A Father's Request to Fellow FReepers

[ProtectOurFreedom]

My oldest daughter turned 18 just in time to vote in this presidential election. She is a product of a the California public school system and is attending a Western state university. I convinced her to register to vote because of the importance of fulfilling her civic duty, but she still hasn't made up her mind between Bush and Kerry. Her appetite for politics is pretty low and she doesn't have much spare time to read up on the issues and candidates because of her college workload.

How would you go about convincing her to vote for Bush? Can you recommed a short and concise summary of the candidate's positions? I especially want to explain to her how dangerous Kerry would be to our nation's survival, but she tends to dismiss any information provided by Dad as being terribly biased.

I've saved many articles over the spring and summer from many great authors and analysts like Steyn, Davis-Hanson, Henniger, etc., but it takes a person a long time to digest all these to form a coherent view of why Bush is good and Kerry is bad.

What would you do? Thanks for your help!

[milford421]

Absolutely right...if she is so ignorant, she ought not vote....

[luckystarmom]

I read somewhere that a Dad compared taxes to grades.

He asked his college aged daughter if she would like to give some of her A grade to a person failing in order to even out the grades.

The daughter was appalled at the thought of someone that didn't work as hard as her getting part of her grade.

He then told her that is the way it works with taxes. His daughter then became a conservative.

[luckystarmom]

I should have read post 37 first.

[woofie]

Bush is groovy ...Kerry is square,man.....

[PAR35]

I convinced her to register to vote because of the importance of fulfilling her civic duty, but she still hasn't made up her mind between Bush and Kerry.

You made a mistake when you encouraged her to register to vote. She obviously isn't mature enough to be making important decisions yet. If she is considering Kerry, she probably should just sit at home. You should remind her that the Democrats have introduced bills to institute the draft for college students, and that she should anticipate an interruption to her education should Kerry win.

[quantim]

Tax Cuts - A Simple Lesson in Economics.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D
Distinguished Professor of Economics
University of Georgia
 
Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day,
ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid
their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

-The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing
-The fifth would pay $1
-The sixth would pay $3
-The seventh $7
-The eighth $12
-The ninth $18
-The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant
every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.
"Since you are all such good customers," he said,
"I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."
So now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay
their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They
would still eat for free. But what about the other six, the paying
customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would
get his "fair share?"
 
The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth
man would each end up being "paid" to eat their meal.
So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each
man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts
each should pay. And so:

-The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)
-The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings)
-The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings)
-The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings)
-The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings)
-The tenth now paid $49 instead $59 (16% savings)

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.
But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I
only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the
tenth.

"But he got $10!"  "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too.
It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"
"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I
got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get
anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up.
 
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat
down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered
something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for
even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our
tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit
from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not
show up at the table anymore. There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and
the Caribbean.

[PAR35]

I would just have a lot of newspapers around so that she is well informed

You really think that liberal propaganda from the mainstream press will help her make an informed decision?

[bootless]

Thanks for posting this. Here are two threads that should give you all you need:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1247584/posts

and

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1247408/posts

[Hot Tabasco]

How would you go about convincing her to vote for Bush?

Quite simple really! No vote, no tuition, no home........

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks to all for your great suggestions and support. I've got some great ideas to run with here.

Several of you suggested I was wrong to get her to register to vote. I certainly can't agree with that. I want to get her involved with our democratic processes, learn more about civics and support our great nation. One 21 year old respondent pointed out that almost nobody at 18 understands politics and what's happening half way around the world is abstract at best. That certainly captures how I felt when I was 18 (1969). Even though the Vietnam war was raging, it was an abstsraction on the TV news every night.

All the best, POF.

[cubreporter]

Simple:

Ask your daughter why she would believe someone with the lack of character and integrity like kerry (this is not a good man) instead of her dad??????????

[VMI70]

Do what I did. I don't permit any women in my household to vote. Remember, it was the soccer slut vote that gave us Klintoon.

[freespirited]

My advice is to go easy on the policy talk, since you say it doesn't interest her. Concentrate on something that everyone can relate to--such as character. Give her a few good pieces to read on the subject, such as as "Senator von Munchausen" and discuss them with her.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=7236

[freedumb2003]

If it looks like she is going to be a leftist or an idiot, just cnvince her that her one silly little vote doesn't mean anything and she is better of not wasting her valuable time.

At least she can't cause any trouble.

[GailA]

My Alpha Male mini poodle Freedom's Rocket has more backbone than hanoi john.

[jan in Colorado]

Thanks for that great post on tax cuts. Now I have some new ammunition for my liberal neighbors.

[gitmo]

Has your daughter ever been betrayed by one or more of her friends?

If so, ask her how she felt. Did her friends apologize? Does she still hang out with them?

Then point out that John Kerry not only betrayed his brothers in the military by lying about them before Congress but he also betrayed his country by meeting with the Vietcong while he was still in uniform. He never apologized. He still won't release his military records. He may not even be eligible to run for president.

A zebra doesn't change its stripes. Once a traitor always a traitor.

I think this is the best response for a teen.

[daybreakcoming]

Go to http://www.stolenhonor.com/documentary/meet-pows.asp and buy the Stolen Honor DVD and ask her to spend an hour watching it. I don't think you will need any other argument.

[daybreakcoming]

LOL - our posts advising Dad were almost word for word. I just watched Stolen Honor tonight and I wish everyone in America would see it.