This year we undoubtedly have an important decision to make when on November 4, millions of us go to the polls to cast our votes for the presidential candidate we feel best represents our values and is best able to handle our concerns for the future.

We have been told that whether Barack Obama or John McCain becomes our next president, history will be made, but it falls to us, the public, to rise above the superficial musings of the news media and the biases of the embedded political pundits and make up our own minds to elect the man we believe will restore the public's faith in government and our nation's credibility internationally.

Certainly this means we must weigh the issues, policy proposals, and voting records of the two candidates, but we must also make a thoughtful personal assessment of the respective individuals vying for our votes.  We must ask ourselves who is prepared to lead our country through the uncertain days ahead.  Equally important, who do we trust to uphold the Constitution and fairly represent all Americans?

Voice of Arizona has long involved itself in the local politics of Arizona and has been outspoken on the national issues that matter to all Americans, including nearly every Bush policy, the Iraq War, immigration, and energy independence.  Our loyalty has never been to political party organizations or special interests, but to the most basic principle that government must be honest, accountable, and respectfully uphold the rights of its citizenry.  That is our ideology and it is likely that most Americans also share it.

With those principles in mind, we at Voice of Arizona announce our support for Senator John McCain of Arizona for several reasons.  John McCain, despite the inaccurate and tasteless criticisms that many contrarians ascribe to him, is a war hero and his military service should be revered.  But his distinguished career as a U.S. Senator from Arizona is where he has left his mark as a man governed by principle not party and has been a consensus-builder with an independent voice praised by both Republicans and Democrats.  He is unashamedly patriotic and fully devoted to his country's safety and prosperity and he understands the risks and opportunities of this watershed moment in our nation's history.

National security is a paramount factor in our decision and we believe John McCain has demonstrated better judgment than his opponent, Barack Obama.  After five years of our military and political involvement in Iraq, we are now able to say that major progress has been achieved by our soldiers and commanders.  If not for McCain's courage to defy the President's failed Iraq policy and opposition to Barack Obama's call for a reckless withdrawal of our forces, our efforts in Iraq would have been diminished and we would certainly have left the region in chaos.  The "Surge" that McCain advocated did help and there is a greater possibility of Iraq becoming a prosperous democratic society.

More recently, the conflict between Russia and Georgia left little doubt which candidate was prepared for an international crisis.  Senator McCain showed steady resolve in condemning Russia for its attack, whereas Senator Obama waffled through several contradictory responses.  We were reminded of his chameleonic support of and opposition to the war in Iraq, which he carefully tuned to public opinion polls.  Even his vice presidential running-mate, Senator Joe Biden, has warned us of Senator Obama's inexperience, stating that "the presidency does not lend itself to on the job training."  Only days ago did Biden better articulate his running-mate's inexperience by promising that a president Obama would be "tested" by an international crisis and that Americans wouldn't immediately approve of his response.

Barack Obama, is a relatively new face in American politics and it seems that he has inspired millions of Americans to get involved in politics.  But critical questions still surround his character and doubts remain that his ideology isn't exactly what he's been selling the American people since his rise to stardom during the Democratic Primaries.

To this day, we cannot discern the facts from the overwhelming amount of fiction that makes up his policy proposals.  For example, his tax cut plan, which he boasts will benefit 95 percent of Americans, suffers from laughable inconsistency.  First it was people making less than $250,000 a year who would receive tax relief until it became people who earn less than $200,000 a year.  Finally it took Senator Biden to clarify that in fact the tax cuts would go to those making less than $150,000 a year.  Which is it, Senator?  Perhaps we can look back to his vote last year in a so-called non-binding resolution which would reward tax breaks to Americans earning less than $50,000 a year.

Then we met Joe the Plumber, who plainly explained the situation: Barack Obama's economic policies amount to unadulterated socialism.  The analysis fits and most Americans, thanks to Joe, are beginning to put the puzzle together at last.  When we look at the bigger picture we see that he is not a moderate like Bill Clinton, the once celebrated president and now a condemned racist (thanks to Obama's surrogates), who aimed to govern from the center.  Barack Obama is unapologetically liberal, so liberal in fact that his adventurous policies explore the failed legacy of Marxism to inform his own economic agenda, which by his own admission would ideally "spread the wealth" and rewrite the Constitution itself to expand the powers of government under the guise of ending economic disparity in America.

But to those of us who have been paying close attention, this comes as no surprise.  We look to radical association after radical association to understand Barack Obama's true nature and ideology and what we find is not a man of temperance and good judgment, but a man who has surrounded himself with the most offensive and un-American cast of characters to ever grace the fringe of leftist politics.  He has toasted with men who seek the destruction of Israel (Rashid Khalidi), authored legislation with and praised the writings of an unrepentant domestic terrorist (Bill Ayers), and worshiped in the hateful spiritual and racist guidance of Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger.

Despite the evidence of Senator Obama associating with many of these hate-mongers for nearly 20 years, he still has the audacity to deny his awareness of their anti-American views.  Fortunately, Senator Obama has given us insight into his foreign policy endeavors, which include meeting—without preconditions—anti-American dictators, such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.

The most recent concerns are his ties to ACORN, whose widespread fraudulent voter registration activities have finally brought the corrupt pro-Obama organization into mainstream focus.  Of course, Senator Obama dismisses the accusations and, as the story always goes, he believes the organization will be vindicated.  It sounds like the same old story from Senator Obama.  His race-baiting politics combined with his disrespect for hard-working Americans, whom he calls "bitter" people who cling to their religion and guns, sounds like the same old dishonest and divisive politics that brought us the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004.  Again, we must say no.

There is no question about John McCain's character or his record, which withstands the scrutiny of our principle for a better and more honest government.  We don't have to wonder if he will act in America's best interest or if he will be beholden to special interest groups as Barack Obama would be.  A vote for John McCain is a vote for true change and a vital step in the right direction to repair our nation.