One Man's View - Worth Reading Discussion Topic @ AdlandPro Community

One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:54:42 GMT

Hi Everyone

I am passing this email onto you for your consideration as you make your choice for the next President of the US. Thank you.

This is very well written and I recommend everyone take a little
time to read this entire write-up. You won't be disappointed!

Dear Friends:

My name is Joe Porter. I live in Champaign, Illinois.

I'm 46 years old, a born-again Christian, a husband, a father, a small
business owner, a veteran, and a homeowner. I don't consider myself to be
either conservative or liberal, and I vote for the person, not Republican
or Democrat. I don't believe there are 'two Americas' - but that every
person in this country can be whomever and whatever they want to be if
they'll just work to get there - and nowhere else on earth can they find
such opportunities. I believe our government should help those who are
legitimately downtrodden, and should always put the interests of America first.

The purpose of this message is that I'm concerned about the future of
this great nation. I'm worried that the silent majority of honest,
hard-working, tax-paying people in this country have been passive for too
long.

Most folks I know choose not to involve themselves in politics.
They go about their daily lives, paying their bills, raising their kids, and
doing what they can to maintain the good life. They vote and consider
doing so to be a sacred trust. They shake their heads at the political
pundits and so-called 'news', thinking that what they hear is always spun
by whomever is reporting it. They can't understand how elected
officials can regularly violate the public trust with pork barrel spending. They
don't want government handouts. They want the government to protect them,
not raise their taxes for more government programs.

We are in the unique position in this country of electing our leaders.
It's a privilege to do so. I've never found a candidate in any election
with whom I agreed on everything. I'll wager that most of us don't even
agree with our families or spouses 100% of the time.

So when I step into that voting booth, I always try to look at the big picture and cast my vote for the man or woman who is best qualified for the job. I've hired a lot of people in my lifetime, and essentially that's what an election
is - a hiring process. Who has the credentials? Whom do I want working for me?
Whom can I trust to do the job right?

I'm concerned that a growing number of voters in this country simply
don't get it. They are caught up in a fervor they can't explain, and calling it 'change'.

Change what?, I ask.

Well, we're going to change America, they say.

In what way?, I query.

We want someone new and fresh in the White House, they exclaim.

So, someone who's not a politician?, I press.

Uh, well, no, we just want a lot of stuff changed, so we're voting for Obama, they state.

So the current system, the system of freedom and democracy that has
enabled a man to grow up in this great country, get a fine education,
raise incredible amounts of money and dominate the news and win his
party's nomination for the White House - that system's all wrong?

No, no, that part of the system's okay - we just need a lot of change.

And so it goes. 'Change we can believe in.' Quite frankly, I don't
believe that vague proclamations of change hold any promise for me. In recent
months, I've been asking virtually everyone I encounter how they're
voting. I live in Illinois, so most folks tell me they're voting for
Barack Obama.

But no one can really tell me why - only that he's going
to change a lot of stuff. Change, change, change. I have yet to find one
single person who can tell me distinctly and convincingly why this man
is qualified to be President and Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful
nation on earth - other than the fact that he claims he's going to implement a lot of change.

We've all seen the emails about Obama's genealogy, his upbringing, his
Muslim background, and his church affiliations. Let's ignore this for a
moment. Put it all aside. Then ask yourself, what qualifies this man to
be my president? That he's a brilliant orator and talks about change?

CHANGE WHAT?

Friends, I'll be forthright with you - I believe the American voters who
are supporting Barack Obama don't have a clue what they're doing, as
evidenced by the fact that not one of them - NOT ONE of them I've spoken
to can spell out his qualifications.

Not even the most liberal media can explain why he should be elected. Political experience? Negligible. Foreign relations? Non-existent. Achievements? Name one. Someone who wants to unite the country? If you haven't read his wife's thesis from Princeton, look it up on the web. This is who's lining up to be our next First Lady? The only thing I can glean from Obama's constant harping about change is that we're in for a lot of new taxes.

For me, the choice is clear. I've looked carefully at the two leading
applicants for the job, and I've made my choice.

Here's a question - where were you five and a half years ago? Around
Christmas, 2002. You've had five or six birthdays in that time. My son
has grown from a sixth grade child to a high school graduate. Five and a
half years is a good chunk of time. About 2,000 days. 2,000 nights of sleep.
6,000 meals, give or take.

John McCain spent that amount of time, from 1967 to 1973, in a North
Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp.

When offered early release, he refused it. He considered this offer to
be a public relations stunt by his captors, and insisted that those held
longer than he should be released first. Did you get that part? He was
offered his freedom, and he turned it down. A regimen of beatings and
torture began.

Do you possess such strength of character? Locked in a filthy cell in a
foreign country, would you turn down your own freedom in favor of your
fellow man? I submit that's a quality of character that is rarely found,
and for me, this singular act defines John McCain.

Unlike several presidential candidates in recent years whose military
service is questionable or non-existent, you will not find anyone to
denigrate the integrity and moral courage of this man.

