Would I Vote For This Man??

Sen. Barack Obama will be filing the necessary paperwork to begin a presidential campaign today. Here's a quote from him: "I didn't expect to find myself in this position a year ago. I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics. So I spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress we so desperately need."

My interest is beginning to stir for the upcoming elections. I am not the kind of person who feels the need to follow strict party lines, but I typically have voted Republican in the past. I feel I have always voted for whoever I felt was the best person for the job and I will do that again during these elections.

I once sat in a church service and the pastor said that "I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, but I just can't see how you can call yourself a Christian and vote for a Democrat." Religion has nothing to do with politics and vice versa. Also as much as I am pro-life, I don't realistically think that is a good enough reason to vote, or not vote for someone.

Here are some of the major issues that I will base my decision on:

• Iraq - I want to hear reasonable, sound ideas, not "Iraq's a mess and I will fix it" or, "I'll bring our troops home."

• Immigration - As someone with first hand knowledge and experience with American Immigration, I can say without a doubt that it is a joke, not to mention a great security risk and financial burden.

• Education - Our education system is bad. I worked with teenagers for 8 years and most of them could barely read or do simple math equations. Throwing money at the problem does nothing.

We'll see what happens. I hope for good things for America in the years to come, and the decision on who our next president will be is very important.