Plan for Change--part 1

I do not tend to read much on the candidate's websites...but a friend has been pressuring me to do so for quite a while and so I hopped on Barack Obama's website.

I clicked on the 'issues' tab and picked up the very first issue listed--civil rights.

According to the website, the main problems are as follows: Pay inequality, hate crimes on the rise, efforts continue to suppress the vote, and disparities continue to plague the justice system.

1. Pay inequality
I actually find little to argue with on the issue of pay inequality. If it is happening, it definitely should be stopped. This is an issue for the federal government to deal with and should be a priority. The problem for this type of legislation is that it is somewhat difficult to determine whether discrimination has taken place. A man and woman in the same job usually do not have the same work experience, the same work ethics, or work habits.

2.Hate Crimes on the Rise
According to the official FBI website, the FBI "does not recommend comparing hate crime statistics from year to year".

Furthermore, Barack Obama's website says "The number of hate crimes increased nearly 8 percent to 7,700 incidents in 2006." What they do not tell you is that the number in 2005 just happened to be the lowest total since 1995 (and numbers aren't readily available before that point). So the Obama campaign implies that there has been this sudden rise in hate crimes, when 7,700 is the middle statistic for the last decade. And as despicable as hate crimes are, that's 7,722 for over two hundred and ninety-nine million people, or .002 percent.

3.Efforts continue to suppress the vote
Barack Obama's plan says that he will impose harsh penalties on those who commit voter fraud and provide voters who are misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote. A couple of different questions.

How do you interpet misinformed, inaccurate, and incomplete information? Couldn't that argument be made for every single campaign ad on boths sides? We could argue that McCain's attacks on Obama don't present the full picture on Obama's good traits (which really do exist) and that his attempts to associate Obama with Ayers is misinformation. (which the Obama campaign has repeatedly stated) On the other side of the coin, we could argue that Obama's ads attacking McCain as against stem cell research don't present that fact McCain supports stem cell research but opposes growing embryos simply for the stem cells.

A law like this would create a disaster of partisan politics and attacks all over our election system.

I do support any effort to impose harsh penalties on voter fraud and believe that these should be enforced to the fullest extent.

4. The disparities in the Justice system.
Obama points out that Hispanics and Blacks are twice as likely to be searched, arrested, and forcibly subdued when stopped by a police officer. Obama's plan calls for logs to be kept of stops so that biases can be detected and states that 83 percent of Hispanics and Blacks felt that the force used against them was excessive.

Um, maybe I'm just niave, but most people don't like being arrested. And the other problem is that Blacks and Hispanics have higher PERCEIVED crime rates than other races. The average person thinks a Black or Hispanic is more likely to commit a crime. Is it racism? In a pure sense, it sure is! Is it common sense? Given what we see in the news, it sure is! The average police officer probably realizes this to a greater extent than we can ever see from our recliners.

The fact is, I agree with Barack Obama on some issues, but his plans just do not seem grounded in reality to me. His stated goals are as admirable as anyone else, but I can't see his methods actually working. But read on....