This is the first time in my

life that I can remember going into a presidential election with little

idea as to who is most likely to win.

In previous elections, you

always knew there was a chance for a surprise, but you pretty much could

call the winner with little fear of an upset.

And I'm amazed as I hear all

the predictions of a record turnout.

I'm amazed because, in spite

of all the new registrations and absentee voters, I still think most people

are not that thrilled with any of the candidates.

In fact, I think most people

are going to vote as much against someone as for someone, and that goes

for those who will vote for Gore and those who will vote for Bush, as

well as the few who will vote for the lesser known alternatives.

I'll admit it. I'm among those

who will be voting for the proverbial lesser of two evils.

That's a rhetorical "evil."

I don't think either of the candidates is truly evil in the biblical sense...

no more so than any of us, since all have sinned.

But I do feel, as I've stated,

that both leading candidates will involve the federal government in activities

that it should not be involved in, and neither will go nearly far enough

in reversing the pendulum swing toward socialism that we've been riding

for about 50 years now (which happens to be almost precisely the length

of my life, since I had a birthday Saturday. Hmmm...)

Bush, of course, is the obvious

choice for those who value freedom and believe in the principles of free

enterprise and self-reliance upon which this nation was founded.

Conservative pundits like to

slam Gore for buying votes, but both candidates are doing that. Bush just

happens to be buying votes by doing things that I think are better for

the country, like tax cuts and some right-minded improvements to programs

like Social Security.

In addition to cutting taxes,

we should be getting rid of the graduated income tax and replacing it

with either a flat tax or a national sales tax. And instead of "reforming"

Social Security, we should be phasing it out over the next 30 years or

so.

But taxes are too high, and

the government is running a surplus, which means that it has overcharged

us in our tax bills. If the cashier at Kmart overcharged you for a box

of Pampers, you'd want your money back. Same principle applies.

Gore, of course, has stepped

up the tactics of fear and class envy that the Democratic Party seems

to have perfected into a science over the last dozen years or so, and

that might put him over the top.

He wants you to reject Bush's

tax cut because people who are richer than you will get their share. It's

not their fair share, mind you, because a fair share would mean that everyone's

taxes would be cut by the same percentage. Bush wants to weigh his cuts

somewhat toward the lower end of the scale, and would even eliminate taxes

altogether for a sizable percentage of those on the bottom.

That is, the bottom of the

taxpaying group. Those in poverty already pay no taxes, but Bush's plan

would increase the number of people in the lower middle class who also

would pay no taxes. What worries me about that is that eventually we'll

have a majority who will pay no taxes, and they'll mercilessly milk the

minority who do pay taxes for anything and everything they decide they

want.

But, of course, Gore would

take us even further in that direction, so again the choice is clear.

If you're thinking of voting

for Gore, however, because you agree with his "targeted" tax

cut approach, you should know that "targeted" means that you

won't get a tax cut if you own a home, unless you're willing to give up

your home interest deduction to get it.

Apparently, Gore places anyone

who itemizes deductions in the "richest 1 percent," but far

be it from me to label that "fuzzy math."

Concerning Social Security,

Gore is turning up the volume on his "scare the old folks" tactic,

trying to make you think your benefits will be cut or ended if you don't

elect him.

They won't be. They'll be continued

and increased to keep up with inflation, and you'll have a lot more control

over some of your money (not nearly enough of it, but some) under Bush.

And you'll get a prescription drug program under Bush as well, with only

very minor differences between his proposals and Gore's.

Gore's constant statement to

the contrary are, let's see... less than totally honest? Not entirely

correct? They're lies, folks. Plain and simple.

Well, enough about that. Bottom

line, the closest I'm going to give you to a prediction is to say that

Gore has a slight edge because he is the sitting vice president at a time

when the economy is doing well.

If you think about it, that's

quite an indictment. The fact that the race is so tight at a time when

the economy is doing so well suggests that people generally don't trust

him and don't like him.

So why is there so much interest

in an election when most people are not that wild about either candidate?

Pay attention, folks, because

you won't read words like this in this space very often:

I honestly don't have a clue.