and back to politics…
October 28th, 2008 § 1 Comment
it’s only a week away. a week before we find out exactly what america hopes for its future. the future that either politician will actually bring about remains to be seen. campaigns are notoriously full of blow-hard sentiments and pandering to the masses, and follow-through on campaign promises is not generally something that i will hold my breath over. (okay, maybe i do a little bit.)
i’m watching the mcpalin machine live at a rally in pennsylvania right now on bbc, and i love how sarah asks pennsylvania if they’re ready for she and john to “head into washington to shake things up” as if it won’t just be more of the same.
the fact of the matter is, i will vote for obama (don’t act like you were surprised), and i will do so for a number of reasons.
- i believe that having the mcpalin machine in the white house will likely be the same as (and possibly worse than) having dubya in the white house.
- i’d like to begin down the long road towards being proud of my country.
- i am hoping against hope that obama will bring about the change that is so desperately needed in our country, from health care to education to foreign policy (ridding ourselves of that completely ludicrous and embarrassing “shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later” bush doctrine could be one of the best thing that happens to our country on a global scale).
one of the things that i’ve noticed about mr. obama is that he’s almost completely unflappable, even in the face of the recently-discovered assassination plans on his life. (to be fair, he’s not exactly stupid, and so he’s probably already expected that this would happen, especially with our country’s still deeply-embedded racism issues.) heh…if dubya were black and this happened to him, he’d probably start going out in public under a bulletproof glass dome like kathy lee gifford in south park. *snicker*
<related tangent> oh, and on the racism front? i find it HILARIOUS that right-wingers are saying that black people voting for obama is racist! sirrusly!? let’s not discuss the fact that EVERY SINGLE BLACK VOTER before this election has voted for a WHITE MAN, and, let’s also not discuss the fact that, with rare exception, most black people will vote democrat anyway. so, now that they’re voting for a black democrat, they’re racist? so in that vein, every white person that votes for mccain is also a racist? this argument hath no logic. therefore, i am officially crumpling it up into a little ball and pinging it into the stratosphere. it means nothing. </related tangent>
here’s the thing: i LOVE my country. i love that we are free (for the most part) to express our opinions against our government and not mysteriously “disappear” one day. i love that we have brilliant citizens that have created technology capable of letting people on different sides of the planet communicate with each other. i love that, with hard work and determination, people who were born with little opportunity can make something of themselves. i love the products of our imagination, the creativity, the innovation that are all associated with america.
but. just because i love my country, does not automatically mean that i am proud of it. there are so many things that need attention and have been thrown to the wayside because of our ever-consuming attention to issues in the middle east (although not without import). but domestic plans and policies that have been cut or underfunded because the government decided that the funds were more needed in our defense budget are on a downward spiral. meanwhile, the gap between the top 20% of our country and the bottom 20% of our country grows wider and wider; the richer become richer and the poor become poorer.
the sad thing is: there are a great many republicans out there that are decidedly NOT in the top 20% of the country. many of the intiatives that our current administration put into place were not to benefit the general public, as much as the talking heads in washington may want us to believe. when joe the plumber says that he won’t vote for obama because he’s “socialist,” he doesn’t realize that a) there are a great many things out there that are already “socialist”; our educational system, for one, and b) a great many of those “socialist” ideals that you abhor so much? are really only going to benefit YOU, mr. joe the plumber, working-class man.
and on the topic of religion: just a few bible verses that i’d like to point out, for those of you not in-the-know:
- Proverbs 22:16 – He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.
- Proverbs 28:27 – He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.
- Matthew 19:21 – Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
does it sound like jesus may have been a democrat? one of those hippie socialist/communist tree-huggers? perhaps. what’s so weird to me (who is on the fence regarding personal religious beliefs), is that if jesus were around today, i think that he would probably be a mite disappointed with the folks that so often use his name to justify their beliefs and actions.
in the end, for as much as i’d really like to shake some sense into people and make them just think for one minute, i like the fact that our nation is so diverse. it would be boring if it were not. and, i’m sure, the rest of the world wouldn’t have the clusterfuck known as american politics to discuss come election time.
and now, i am off to mail my absentee ballot.
only one week to go.
“…..campaigns are notoriously full of blow-hard sentiments and pandering to the masses, and follow-through on campaign promises is not generally something that i will hold my breath over. ”
No truer words have ever been spoken! AMEN!