I love elections. They're like Christmas; the anticipation is the best part. You open the presents Christmas morning, and for a few hours, maybe, you're excited and go, "Cool! New stuff!" But then it wears off, and it's just more stuff cluttering up your room, with decorations that no longer feel holiday-y and have to be taken down. It's the weeks leading to Christmas that have a magical feel, and today it's the hours of nail-biting, will-we-won't-we that's so exciting. No matter who wins the election, after the initial glow wears off in a day or two (unless McCain wins. For me, that will be the end of faith in humanity, though I know there are those out there who will celebrate should the worst happen), the nation goes back to the way it always has been, and while change might come, it will be so slow that we won't notice until it's over. But there's something wonderfully exciting about the unknown, and still having hope that the best case can happen, and fighting fear that the worse case will happen.
Go vote, one and all! Unless you're voting for McCain, in which case, please don't. In fact, if you're voting for McCain, I would suggest picking up a book and educating yourself with a few things called facts. And you probably won't like a lot of what I say in this blog, seeing as I'm liberal and proud of it.
I voted for Obama back in September. I'm for a single-payer health care system, I'm for raising taxes on those who make over 250,000 a year, I'm pro-choice, I'm for allowing gays to marry if they want to, I'm pro-gun control, I'm for researching alternative fuels and NOT drilling in Alaska, I'm for acknowledging that Israel can do wrong ("Peace, Not Apartheid") , I'm for negotiating first and going to war only as a last resort, I'm for peace, I believe our "homeland security" efforts should be focused on capturing Osama bin Laden and giving young Arab boys reasons to NOT go blow themselves up, I believe our veterans should receive proper health care, I believe governors who allow the aerial shooting of wolves and allow hunters to go into wolf dens and shoot a handful of puppies point-blank should be removed from office and not moved up to VP (Sarah Palin, for those who don't know. Yes, I realize the issue is trivial to some but it shows a lot about character). I believe in Affirmative Action, I believe in Supreme Court judges who aren't activists (liberal or conservative) and who interpret the living Constitution according to our needs as a nation in the modern day, I don't believe in allowing a person's Christianity or lack-thereof to determine their worth in office, I don't believe in enacting laws based on a single religion's beliefs. I think that the young men and women who vote for McCain should be prepared to take their own butts over to the Middle East to fight the wars we've got going on indefinitely. (But if we absolutely need to go to war, then it's got to be important enough for everyone to go to war (a draft), not just the poor kids or those who volunteer. If it isn't important enough for your own sons and daughters to go fight for, then we do not need to go to war.) I don't believe in sacrificing my personal freedoms for a little security.
I believe no issue is black-and-white. There's no such thing as "Us versus Them". Simple solutions to complex problems don't exist. No one system is perfect nor is another evil and part of government is allowing a constant revision of the status-quo. I don't want my president to be of average intelligence; I want a president at least as smart as I am and hopefully more so.
I've got my pastries and my dinner and a notebook, and I'm settling in for the night to watch how the election progresses. I'll be staying up until a winner is announced (or until I simply fall asleep, as is entirely possible).
A man who believes that half the country isn't "Real America" isn't who we need at the head of this nation. We need someone who truly unites people, who inspires people to get involved when they normally wouldn't bother. Who causes chills up your spine when he speaks and makes you really believe in what he's saying, who carries himself like a president and doesn't lose his cool under fire and who doesn't run his campaign with sporadic jolts and flip-flops. There's only one man (or woman) on the ticket this year who fits that description, and it isn't the one calling himself a maverick.
Do you know how amazing it would be if we elected the first black president in the western world? There's a young boy whom I love very much who faces a tough future as a poor kid with black skin—what kind of hope might that give him to look up at the TV and see this guy who started out in a similar situation and ended up the president of the still most powerful nation on Earth? I want him to grow up in the America I'm hoping for today. Let's show the rest of the world why America is still the home of the brave, the land of dreams. When young people all over the world look to America and see a black man as its president, what kind of hope might that give them—what might that show them about Americans, in France where a black could never be elected because they're not of French ancestry, or in the Middle East and Africa where Al Qaeda recruit everyday using the idea of the US as a white, intolerant, oppressive nation? Let's show them that this is the 21st century, and we're moving forward. Let's be the shining city on the hill, and lead the way.
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