight forward: having a pro-choice or pro-life president, vice-president, Senator, etc., doesn't mean a hill of beans because the only group that can overturn Roe v. Wade is the Supreme Court. Sure, the president can nominate a Supreme Court justice, but the nominee would still have to go under the magnifying glass of Congress and even then there is no guarantee that said nominee will uphold the beliefs of that president. Nothing can remove a justice except death so there is no incentive to cater to any issue. Case in point: President Eisenhower nominated Earl Warren in 1952 to be Chief Justice of SCOTUS. Chief Justice Warren played a very significant history-changing role in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, and Eisenhower was quoted as saying that the worst mistake he made in office was appointing Warren as Chief Justice. George W. Bush nominated two SCOTUS justices (John G. Roberts, Jr. in 2005 and Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. in 2006) and even though SCOTUS upheld the partial-abortion ban law, it hardly made a dent in Roe v. Wade and the odds of Roe v. Wade being completely overturned are not very likely.

So there is your Government 101 for the day. The point I am trying to make is that when you vote for someone, the focus should be on things they can actually change--not slightly influence, CHANGE. What can the president change? Our status in the Iraq War (well, technically Congress can too but they don't have the cahones to do so) and foreign policy in general are the primary things that the president has the power to change.

So make your vote based on what they can do for us.