Voting/Election

Originally written Oct. 2004

It is said that hindsight is 20/20. So let all of us democrats hope that in four years time we have not regressed even further than we already have. After watching a lot of news coverage following the counting of votes I am curious where the Democratic party as a whole moves from here. Do they move to cooperation? It seems imperative that the party find a figurehead for the party that stands for the party’s ideals and can make the country realize

I really don’t want to address the re-election of our ever-dubious president. It hurts to think of him and made up words. I don’t really understand how we can continue to have a war on a noun (terrorism). I mean, why don’t we have wars on other nouns? Such as stupidity or common sense. There are atrocities going on all over the world and one would think that the greatest police force (U.S.) in the world could step in and fix things like we have in Iraq (wink). Take Africa for example. There are civil wars throughout the country and genocide occurring every day. Why aren’t we over there? I guess diamonds aren’t as good as fossil fuels. Or China? Lord knows there are people being oppressed every day by its communist regime. Back in the good ‘ol days we would have done something about a country inflicting communism on its 1+ billion population. But everyone knows that I think if we invaded China we would have our asses handed to us in a bowl with chopsticks. Why the population can’t see that going to war with a country with fewer terrorists than Israel is and was wrong is beyond me. I mean people didn’t stop Hitler from invading Poland for no reason. I mean, we’re killing innocent people every day. Yes people are rebelling but wouldn’t we rebel if we were invaded for no reason? Now I don’t mean to say that we are starting WWIII I am just drawing similarities to a large-scale war that started because the leader of the country felt like it. I mean I could argue about this crap till I am blue in the face, but there really isn’t any good in that is there?
Economics: what’s wrong with higher taxes when you make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year? If you have that much money, you’ve probably been smart enough to invest it, and could live of the intrest. So, tell me, is there a difference between living on 1.3million and 1million dollars per year? I likely will never know, and neither will most republicans. It may seem weird that I don’t care to make that much money. That may seem weird or even sacrilegious to the Republican mindset, but it’s the truth. I don’t care if I will never have a Porsche 911 Turbo. Don’t you think you would get bored if you had everything you wanted? What would you wish or dream about?
Next 4 Years:





Well, it’s finally time for me to tackle and grapple with the election on Tuesday. I’d like to begin with a short few thoughts about voting in general. As much as everyone explains how important it is to vote (because it is your civic duty) they seem to make it difficult to get involved, especially for busy college students. There are two things that should be changed in order to alleviate poor voter turnout and apathy. Firstly, the Electoral College is so out of date; I have even heard top political analysts explain that it has ceased to be effective in terms of its original design. So much so, I recently read an article about Californians explain how they don’t think they’re vote counts because it is a foregone conclusion as to where the electoral votes are going. The state with the most electoral votes sees their state as analogous to D.C. Now, in a country with so little common sense the next voting deterrent is not a surprise to me. In the age where so many of the people that actually vote work during the week, it is astonishing that we vote on a TUESDAY. Imagine for a moment, what if we voted on a Saturday? I don’t know of anyone that goes into work regularly on the weekend. Regardless, people should make the time to vote on any day of the week, but the turnout would probably be huge if it were on a weekend. Or what if it was a national “holiday” and you didn’t have to go into work?
In my intellectual growth during this presidential campaign I have increasingly come back not to the candidates but the morals that each party stands for. There are a few ideals in particular that could never make me vote for a Republican. Firstly, the issue of gay marriage is paramount. I know of gay couples that are fit to be married more than many husbands and wives. Not to mention, these married couples have kids! And the kids are obnoxious, snotty, stupid, or an embarrassment. So, the whole idea that marriage is an institution for only a man and a woman is a load of crap. That is what society has stereotyped the word marriage to mean. I looked in multiple dictionaries and nowhere in any definition did it specify sex of the partners. To think that our president would consider making a constitutional amendment to make gay marriage illegal is absurd and extremely narrow-minded.
The second moral issue is the way in which Republicans would like to regulate what a woman can do to her body. I am referring to abortion. I am pro-choice and make no qualms about letting people know. It is partly religious and partly common sense. The religious part is kind of your idea of when “life” begins. That debate has been made in many books and will go on forever. I do not believe “life” begins until the little ball of cells become something resembling a person, can be removed from the womb, and live and breathe for itself. In the end, there are too many factors that should be considered with abortion. My point is that the number of options available to potential mothers should not be limited to just adoption. But, at the same time I don’t condone using abortion as some gross form of birth control.
Unfortunately, the Republican economic ideal is that of ME, ME, ME…and maybe you later, if I haven’t spent all my millions on my trophy wife and myself. Not all Republicans want to take away a women’s right to choose or think homosexuality is wrong, just the people they elect into office are. Go vote please, if not for a person, for morality’s sake.