Do I want more or less?

Last night I watched the debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.  I found it frustrating and hopefully I never watch a Vice Presidential Debate again.
 

As I watched the debate I noticed that both candidates love to throw out numbers that made their policies seem to be better then other guys.  Often their numbers directly conflicted with each others.  So what is a person to do?

• Give up and get out of politics.
• Research the facts and see which one is correct.
• Use some sort of other factor to pick which guy you like better.  For example use the persons style, mannerism, looks or humor to determine which guy is more honest or trustworthy. 

You can't give up on voting.  Too many people have died to protect that right for you.   

Forget checking the facts and the rhetoric.  If you check them out you will likely find out that nearly all of them are correct but the candidate is just using them to slant your views towards his set of facts.

Using another factor isn't really that reliable.

I would suggest a fourth method. 

My suggestion is that you find out where the person positions are going to take America.  Find out what the person's view on government is.  Let me give you a specific example.  Size of government.

Do you believe the government should get bigger or smaller?

One side Joe Biden clearly thinks the government should help people.  If people are in trouble a government program can get them out of that trouble.  Don't get bogged down in specific programs and actions.  Those issues come and go.  What doesn't change is Biden's approach. 

Next year my daughter is going to college.  College is expensive to pay for.  Joe Biden thinks the government should do something about that. 

On the other side Paul Ryan clearly thinks government is as big as it needs to be and you get the feeling that he would like to shrink it.  He seemed to say if you are on a current program you should be O.K..  But if you want a new program he likely isn't going to help.  I got the impression that might even get rid of some of the current programs.

Next year my daughter is going to college.  College is expensive to pay for.  Paul Ryan wants to lower my taxes so I can afford to pay more.

Obama and Romney's opinions match their running mates opinions. 

During the Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton administrations taxes on all American including the wealthy were cut and the economy grew and revenues went up.  In all cases congress passed the tax cut and the president signed them in to law.  In the case of Reagan and Clinton congress was controlled by the other party. 

So the issue of taxes is secondary to spending.  It is the size of government that matters.  Politicians will continue to play with the rates and the deductions.  Few of us know what our tax rate really is.  But whether or not you you like big government or want a smaller government it is pretty easier to tell the differences between the two sides. 

Don't get me wrong.  Both will try to make it sound complex and make the other guy seem to care less about you but the bottom line is one believes in government solutions and the other doesn't.

If you don't like the issue I choose to use in this comparison them feel free to pick another issue.  You might choose to compare positions federal regulations for land use, education system, gun laws, ag policy or any other issue.  I bet if you stop and think about you can figure out which side Biden is on and which side Ryan is on.  It's not hard really. 

Bottom line.  Don't sweat the details, worry about the big picture.  The issues continually change but the "solutions" or approach never does.

Please vote.