Sadly, as America approaches this presidential election in the midst of our most serious challenges since the last world war, this week we hear about William Ayers and Charles Keating and all the reasons why the opposite candidates are unqualified to serve the nation.

But frankly, I no longer care if John McCain breached his own ethics two decades ago. Nor do I care if Barack Obama served on a charitable board with a University of Chicago professor who was a mad bomber in the 1960s. Nor should you care.

What we all should care about, is what ideas we trust to lead America through the many challenges that confront the nation.

John McCain speaks as though the concept of American Imperialism is one he still embraces as the last remaining superpower. McCain is ready to assert American power in Iran, and perhaps even in Georgia, based upon his rhetoric. I am not ready for the continuance of an American military dominance of the world. Nor do I believe the continuance of “no talk” diplomacy makes any sense. You must decide whether you wish to support Sen. McCain in his posture towards the world.

McCain also seems not to be committed to the social safety net. He tells us we must freeze our budget except for defense. But in that budget are programs that fund food for the hungry and heat for those without, and, in these very hard times that cannot be humane or compassionate.

McCain tells us we must revise Social Security and Medicare, reducing their benefits. But I cannot agree with valuing an annual military budget equal to that of the rest of the planet while we hurt our seniors.

That value, of a huge military budget over our seniors is not a choice I can support. You must decide this as well.

We can no longer avoid the recognition that the richest Americans have gained most of the benefits from the Bush economy, from Hedge Fund managers making $400 million annually and paying 15 percent tax when I pay 28 percent, to schemes to hide over $70 billion a year in evaded taxes by the richest Americans while I am expected to pay my taxes under penalty of arrest.

If there was a class war I can report to you that the middle class lost. But Sen. McCain instead thinks the Bush tax policies were so good he wants to extend them. To do so will give the nation a deficit of $3 trillion over the next decade, while taxing those who live off of dividends at half the rate people who work for a living pay.

Sen. McCain sees the medical crisis in America and tells us market forces will work it out. But market forces have bought us the most expensive and unequally distributed health care program on the planet, along with insurance companies that refuse to cover sick people and cancel those who are too expensive. And while our deductibles rise, our co-pays jump, the costs of drugs far outpaces inflation, and more and more employers demand higher contributions for less and less coverage, Senator McCain tells us these same people can fix the problem. I do not believe that.

Sen. McCain promises us he will appoint more judges like Scalia and Thomas, but is that what the country needs? This is not about Roe, it is about Supreme Court judges who consistently rule in favor of Big Business and Big Government and against our individual rights. We cannot afford more of these judges.

Vote on the issues this November.