The 5 Reasons to Re-elect President Obama in 2012

NOTE: I had to delete some comments from this page. The reason was because I responded to these comments in another hub "The 5 reasons not to re-elect Obama and my response to them" and Hubpages was saying that this was a duplicate even though it was over 60% new material. I know I will get criticism for it. So it goes. Even after I took this step, Hubpages moderators still would not publish the hub. So I have reposted the comment at the bottom of this page and will address the "complaints" in a new hub called 'The Five Big Lies About Obama."

This is not a plea to conservatives, the ideologically rigid, those that believe the president was born outside this country, those who believe he is the Antichrist, those who think gay marriage is a bigger threat to our Democracy then the slow slide into a third world economy that has been happening to our country over the last thirty years. This is a plea to the disillusioned Democrats who feel the President has not done enough. This is a plea to the large number of moderate and independent voters who helped make up the president's over 69 million vote mandate in 2008. This is a plea to the almost a million Americans who voted for Ralph Nader or Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney in a symbolic show of their rejection of the two party dichotomy.

We do not have the luxury of symbolic gestures. We do not have the luxury to choose ideological purity over decisive action. We do not have the luxury to vote from an uninformed position, choosing merely to punish a President who has been fighting for us all of this time, for not being able to clean up a situation in four years that was over thirty years in the making. We cannot afford to reward a party that has pushed the country to the brink of ruin in favor of trying to win the Presidency back at all costs. Many people all over the country have already seen the results of Republican solutions to our economic meltdown in Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida. Hopefully this will be enough of a warning to make them realize of how much importance this next election really is. There are five consequences that I think should be enough alone to re-elect Obama but I present all five. If these reasons are not enough to persuade most thinking Americans then I greatly fear for the future.

1. The Citizen's United Supreme Court Decision

These words should terrify any thinking American: "Corporations are People." the idea that a collective of people should have the same sovereign rights as individuals is one that people from both sides of the political spectrum should despise. In fact, they do.

No matter what else you say about Ron Paul he is honest and he can't be bought. Unfortunately, this not true of any of the other people seeking the Republican nomination. They are all corporate hacks. If one of them becomes President they will probably get to name at least one person to the Supreme Court before their first term is over. This means that a court that is already made of of five people who think corporations should have rights and free reign on our democracy, could become a court that contains six people that believe such nonsense. (or at least stay the same.) Any reasonable person who isn't a billionaire should consider this enough to want Obama, a president who appointed one judge who voted against the ruling and who publically spoke out against it, to have the opportunity to appoint more judges to the high court.

This is not a partisan issue. In the highly likely event you are one of the 80% of Americans who are opposed to this decision your best chance to keep our country from becoming a corporate dictatorship is by voting the President back into office. Republicans can hold onto the hope of Congressman Paul winning the primary, but failing that, the lesser of two evils is very clear. Obama is the choice that we must pick and even a principled conservative should be able to see that. Republicans oppose this decision almost as much as Democrats and Independents. The only way to get your party to listen to your will is to show them that it is unacceptable and the best way to do that is to vote for a candidate who does not share this dangerous ideology.

2. Obama can decrease the national debt if he gets re-elected if he just does nothing.

Democrats have lobbed criticisms at Obama for not repealing the Bush tax cuts, while at the same time the Republicans have been hammering the President over the national debt. Poll after poll have shown the American people in favor of tax increases on the wealthy, while the Republicans going out of their way to make sure even billionaires don't get an even slight increase in their taxes. A recent poll shows 66% of Americans in favor of raising taxes on Americans making more than $200,000 a year and 70% in favor of higher corporate taxes.

The Bush tax cuts are set to expire shortly before our next president would take office. While there is no guarantee that Obama won't cut a deal that will extend the cuts even further, he has already made statements that he will refuse to do so. One thing is clear. Whoever the Republican nominee for President is will most certainly extend the tax cuts and our national debt will continue to grow out of control, while the gap between rich and poor continues to grow wider. This is an issue where large majorities are once again on the President's side. Refusal to support this President in his fight to restore the top marginal tax rate to the Clinton era, the last economically prosperous period in our nation's history, shows a lack of common sense that we cannot afford.

3. We will return to the same military attitude that got us into Iraq.

Are we talking about Libya anymore? That is because this President knows how to handle military operations. He hasn't left Afghanistan or Iraq fast enough for most people's tastes but at worst his military policies are only comparable to Republican policies and in quite a few cases they are much better. Obama got Bin Laden in just a few years when Bush couldn't in two terms. No major terrorist attacks have occurred during his Presidency while the worst ever occurred during Bush's first year in office. We can return to the era of tough talk and no results. We can return to the era of recklessness that got us involved in Iraq and looking toward Iran. We can waste another 4 trillion dollars that would be better spent rebuilding our economy. Or we can make a more rational and informed decision.

The popularity of Ron Paul in the Republican Primary is partially a result of opposition of US foreign policy across party lines. The rest of the GOP hasn't got the memo. America is sick of war! And they want a more sensible and nuanced foreign policy. Obama can deliver that to you. Whatever failings he may have as a president, his opponent will be worse.

4. Whoever the Republican nominee is will probably raise YOUR taxes.

One of the most baffling things about the criticisms of Obama is how he has been portrayed as a tax raiser while slashing taxes for the middle class and not laying a hand on the tax rates of the wealthy to compromise with the Republicans. The average American makes somewhere between $30,000-$50,000. If you are reading this chances are you fit into that bracket and probably somewhere below the $250,000 line that Obama has proposed tax increases on. If you are making over $250,000 a year it is safe to say that you can afford a tax increase. Unfortunately the Republicans disagree and would rather give even richer people, millionaires and billionaires, another tax break while increasing the tax burden on the rest of us, even in hard economic times.

Many Republican candidates have already proposed a national sales tax in order to raise revenue rather than raising taxes on the rich. They also wouldn't dare cut subsidies to oil companies or other companies that don't need it. They would rather tax middle class Americans to help prop up the oil companies. Herman Cain has already proposed a plan that would raise taxes on most Americans while giving the rich another 24% tax cut. The Republicans are so brazen in this ploy that they put it in writing, counting on you not to read it or care.

The Republicans aren't anti-tax. They will be happy to raise taxes on the middle class and poor in most cases. They just don't want you to dare touch the rich, the corporations that bankroll their campaigns and keep them in power. So the choice between Obama and his Republican candidate won't be between a pro-tax liberal and anti-tax conservative but over which group of people is going to take the hurt.

5. The Republicans Have No Plan

Other than a constant pitch for tax cuts, something that Obama has compromised with them over and over again, the Republicans have no plan. When the Senate leader of a party says his goal is to make Obama a one term president, not get America working, not decrease the debt, not help the middle class get back on track, there is a huge problem. Voting a Republican back into the White House will be letting the lunatics run the asylum again. There are smart principled and innovative Republicans out there. Too bad we never get to hear from them because the party leadership constantly tries to drum them out.

Whoever the nominee is, they will be a person looking backward and not forward. For many people that seems to be what they want but the hard fact is we can not get back to the way things used to be. The only constant is change and we need to look forward to where we want to be. Wherever that is, it isn't where the Republican party is right now,