Down to the wire

In the last week of the election, the polls are showing the race tightening, and it is looking more and more like the election will come down to the wire.

Since the weekend polls showed Barack Obama leading by margins of 12 and 8 percentage points by Zogby and Rasmussen respectively, those leads have shrunk to 5 and 3. So, why is Obama not gaining in his margin? After all, John McCain is a Republican, and the current president is a Republican. Therefore, McCain will just make the problems worse, right?

Well, quite simply, no. The American people are starting to truly understand Obama’s economic policies, and they are wondering if he is the savior they once thought he was. With the ailing economy the most important issue for many voters, the question of whose policies will help the economy will likely be the deciding question of the election.

This is where “Joe the Plumber” saved the election for John McCain.

Joe the Plumber got Obama to say what no one else before had gotten him to say: that he wants to “spread the wealth.” In order to do this, Obama wants to raise taxes on the upper income earners in this country. However, Obama has proposed $1 trillion in new spending, but has not told Americans how he will pay for it. Now that we know Obama’s true beliefs on the economy, it is not a stretch to say that more taxes will have to be raised to pay for an Obama presidency.

If we raise taxes on corporations and small businesses, how are they going to maintain their current number of employees and offer the same benefits, all while paying higher taxes? The answer is they will not. Companies will have to start cutting benefits or even start cutting jobs.

If the next president of the United States raises taxes and increases the size of the government, these actions will prevent the economy from getting back on course.

These are not the economic policies we need during these troubled times.

McCain, on the other hand, will cut taxes for everyone in America. In opposition to Obama’s plan, McCain’s plan will stimulate and grow the economy by creating jobs and increasing investments.

Lowering taxes on all corporations and small businesses creates an incentive for production by allowing companies to buy more resources and hire more workers.

Lowering taxes on all individuals lets Americans keep the money they already earned so that they can spend, invest or save it as they see fit, not as the government sees fit.

When companies have more money to increase their capital and hire more workers, and when individuals have more money to put back into the economy, the economy grows.

This was proven during the Reagan administration when he lowered taxes. By the end of his eight years in office, 20 million jobs were created and tax revenues doubled.

Let us allow the past to teach us that when the economy is failing, a course of lower taxes and smaller government is the remedy the country needs. Obama’s plan is not the right plan. McCain’s plan is.