| Something occurred to me the other night when I got to thinking about this year's presidential election. Is anybody actually voting for their candidate? It seems like everyone I've talked to is voting for someone simply because they're better than the other guy. In other words, "I'll vote for Kerry because it couldn't be worse than having four more years of Dubyah!" or "I'll vote for Bush because he's not one of those damn Massachusetts liberals!" Why is this? Are they both that bad? I find myself firmly entrenched in this category. I can't stand George W., so my vote's for Kerry; frankly, I've known it wouldn't be for Bush as soon as he "won" in 2000. I simply can't fathom a president doing any worse than Bush has done. Some basic philosophical differences prevent me from supporting him. For example, why have there been tax cuts when we're spending record amounts on defense and war initiatives? It seems to me that if you're spending more money, you should probably be bringing in more money. Secondly, what's so harmful about same-sex marriages that a constitutional amendment would be necessary? If Steve and Clint decide to tie the knot, it has absolutely no bearing on my life. In fact, very few marriages do have any affect on the rest of us. If I did my math correctly, there are an average over 7,500 weddings each and every day in the United States. How many do you notice? What difference would it make to you if some of those were gay couples? They have the same right to misery as all the rest of us do! Thirdly, the fear factor that this administration has dispensed upon all of us needs to go. Do you feel safer than you did in 2000? Probably not. Are you? Maybe. In 2000, if I got a letter in the mail that had a suspicious white powder, I wouldn't have completely freaked about it like I would now. In fact, the white powder probably wouldn't have even been "suspicious" to me in the first place and I would've taken a taste to determine what it was. Can't say that would be the case now! None of us could imagine the events of 9/11 and now, we are told in very vague ways that it's not a question of if but when those events will happen again, only many times worse. It reminds me of high school rumors about the popular couple: none are true, but they could be so you subconsciously believe every word of it and store it away as 100% truth. "They have nukes!" "They're going to use our mail system against us!" "They're going to release small pox at the Super Bowl!"I don't like fear and it seems like that's all this administration is about. They talk about being optimistic but only seem to remind us that if we "make the wrong decision" on election day that the "wolves" will come and get us. |
