The two major candidates in this year's presidential election are the incumbent Barack Obama (Democrat) and

Mitt Romney (Republican). Additional candidates of varying degrees of credibility include Gary Johnson (Libertarian), Jill Stein (Green Party), Tom Stevens (Objectivist), Stewart Alexander (Socialist) and James Pratas (Hawaiian spiritual healer who has been to heaven to speak with God about the pursuit of the presidency). Politically I lean pretty far to the left, some of this is undoubtedly a result of the vast quantities of research I have done through debate. If I had to vote I would probably end up voting for Obama, although realistically the ROI in any individual ballot in Georgia is so astronomically low I would have trouble persuading myself to actually get to the polls. If I lived in a swing state like Michigan, Ohio, Nevada, Florida and potentially Virginia this year I would definitely turn up to vote for Obama. While Obama has gotten a lot done during his presidency (Healthcare, START, Payroll Tax Cuts, SKFTA and hopefully Jackson Vanik) he has not been the most aggressive spender of political capital and I often wonder exactly what he is saving it for. I hope that he will drift a little further left after getting re-elected and look more critically at issues such as nuclear disarmament,

environmental legislation (I'd love to see Cap and Trade come back up, or a serious Clean Coal proposal). Reasons I would prefer Obama to Romney are varied. My main concern with Romney is that he is too weak to stand up against the louder minority of the GOP that is the ultraconservative right. I fear this might have disastrous effects on US foreign policy as well as domestic progress. Romney indicated early this year that a first-strike attack on Iran in conjunction with Israel would not be out of the question, the amount of instability this could cause in conjunction with events in Syria and northern Africa is alarming and might rapidly escalate. Add to that tenuous US-Russia relations, the failure the repeal Jackson-Vanik before Russia's ascension to the WTO, the chilling risks of violence in the South China Sea and the economic and political insecurity of Europe and you are left with dozens of potential scenarios for major and even great power wars that may arise in the near future. For this reason I feel that foreign policy is as important a concern as domestic policy in this election, even as the GOP continues to restate the "Economy First" mantra that Romney has recently embraced. An additional reason that I disprove of Romney is ethical. I feel that many of the campaign tactics recently used by

the GOP are morally repugnant and I could not see myself being persuaded to vote for him. The continuation of the birthed conspiracy by big-name PhDs like Jerome Corsi is one example. Despite the fact that Romney has publicly stated that he believes Obama to be a citizen the fact that he is entertaining these questions at all, and even encouraging them in some places, points to an enthemeatic attempt to play off fears of foreigners in the middle-lower class conservative vote. Final concern with a Romney presidency manifests itself in my fear of the recent rise of a skepticism in all things scientific and academic. Academic institutions in my opinion represent one of the most amazing places for political and ideological innovations that can make this world a better place. A trust in science is essential to enacting effective policies instead of just being dartthrowing monkeys and hoping whatever solution we come up with magically sticks. s