A couple months ago I wrote why Bush may not get my vote. I'm still not thrilled with Bush but I do know I won't vote for John Kerry.  Some of my reasons for not supporting Kerry are straight forward philosophical disagreements on his views on foreign policy and his view of the role of the federal government. Others are less tangible.

So let me go through my reasons why I don't support Kerry:

1) I don't trust Kerry to be an effective leader in foreign policy.  Will Kerry see things through in Iraq or will he bail out as soon as it's politically expedient? Will he treat terrorism as a war or as a law enforcement issue? He hasn't made his position consistent on this.  In 1991, he voted against liberating Kuwait even though Bush Senior had a Security Council Resolution authorizing the use of force! I think that's a very telling insight of Kerry's view of America's role in the world. He doesn't trust US power.  He would prefer to see it channeled through the UN -- and even then only in the most dire situations.  And I don't trust the UN.  I think events have shown that it is a corrupt organization that cannot be trusted.  In short, I don't think Kerry would be an effective commander in chief.

2) Kerry would raise taxes.  If Kerry wins and gets his way, you can pretty much assume that JoeUser won't be a free blog site to the degree it is today.  Why? Because Kerry would raise taxes.  Taxes on those who make more than $200,000 per year.  That means LLCs and S-corporations which get filed under personal taxes would get taxed.  That money that goes to the government is money that isn't there to pay employees. Employees who do things like write ASP code for websites like JoeUser.com.  I think it would be a rotten economic plan for the country. Taxation is a drag on the economy. It's a necessary evil and raising it on one group but not everyone is class warfare of the worst kind.

3) Kerry seems excessively poll-driven.  I may not be super fond of Bush but I know where he stands on issues.  Kerry seems inclined to change his views based on the polls. Or he'll just say what people want to hear from moment to moment.  He wants an energy policy that moves the US onto renewable energy sources (20% by 2010 for instance). But how? It's just a warm fuzzy feel good position. I'm an engineer so I am interested in the mechanics of how a plan would actually be implemented.  Kerry doesn't support nuclear energy. And there is no other energy source abundant enough reach that goal other than nuclear energy. This is typical of his attitude - he doesn't really mean the things he says.

4) Kerry's health care proposals bug me. I am tired of paying for other people's health insurance.  I have a fundamental problem with the federal government confiscating earnings from its citizens to send over to other citizens. It's not a matter of compassion, it's a matter of personal responsibility. The federal government is not supposed to do this kind of thing.

5) I don't want to be on the side of haters. Too many of Kerry's supporters seem to be full of hate and anger. I don't want to be on the same side as Michael Moore or Susan Sarandon. Heck, I don't want to be on the same side as some of the lunatics I see on Democratic Underground or even some of the extremists I see here.

6) This is related to #5 but I fear that if the left wing loonies of the world are successful in this election they'll think they can influence elections and we can look forward to more Fahrenheit 9/11's and Moveon.org's and other such nonsense. We'll be assured that these fringe groups will be empowered. And we can be assured that every election is going to be full of pompous patronizing jerks making empty yet witty political statements every hour on the hour during the campaign cycle.

So these are some of the reasons why I could never support him. There are others that are more minor. I don't like how he turned 4 months of service in Vietnam into a centerpiece of his political career. I don't like that he's a political opportunist to an almost extreme level. Heck, I don't even like his wife.  But I might be able to deal with some of these things if those other 6 issues didn't exist.