Waxing Political for a Moment
Ok, I've tried to hold this back, but after the elction, and hearing people talk about this stuff, I'm bothered by things. Many things people are saying just show that either they or I am completely uninformed and/or misinformed.
I just heard someone saying that the moment Bush's electoral count ticks above 270 that Kerry should concede and 'Not Be A Gore'. Now, perhaps I'm remembering wrong, but I definitely recall that in 2000, *BUSH* was the one who started the lawsuits in Florida. Admittedly, Gore escalated it, but it was Bush who started it, not Kerry.
Then there's the gay marriage issue. Forget the fact that 11 states voted to amend their constitutions to define marriage as between man and woman (9 of which forbade civil unions too, apparently). The fact that there were a lot of people who voted for Bush because Kerry was in support of gay marriage bothers me. Especially since Kerry has stated that he is not in support of gay marriage. In fact, he has stated that the thought disgusts him. He *IS* opposed to a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage, however, preferring to leave the matter up to the states. As the founding fathers would have wanted.
Another issue is the economy. Bush has lost more jobs (percentage wise, not just straight numbers) than any president in 20 years; and more by the numbers than any president since the Great Depression. His four years have taken us from the highest surplus in American history (by the numbers, not counting for inflation) to the greatest deficit in history. He wants to cut more taxes for the rich, leaving the middle class where they are. Kerry, on the other hand, wants to raise taxes, while trying to give the middle class a little bit of a tax break. And yet people are voting for Bush on the strength of his economic plan. Now I will be the first to admit that some of this slump is a followup from Clinton, but a president with a strong economic plan wouldn't have fallen that hard. We *should* still have a surplus, even if it's just barely. And the lost jobs is completely unacceptable.
The war on terror/the war against Iraq. Yeah, here there's really no difference that I can see between the two candidates. But Kerry was basically forced into his position by the way that Bush has run the war such that there is really only one safe way to extract ourselves from the situation...and even that is volatile. It doesn't matter who the president is in this case, the same things are going to have to be done.
Vietnam--apparently, a lot of veterans are voting for Bush based on the fact that Kerry protested the Vietnam War after being released. They see this as an insult to them. All's I have to say to this is that these people are not thinking logically. Here's a man who did his duty, served his country, was sent into a quagmire we had no business being in, and when he was released came out against it, said that we shouldn't be in the situation we were in, and that he didn't want to keep his memories of the time he spent there. Granted, there were things he said that may or may not have been true about certain people in the military, but from what I've seen/read of this situation, nothing he mentioned was ever attributed to the military in general. They were things he had seen or experienced, which compared to the Veitnam war in large was not very much. So unless you were in his unit (Swift Boat Veterans?), shut the hell up about him insulting you. He did his job, and afterwards said he didn't like doing it. Are McDonalds workers going to vote against their coworker who runs for office because he trashes his 'McDonalds Employee of the Month' plaque after he quits because he doesn't like the job?
Finally, blind voting. People who blindly vote for one candidate or the other. People who vote Republican because that's what they've always done. People who vote Democrat because ever since their grandfather's time the family has gone Democratic. That's bullshit, plain and simple. I heard a story of people in an old folks home being bussed to the polling place, walk into the booth, and basically just run their fingers down the Republican line. They don't care who the candidates are. They don't care what the issues are. They may not even know who's running. But they vote Republican. This is one instance where I think that there should be some control over who votes. I don't know what kind of control would work, but I think it's needed.
I just heard someone saying that the moment Bush's electoral count ticks above 270 that Kerry should concede and 'Not Be A Gore'. Now, perhaps I'm remembering wrong, but I definitely recall that in 2000, *BUSH* was the one who started the lawsuits in Florida. Admittedly, Gore escalated it, but it was Bush who started it, not Kerry.
Then there's the gay marriage issue. Forget the fact that 11 states voted to amend their constitutions to define marriage as between man and woman (9 of which forbade civil unions too, apparently). The fact that there were a lot of people who voted for Bush because Kerry was in support of gay marriage bothers me. Especially since Kerry has stated that he is not in support of gay marriage. In fact, he has stated that the thought disgusts him. He *IS* opposed to a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage, however, preferring to leave the matter up to the states. As the founding fathers would have wanted.
Another issue is the economy. Bush has lost more jobs (percentage wise, not just straight numbers) than any president in 20 years; and more by the numbers than any president since the Great Depression. His four years have taken us from the highest surplus in American history (by the numbers, not counting for inflation) to the greatest deficit in history. He wants to cut more taxes for the rich, leaving the middle class where they are. Kerry, on the other hand, wants to raise taxes, while trying to give the middle class a little bit of a tax break. And yet people are voting for Bush on the strength of his economic plan. Now I will be the first to admit that some of this slump is a followup from Clinton, but a president with a strong economic plan wouldn't have fallen that hard. We *should* still have a surplus, even if it's just barely. And the lost jobs is completely unacceptable.
The war on terror/the war against Iraq. Yeah, here there's really no difference that I can see between the two candidates. But Kerry was basically forced into his position by the way that Bush has run the war such that there is really only one safe way to extract ourselves from the situation...and even that is volatile. It doesn't matter who the president is in this case, the same things are going to have to be done.
Vietnam--apparently, a lot of veterans are voting for Bush based on the fact that Kerry protested the Vietnam War after being released. They see this as an insult to them. All's I have to say to this is that these people are not thinking logically. Here's a man who did his duty, served his country, was sent into a quagmire we had no business being in, and when he was released came out against it, said that we shouldn't be in the situation we were in, and that he didn't want to keep his memories of the time he spent there. Granted, there were things he said that may or may not have been true about certain people in the military, but from what I've seen/read of this situation, nothing he mentioned was ever attributed to the military in general. They were things he had seen or experienced, which compared to the Veitnam war in large was not very much. So unless you were in his unit (Swift Boat Veterans?), shut the hell up about him insulting you. He did his job, and afterwards said he didn't like doing it. Are McDonalds workers going to vote against their coworker who runs for office because he trashes his 'McDonalds Employee of the Month' plaque after he quits because he doesn't like the job?
Finally, blind voting. People who blindly vote for one candidate or the other. People who vote Republican because that's what they've always done. People who vote Democrat because ever since their grandfather's time the family has gone Democratic. That's bullshit, plain and simple. I heard a story of people in an old folks home being bussed to the polling place, walk into the booth, and basically just run their fingers down the Republican line. They don't care who the candidates are. They don't care what the issues are. They may not even know who's running. But they vote Republican. This is one instance where I think that there should be some control over who votes. I don't know what kind of control would work, but I think it's needed.