I used to consider myself a republican, I used to even defend Bush when my then Canadian Compatriot, now my wife, used to blast Bush.

I was a republican because I believe in personal responsibility and accountability. I don’t believe in hand outs, big government or even affirmative action. I believe in opportunity.

In the past eight years I have seen our country fall economically and felt it first hand. Credit card companies and banking institutions started to suck people dry with carrot deals that many fell pray to. I don’t know how people can ignore the term predatory loans or Credit Card companies APR that doubled and tripled, not because of a missed payment to them, but a whole list of reasons that even when inaccurate cannot be reversed.

As a country we attacked the middle class and made it harder and harder for them to exist. The country of opportunities did not look like it anymore. With the republicans in power the size and reach of the government grew and grew and most of my fellow republicans started to justify all of the moves that contradicted the basic ideologies of the party.

When Katrina happened I was deeply saddened. I even mentioned Obama back then as someone that was speaking the truth very clearly. The land where I used to think there was no absolute poverty showed its ugly face.

During my professional career I have worked for a lot of Health Care institutions, sometimes in the technical realm and also as a translator and interpreter. I had the opportunity to learn not just about how the hospitals work, but also about the insurance companies. I also know what the percentage of what is done there has to do with money vs actual patient well being.

I am deeply sadden when I know that one of the big battle flags against illegal immigration is that “they” are “sucking” our health system dry, when the reality is that every uninsured American is a huge burden to those institution’s bottom line. Health care is not just about going to a place to die like it used to be 50 years ago, it is about preventative care and a better standard of living. However, as a society we are failing to a large percentage of the population, to the point that aide groups that used to go to third world countries to provide free health care are now doing it here.

Hearing all of the speeches against Obama have made me ask myself, “Why aren’t these people proposing solutions but rather trying to attack what the other candidate is proposing?” The one that irks me the most is about taxing the rich, which to me is people that make over $250K a year, but to MacCain is anyone that makes 5mil or more. I hear the excuses to support not taxing the rich and laugh, especially the line that someone says that they will take their money elsewhere. Last time I checked, most companies had been shipping jobs overseas more and more in the last eight years than ever before, and their money is also long gone.

If you are a republican, please listen carefully to the candidates and make your own conclusions without the spin. Give Obama and what he is proposing a good look. Vote for our future and not for a party.

Globalization.

I am an immigrant to this great country, but I did become an American. For a long time I have been telling people how much better the education system is in Colombia compared to here, but people always gave me a puzzled look and moved along.

I am not sure if it is the National Geographic specials in India’s and China’s economy, or having read The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, but the topic that worried me the most about globalization is education. It seems I am not the only one since this morning I listened to a radio add about the topic.

A young voice starts saying the name of countries, at first I started to think of the Olympics, but then then a voice over beings saying that America ranks 21st amongst developed countries when it comes to education. Nothing shocking to me yet, but then the voice over continues to sound the alarm saying that with education, jobs go. This is a harsh reality that we all have to face, unless our education system improves, we are going to have a generations of under qualified people, if not many.

Research is one of the fields that worries me the most. While the ethical and moral debate on stem-cell research is happening in this country, Germany, China and Japan are moving full steam ahead with not just research but human trials. Yes, in China you can already get stem-cells implanted.

Just the other day I was discussing the illness of an acquaintance, then I mentioned something that to me was common knowledge, but it was brand new to them. Germany has some of the best medical research in the world. Everyone thinks of the top place in medicine to be the Mayo Clinic or Harvard have the best in the world, but that is old information in today’s reality.

Talking with my wife about Colombia made me very sad. If instead of having to fight a drug war for the past 20 years, Colombia would have invested on taking education further, we would be in the same position as South Korea. It is a place where technology and intellectual growth has catapulted an emerging nation.

Space research was something that NASA pretty much had cornered. In today’s world, a lot of countries have a space program. Heck, even Colombia has its own satellite. The US is not the only one in the game anymore.

The U.S. is still an economic giant, but we should be concerned when just today it was announced that Mainland China is now the biggest importer of Japanese products. Just think of the acquisition power they now have with an emerging middle class… and that is not even thinking of India.

Watching the Olympics my wife said, wow, Beijing is such a beautiful city. I agreed, but then I immediately thought of the preconception that many people have that everywhere but the US is just underdeveloped jungle. How many people think that huge metropolitan areas are not exploding around the world. While this brings us another big questions which is the natural resources in the planet to sustain the growth in population, I still think the immediate issue for the U.S. is education.

Another trend that is kind of scary is people getting an education in the US at a high level, and then tanking those brains somewhere else. While there are some people that via telecommuting are working from a sunny beach most of the year, what worries me is the best innovative minds in the world not being here in America.

Don’t continue to think the rest of the world does not matter. Wake up call people, we drop down our education standards, and we will lose the skilled jobs of the future.

Imagine that the crazy Michigan Militia was not just the bunch of nutbags that produced Timothy McVeigh, but an organized guerrilla group that had taken control over the whole state of Michigan.

Then imagine that a presidential hopeful, and even though I want to use Hilary but I do not find her as eloquent or as loved as maybe Obama is, is kidnapped for 7 years. Then imagine the U.S. military rescuing the presidential candidate along with 14 other people that had been kidnapped without firing a single shot. That is what happened yesterday in Colombia. No big Hollywood production with a Rambo mowing over rebels left and right, just a well planned operation were everyone left alive.

Que Viva Colombia, Que viva la Libertad!

I have been a conservative for many reasons in the past. However, ever since I heard the Obama name I have been intrigued by this man. Before you say that I am jumping in the bandwagon because he won Iowa and is looking pretty good for New Hampshire, I mentioned his name back in September of 05 and then wrote him an open letter in December of 06.

My friend Daniel just posted Obamas speech after Iowa, go check it out. He has been supporting him with badge which I am now going to do. I have been waiting for the correct moment to start spreading the word, and I believe now that a predominantly white state was able to vote for him over Hilary.

This country needs change, and right now out of both parties he is the candidate that looks to me like the face of change.