This is about making a choice in the current election year. I continually hear people say, "I vote for the man and not the party." Well, this is a good year to test that.

I am a registered Republican who will be voting to re-elect Darrel Aubertine to the state Senate. I have found him to be a straightforward individual who will stand on his record and answer your questions without dancing around with political redirect and accusations. If you want to put him to the test, go to the scheduled town meetings and ask him yourself about your concerns.

Now moving up to the national level. I will not vote for Barack Obama. It is not because of race or implied religious affiliation; it is simply because of what he is proposing. He is intent on instituting "economic justice," his words. Economic justice is a euphemism for socialism. What that means simply is to take money from the fiscally responsible and redistribute the wealth by government fiat. He wants universal health care, free college tuition, universal 401k and much more. It reeks of a return to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson giveaway policies where governmental bureaucracies are established, at a great cost, to oversee and control our personal choices and way of life. It is amusing to me that the extreme liberals object to the government interfering with our personal lives when it involves national security but think it is OK to do that to the responsible people, including the middle class, who want to work and be self-sufficient.

Now for a few things based on personal experience. Let's start with universal health care. Recently I was diagnosed with a cancerous growth on my head. I consulted my personal physician who referred me to a surgeon. In less than two weeks, after all of the preparatory requirements, I was operated on and during that operation it was determined that more extensive surgery was needed. At that point I was referred to a physician specializing in head surgery and was operated on within a week. The problem was diagnosed and corrective surgery was successfully performed in a period of just over three weeks. I have been told that if I lived in Canada, under their national health care system I most likely, after going to a health clinic, would be put on a waiting list for possibly up to a year or more for clearance for the surgical procedure.

Recently, Michael Moore, a political adviser to the Democrats, proposed that the government should take 25 percent of stock dividends as punishment of the wealthy. He is overlooking the fact some of us in the middle class used enough foresight to invest money during our working years so that we would have dividend income in our retirement. Now they want to be punish us by giving 25 percent of our retirement dividend income to those who simply chose to not consider their retirement years. That is not justice; it is simply socialism, no matter what you call it.

In more ways than one, it will be a year of choice. Will I be voting for Aubertine? Yes. Will I vote for Obama? No. Will I vote for McCain? I'm leaning but undecided at this point. Please don't just cast a blind party vote.

Donald Johnson

Watertown