Top 10 reasons NOT to vote for Barack Obama

It was beautiful last Sunday at the CSU Oval. The leaves were yellow, crisp, and falling like feathers behind a light wind that could barely be felt. Over 50,000 people were going crazy and filling every available patch of grass that the Oval had to offer while many more were forced to stand behind steel barriers and police barricades. Music was blaring over the strategically placed speakers and a large stage displayed the biggest American flag I've ever seen behind its temporarilly lonely podium. I felt as though I was experiencing a true reconstruction of the 60's or 70's - I felt as though I was in the scene of a movie like "Forest Gump" during the anti-Vietnam rally. Then Barack Obama appeared and gave his speech to the excitement and frenzy of the crowd. And although his speech was obiously rehearsed and replicated many times throughout his campaign across the country to generate support, it was still an experience that I'll never forget.

At this point, you may be scratching your head as to why I'm writing a 'Top 10 reasons NOT to vote for Barack Obama' piece if I attended his rally last weekend. Well, it's interesting because I am a Barack Obama guy - I'm a teacher, I'm somewhat forced to vote for him (which I already did). I'm writing this piece because I have a lot of friends and family members who are John McCain supporters, and being McCain supporters, they have a plethera of reasons to not vote for Obama. Worse yet, they actually believe what they are saying is true. These are the "best" reasons that some McCain supporters (that I know) could come up with for not voting for Barack Obama - and keep in mind, the people who said these things weren't trying to be funny or ridiculous, they were dead set that these things were in fact true and they would argue until they were blue in the face to try and convince you of their validity.

Top 10 Reasons NOT to Vote for Barack Obama:

10. "I'm not voting for him because he's a Democrat. All you have to remember is that Democrats take money out of your pocket, and Republicans put money in your pocket."
MY RESPONSE: Actually, Obama will put more money in the average person's pocket than McCain will. McCain will keep things the way they currently are while Obama wants to give tax breaks to everyone who makes under 250,000$.

9. "[Obama's] not getting my vote because he's all about the special interest groups...if elected, he's going to give our hard earned money back to special interest groups."
MY RESPONSE: Alright, a little bit more legit on the outside, but what this poor McCain supporter doesn't understand is that McCain and the Republican party considers the entire branch of education a "special interest group". So yeah, by those standards, Obama will give "special interest groups" hundreds of millions, the most that any President has ever given to "special interest groups" in the history of the United States.

8. "He's not getting my vote because he'll take my guns away."
MY RESPONSE: Actually, if you do your homework, his gun policy is the same as McCain's.

7. "Normally I'd vote for [Obama], but I'm a Packers fan and he's a Bears fan...I can't vote for a Bears fan."
MY RESPONSE: Because in the grand scheme of things, that matters, right?

6. "How could anybody vote for [Obama]? You know that he's just lying. If he gets elected, the first thing he'll do is raise taxes - he's just outright lying."
MY RESPONSE: Uh-huh, you keep telling yourself that pal.

5. "[Obama supporters] are stupid. Don't they realize that if we elect a black man, [foreign countries] won't trade with us anymore and the economy will really be screwed."
MY RESPONSE: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. "Who could vote for a murderer? By supporting gay rights, Obama is killing thousands of potential babies."
MY RESPONSE: Oh my...I'm not even sure how to handle this one. Perhaps this person would have been better served with the 'he's a murderer because he doesn't oppose abortion' approach.

3. "All these Obama people are under his spell. He's not getting my vote - he's a dark jedi and his mind powers won't work on me."
MY RESPONSE: Who would win in a lightsaber fight? Darth Vader or Barack Obama? We better not give George Lucas any ideas, before long it'll be in the theaters.

2. "If [Obama's] elected President, he'll cut military spending and Russia will invade us."
MY RESPONSE: !!!!!!! Russians huh? Even if the Cold War were still going, this still wouldn't sound right. If you're going to believe that we're gonna be invaded if Obama is elected, it might sound a little better if you said the Chinese.

1. "I won't vote for him because he's Barack Obama."
MY RESPONSE: Well, I guess if he's anything, he's Barack Obama, so that's as good a reason as any.

So there you have it. The Top 10 reasons NOT to vote for Barack Obama. I guess my point with writing this piece is to encourage people to get out there and educate themselves before casting their vote. Clearly it may be a little too much to ask for the 10 people above, but look beyond the attack ads and the radio banter. Know why you're voting the way you are so you don't end up on a list like this. So many - it seems - really have no idea what each candidate stands for and they vote based on the affiliation of 'Republican' or 'Democrat'. Get educated or please don't potentially effect the lives of those who are educated by voting.