A graduate of Annapolis, during his Naval service he received the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. His own son is now
serving in the Marine Corps in Iraq. Barack Obama is fond of saying 'We
honor John McCain's service...BUT...', which to me is condescending and
offensive - because what I hear is, 'Let's forget this man's sacrifice
for his country and his proven leadership abilities, and talk some more
about change.'

I don't agree with John McCain on everything - but I am utterly convinced
that he is qualified to be our next President, and I trust him to do
what's right.

I know in my heart that he has the best interests of our country in mind. He doesn't simply want to be President - he wants to lead America, and there's a huge difference.

Factually, there is simply no comparison between the two candidates. A man of questionable background and motives who prattles on about change can't hold a candle to a man who has devoted his life in public service to this nation, retiring from the Navy in 1981 and elected to the Senate in 1982.

Perhaps Obama's supporters are taking a stance between old and new.
Maybe they don't care about McCain's service or his strength of character, or
his unblemished qualifications to be President. Maybe 'likeability' is
a higher priority for them than 'trust'. Being a prisoner of war is not what
qualifies John McCain to be President of the United States of America -
but his demonstrated leadership certainly DOES.

Dear friends, it is time for us to stand. It is time for thinking
Americans to say, 'Enough.' It is time for people of all parties to stop
following the party line. It is time for anyone who wants to keep America
first, who wants the right man leading their nation, to start a dialogue
with all their friends and neighbors and ask who they're voting for, and why.

There's a lot of evil in this world. That should be readily apparent to
all of us by now. And when faced with that evil as we are now, I want a
man who knows the cost of war on his troops and on his citizens. I want
a man who puts my family's interests before any foreign country.

I want a President who's qualified to lead.

I want my country back, and I'm voting for John McCain.

Joe Porter

*******************************
An added note.... recently my cousin was visiting from Texas. I knew
that she had been for Hillary, and now since a vote for Hillary was no longer
an option, I wondered if she was going to cross over with her vote. At a
family gathering on the 4th of July, I asked her, 'Since you can't vote
for Hillary, who are you going to vote for?' She smiled and answered, 'Obama.'

I asked why, and she said, 'Because I like him.' But what are his
qualifications for being President of the United States? ... and she
repeated, 'I like him.' End of story.

I was flabbergasted. 'Because I like him' is a good reason to vote for homecoming king, not for President of the United States. I have the feeling that there are so many others out there,... thinking, smart people, .. who are for Obama for the most shallow, not thought-through reasons.

He speaks well, he is articulate, he has very good writers and handlers.
But he really has no track record....or perhaps to be more accurate, his Senate track record is so far out in left field that he has left the stadium and is in the Starbucks across the street. He's an unknown factor.

There are huge red-flags that are being ignored.

This is scary. ...and what also upsets me is that I will only
pass this on to friends that I'm sure agree with me, because my friends
who don't go ballistic when they hear the truth.

We really need to be on our knees about this coming election.

Created By: myname57

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:53:00 GMT

Hello Sandy,

Thank you for sharing this article with us. I have sent it on to all my friends. I agree with this man 100%.
We need to wake up and vote without fail before this right is taken away from us too.

God Bless
Gaby

Created By: 321095

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:53:18 GMT

HI Sandy:

Thank you so much for this post. I am very proud to say that I intend to vote for John McCann. I posted this article about John McCann a few months ago. I though this would be a good place to post it again. Thanks Sandy!

John McCain's remarks about the Pledge of Allegiance In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate: 'The Pledge of Allegiance' - by Senator John McCain 'As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room. This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home. One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian. Mike came from a small town near Selma , Alabama . He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed. As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing. Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt. Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event. One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it. That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could. The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country. So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world. You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.' 'I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'

Created By: 358251

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:34:31 GMT

Hello Bev

Thanks for coming by and thank you for posting this story. It brought tears to my eyes.

I seem to re-call this story, but can't remember where. I'm glad you brought it back to our attention

Created By: myname57

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:28:03 GMT

Hi Sandy,
Just wanted to thank you for posting this.

Created By: 301149

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:56:46 GMT

Created By: nicksym

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:46:35 GMT

Hi Mary & Nick

Thank you guys, you are great. I love the graphics, and really appreciate your support and especially your friendship.

Again, thank you

Created By: myname57

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:29:43 GMT

Thank you Gaby. I think this is one I will try to get around the country as many times as I can, until we get McCain voted in.

Created By: myname57

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:48:16 GMT

Thanks Sandy,

As your neighbor in Canada, I observe the process with more than casual interest.

I agree totally with the viewpoint presented. (I just don't get to vote!) From my perspective, Obama may make a wonderful head of state with his skills as an orator and statesman. However, McCain has the solid skills and demonstrated stability to lead a country.

Best wishes for a successful outcome in your Presidential election!

Dennis

Created By: agent88

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:32:04 GMT

Thank you Dennis, for coming by and posting and for your very welcomed support

Created By: myname57

Re: One Man's View - Worth Reading

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:59:38 GMT

'One Man's View' on our Upcoming '2008 Election' for President. Folks if you have not read this, please come by now and check it out.

We really need to be on our knees about this coming election.

We really need more people like this one, coming forward.

Created By: myname57