As the clock ticks down to election day, if you’re still on the fence even just a little bit, allow me to tell you why I’m voting for Barack Obama and I think why you should as well.

Taxes
While both candidates have proposed tax plans that would give cuts to large groups of Americans, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, Barack Obama’s tax plan would give a majority of those cuts to those who make the least, while John McCain’s would give a larger percentage of the cuts to the wealthiest Americans.

John McCain has gone around calling Barack Obama a “redistributionist,” which is funny, because you know who else was a “redistributionist“?

Mark 12: 38-44 — But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything— all she had to live on.

If progressive taxes — which have been the foundation of our tax policies for more than 100 years — were good enough for Jesus, well, they’re good enough for me.

That’s the thing that gets me. If you’re a member of the middle-class and you are struggling — and aren’t we all — then you’re voting against your own self-interest by casting a ballot for John McCain.

Defense
I’m not going to lie, I support(ed) the war in Iraq. I have friends who’ve been there and I think the mission was just — from a policy standpoint and a humanitarian one. I also strongly believe that the surge is working and that we need to finish what we’ve started.

I’m sure you’re scratching your head now, because that last statement makes me sound like a McCain supporter. Truth be told, if that were the only issue to vote on, I’d be voting Republican.

All that said, I don’t think John McCain has a monopoly on the wisdom necessary to be Commander-in-Chief of our military. Barack Obama has said from the beginning that Afghanistan should be our focus. That view that seems quite prescient now as the war in Iraq hasn’t netted the gains we’d hoped and the mission in Afghanistan seems to be stuck in neutral.

The “Culture War”
John McCain used to be a maverick. He was a fiscal conservative and a hawk, all while favoring the rights of states to decide issues like abortion and gay rights. Personally, I support a woman’s right to choose and the fundamental right to marry for any two people who wish to do so, but I appreciated the fact that John McCain — who has always been pro-life — understood that not everyone shares his opinion, and that people should be able to make their own decisions on this issue.

When McCain got within sight of the White House he sold out. He picked Sarah Palin — whose opposition to women’s and gay rights are well noted — to appeal to the worst elements of the Republican base. As far as I’m concerned, with that pick and the way he’s allowed his advisers to conduct much of his campaign, he lost any credibility he had with moderates.

In allying himself with the Sarah Palins of this world, he put himself squarely on the wrong side of the cultural issues that I feel strongly about. If you have a child and what them to grow up with the freedom to make choices about their own body or marry the person they love — regardless of their sexual orientation — then your vote needs to be for Barack Obama.

Experience
No doubt John McCain has more experience than Barack Obama. Again, all things being equal, if this were the only issue we were voting on, my support would be different.

Let’s be honest though, if McCain — a two-time cancer survivor with a health disclosure document that went on for 110 pages — should die in office, we’re stuck with Sarah Palin. She can harp all she wants about her “executive experience,” but running the Alaska is a far cry from running the country.

What makes it especially scary is how she’s displayed an utter lack of ability to understand the finer points of domestic and foreign policies. We seem to be obsessed with mediocrity in this nation. We’re fascinated with the idea that any one of us could be the President. I don’t want just anyone to be the leader of the free world. I want someone in MENSA. I want someone with an elite education and the intelligence enough to understand the finer points of the complex issues that face our nation each day. I want someone with the temperament to make decisions based on reason, with the wisdom to listen to those around him and yet with the courage to stand by his own convictions when he knows he’s right.

For those reasons, I will vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden tomorrow. I hope you will too.