Thanks to the candidates, I know what I need to do
I am so sick of the course of politics in this country. Especially the thought of any hope of real positive policy being lost in a sea negative campaigning. As the race for Senator in New Jersey heats up, I’ve been exposed to ads from both the Democratic candidate Menendez and the Republican candidate Kean. Neither has really said much about what they will do to bring positive change for the state. For the most part they’ve pounded us with what was wrong with the other guy.
I honestly planned to vote for ‘None of The Above’ like in the movie Brewster’s Millions. To bring an end to a corrupt NYC mayoral election, Richard Pryor’s character presents the option of not voting for either. This forced the two crooked candidates to come clean and there was a new election. A bunch of my friends and I even joked about voting for each other or, better yet, picking one of us to get all of our votes. But lately I’ve been having second thoughts.
Since it became clear that there would be no way enough citizens would vote my way to make a difference, I realized that I wouldn’t be helping at all. So I’ve decided to do the thing I hate but that many of us are forced to do when voting in this country. I will once again not be voting for one as much as I will be voting against the other. Oh it pains me to say this but I plan to vote Democrat down the line. It pains me because I am not at all a fan of Menendez.
So, why vote that way? Simply because I feel so strong about the need to wrest governmental control from the grips of the Republicans. We as Americans have a lot on the line this year. If we don’t bring about change then our President and Cabinet will continue to perpetuate their policy of stubbornness. And this I fear will cause the following if not worse:
- The US will continue to be hated in the world
- The war will continue down its current course despite the need for drastic change and children will continue to die
- The wealthy will continue to benefit on the backs of the poor and the middle class will continue to melt away
- The Religious Right will continue to dictate the rights of the rest of us
- The media majority will continue to bow to the White House
- Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Israel will continue to be our allies despite their own financing of terrorist activities
- The new government of Iraq will continue to fool us into thinking it is a democratic one despite its sympathy to the insurgency
- Iran and North Korea will continue to build their nuclear threats
- Education will continue to suffer budget cuts
- Illegal immigrants will continue to surge across our borders or die trying despite the building of an ill-conceived wall
- Terrorism will continue to prosper in the world and we will get hit again
As much as I despise playing the game, I don’t think I really have a choice this time around. I’m not gonna tell you how to cast your vote, but please think long and hard before you hit the polls. With so much on the line and so many races neck and neck, you absolutely cannot afford to be flippant about it. No matter who or what you believe in, you must vote this year.
GET OUT AND VOTE ON NOVEMBER 7TH 2006!!
