Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States (well, hopefully)

This is copied/pasted directly from the comment I left (he he) on the politicaLDS blog this morning. It should give you a rough overview of my political beliefs and also my main rationale for my support for Barack Obama:

Hello all. It's great to see a bunch o' Mormons having a political discourse that doesn't consist exclusively of the placing of Willard (yes, that's his first name) Romney on a diamond-encrusted pedestal.

I am Rachel's husband, and while we do share quite a few political views, we arrive at them very differently. I am generally a cynical, untrusting person, but I am not a political cynic. Rachel is generally a trusting person, but is very cynical about politics. I believe the American governmental system is nearly flawless. Mind you, the government itself isn't flawless - far from it - but the Constitutional system we have is truly amazing. The proof is in the pudding; it is the most tenured consecutively running democracy (well, it's actually a republic) in the history of the planet. The Constitution provides ways to fix the problems that the people who swear to uphold it create.

I am a big supporter of Barack Obama. I have supported him for over a year now, starting way before it was "cool". I have donated to his campaign, and have volunteered to canvass for him. I truly feel he could be the transformative leader this country desperately needs. I find it extremely impressive that he has been able to be financially competitive with Hillary Clinton, despite not taking any bribes (if you call them "donations" you're kidding yourself) from corporations or lobbyists. In this regard, Clinton is just another politician, though I do generally like her and her stances on most issues.

You see, the bribes are the problem. I believe that most (perhaps all) of the problems this country currently faces can be attributed directly or indirectly to the big money in politics. It will take someone in extreme power (like a president) to take a stand on this issue, and once and for all give the power back to the people by enacting true campaign finance and legislative ethics reform.

It's all about the favors that are inevitably requisite when one take someone's else's money. I want my candidate to owe a favor to nobody but the people, as it should be.

For the politician/cynic/ranter in you...

My wife Rachel is now a participant on a new blog, politicaLDS, devoted to the discussion of politics among members of the LDS church. Shockingly, they have been able to round up a whopping *three* Mormon liberals to duke it out with the conservatives. Good discussions are going on over there already, and it just started. I'm sure I will be a frequent commentor/commenter/commentator (you decide - the dictionary hasn't yet), so stay tuned. I'll post my first comment from that blog here so you have a better idea where I stand and what gets me riled up. :)