Why are you voting or not voting for Barack Obama?

[Paul_Warren]

Well, I'm $80,000.00 in debt (50,000 in student loans +30,000 in credit card debt), live in an area of the world where there aren't any jobs and there's a lot of discrimination (I'm discriminated against because of my "character". Don't have any health insurance. Had some criminal offenses in my past which employers tend to find a risk to my employment, am not in the best of shape (haven't been employed since January so I haven't been very active either), am getting old (35+), yet I would still very much like to live the American Dream. In five years be gainfully employed, have a nice looking wife, be in better shape, be gainfully employed at a job that's not repetitive labor, have made enough progress towards paying off certain bills that I can afford to do some other things as well. So, I don't know if any of these Presedential candidates is the right one for me to vote for in my situation.  I do hear the Democrats saying they want to help out the poor and disenfranchised. But all I hear out of the Republicans is we've got to put country first, keep up the fight against the terrorists etc. I don't know. But, the psychologist Maswell on his Hierarchy of Needs states that to work on more complex ones one needs to first satisfy their basic needs. Right now, my basic needs aren't being met very well, and I would put fighting terrorists, etc, as things to do once I'm in a better place to be able to do them and I think that's what it comes down to. In my opinion Democrats represent those whom will satisfy basic needs while what Republicans seem to be more concerned with are more complex ones. When there are no jobs in the town of 1000 people that you live in and at the last job you worked you had to drive 60 miles round trip to work while watching your car wearing out, being unable to afford to have the car fixed, having to pay more and more in gas to be able to go to work each week (with gas stations not really giving you the $10.00 of gas that you payed for) ones body wearing out and really being too old and out of shape to attempt the work you're having to do anyway even though you have a college degree but made a few mistakes in life...what you want is someone whom will help you be able to meet your basic needs and give you hope for a better future.