Who should I vote for?

Who should I vote for?

I like neither major candidate. Why? Because neither party takes economics seriously. 

The Republican Party used to stand for small government. Not anymore. They used to take civil rights seriously. Not now. They used to respect science. Only if you count creationism as a science. 

The Democrat Party stands for.... I'm not sure exactly. Gay Rights? Sure. Immigration Rights? Maybe. Balancing the budget. Nope. Go read their platform. I can't figure it out.

I want to keep my money and stay our of your business. Therefore, I align ideologically with the Libertarian sentiment but they aren't electable this year. Or any year. 

So the question becomes, Who should I vote for?

Let's compare the candidates. The differences I see between Romney and Obama fall mostly in the following topics:

1. Health Care

2. Abortion

3. Gay Marriage 

If you told me that you were going to vote based on those issues, I'd think you weren't serious about the issues.  These aren't serious issues. Not to say you shouldn't take these issues seriously, but we have enough to focus on as a country that these shouldn't be the differentiating issues. 

I'll work backwards and start with #3. Marriage is an issue for the church. If a church allows gays to marry that is fine. The government shouldn't recognize marriage.  They should recognize civil unions.  All people can get married in whatever church they desire, and they can register themselves as a civil union at their courthouse. Gays should have equal legal protection.

If you don't want to allow abortion, you need to support welfare. Many wish to outlaw abortion and then to abolish welfare.  You can't have both.  Pick one or more. As a fiscal conservative, I'd rather not have welfare.  That doesn't make me like abortion. It's unfortunate and awful.

Finally to health care.  I don't think Obama and Romney differ very much in health care.  Obama's health care plan largely mirrors Massachusetts that was developed under Romney. I dislike Obama's healthcare plan for reasons that I don't think Romney will fix. And to give a modicum amount of credit, there were positives of the health care law. (For example, not allowing an insurance company to dropped you once you were diagnosed with a chronic condition.)

But what about the serious issues?

Taxes - Neither party is serious about meaningful reform. The tax code needs to simplify and expand.

Regulation - The Democrats are more than willing to allow nebulous regulations to enter the books, and the Republicans are more than willing to remove beneficial regulations.

Social Security and Medicare - Entitlements that must change.  And neither side is seriously looking at it. Ryan's plan is over the top, and Democrats insistence of keeping the status quo are equally dangerous plans.

Defense - It needs to shrink. It needs to reform its acquisition process. It needs to be done smartly. Neither side talks about it, let alone design a reasonable solution.

Education - Romney's solution is wrong, but Obama's solution is a false hope. In fact long term, 10+ years both are very, very dangerous options.  We need an educated workforce. But increasing subsidies makes schools more dependent on them and discourages administrators from reigning in costs. Costs have exceeded inflation about 3:1 in the last 25 years.  Throwing more subsidies at the problem is counterproductive. Eliminating subsidies is too.

Foreign Policy - The edge goes to Obama, only because he's done it for four years.  Not because he has a good policy or understands it.

So, Who should I vote for?

I have no idea.  It's a terrible choice. 

Now where is that "None-of-the-above" bubble.