[paddy_m]

I'm surprised more people don't realize how short sighted it is to increase the power of government

Even if you think that Obama's ideas will be absolutely brilliant, and think he be able to increase the power of government to cause change which you want, it is still short sighted to increase the power of government. The reason is, your guy won't always be in charge, and when he isn't, someone you disagree with will be able to use these newly expanded powers in ways you don't want.

Everytime someone says, well we need a CTO to do this, because otherwise, the other party will do that, that person is setting themselves up for extreme disappointment. When the other party comes into power, these new found powers will be used against you, and you will be worse off than you were to begin with.

[Retric]

I want a small effective government and I vote Democrat. From what I can tell Democrats are more focused on actually reducing government spending than Republicans. As to the effects of "large government" look at how many freedoms each side wants to remove and Democrats win again. Limiting how old you need to be to buy video games pales in comparison to the loss of due process etc.

National Heath care might seem like bad voodoo, but the government is already pay for over 1/2 of all medical spending in the US yet medical bills are still the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US. Most countries with a national heath care system spend less money per person and relative to their GDP than we do now and we still have a crappy patchwork. When a hobo shows up at a hospital he is going to get treatment and we are going to pay his bill but I still need to buy expensive medical insurance.

PS: I am a consultant working for the DoD and I have saved the US taxpayer millions. If you had any idea what games where being played you would probably also vote Democrat because it saves you money.

[niels_olson]

Concur. Here's some evidence

http://mibi.deviantart.com/art/Death-and-Taxes-9410862

http://www.wallstats.com/

[nostrademons]

Perhaps I'm more cynical than most, but I don't think that having a CTO is increasing the size of government. Rather, they'd continue to make technology decisions (remember Ted "The Internet is a series of tubes" Stevens? Or Joe "Impetus for PGP" Biden?) yet be even more incompetent at it. Lack of expertise has never been a government roadblock before. I don't really like Obama's picks, but at least they have some technology background. I tend to believe that the government will try to legislate technology anyway; might as well focus on harm mitigation.

[MaysonL]

You're too young to remember ARPA - it is possible for government to make sane technology investments, but it does require taking them out of the hands of politicians.