And the Difference Between the Candidates is...?

Paul McKeever, a Canadian SOLOist, has an outstanding article about the two US Presidential Candidates. I particularly like this snippet:

"McCain condemned the “me-first, country-second crowd”. He said he intends to honour the Stanley family for their sacrifice of their son. He told a touching tale of how he used to to do things “for [his] own pleasure; [his] own pride”, and how he “…didn’t think there was a cause more important than” himself. He explained that, thereafter, he discovered “the limits of [his] selfish independence”, learned that “no man can always stand alone”, and found that “nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself”. In short: it is right to sacrifice others, it is right to sacrifice oneself, and sacrifice will make you happy. Shorter still: dying makes one happiest of all.

Obama carved a path in the opposite direction, not referring to “sacrifice” at all. Instead, he explained, the “promise of America” is “the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper.” Obama explained that that promise “…has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west…”.

The difference is astounding. Whereas McCain says it’s right to sacrifice of oneself, Obama says it is right to move where you will be kept by others."

Truly revealing.

However, I'm going for McCain in this one. Although, like his Democrat counterpart, he pays lip service to altruism, he:

a) wants to lower taxes in general; whereas Obama is all for raising taxes across the board (disgustingly, to the applause of many of his supporters), and the redistribution of wealth.

b) wants to continue fighting the War on Terror, which is, at best, something Obama is trying to avoid (even though McCain and Palin seem to be justifying the War on Terror as "God's plan" -sounds similar to jihad?)

With candidates like these two, I can see why most Americans don't vote.