October
28th, 2005
Is
it over yet?
Those of you who
know me know I love talking about
politics. I wrote about the Democratic primary debates and made fun of
MTV’s “Rock The Vote” program and asked why isn’t there a “Jazz The
Vote” for Conservatives or those traditionalists among us.
I’ve written
about how terrorism has effected this
country, how Al-Qaeda is the biggest threat to civilization this world
has ever known seen since the Second World War and how Osama’s group is
a lethal combination between Nazi fascists and the Gangster Bootleggers
of Prohibition. I wrote about how the bombing in Madrid effected the
elections in Spain and how Terrorism now works thanks to that event.
I’ve had a good
time writing these rants during this
political season, and I’ve been given plenty to talk about. I haven’t
been able to keep up… for every 1 rant or column that’s been posted,
there have been 2 or 3 that were written and dropped because of new and
more pressing issues.
Now, as we’re
less then a week away from the
election, I want it to be over already. I want to see an end of the
political ads on television and the radio, the poison-pen books and the
mindlessly STUPID bumper stickers. Seriously, it’s not fun any more.
For and Against.
Someone said
that if God intended for us to vote, he
would have given us Candidates. No other statement could be more true
during this election cycle here in the United States since there isn’t
a candidate that anyone’s truly excited for… but there’s plenty of
excitement AGAINST each candidate. Nobody is genuinely excited FOR a
particular candidate, but they are energized to vote because someone
isn’t “the other guy”.
The vilification of these two
candidates has spilled over into the
voters and the people working for both campaigns. The word “evil” is
being used too much, and it’s being used improperly. I have no doubt
that one man is better for the job then the other one, but I can also
understand why there are some people who are voting for John Kerry. I
understand some people have legitimate reasons to not like George
“Dubya” Bush, but I have an problem with those voters who aren’t
informed and take all their news and information from Blogger-sites
written by celebrities such as Dave Mathews or Bruce Springstien. Who
are these voters giving up on individual thoughts and ideas and
following someone else simply because they are performers, and are
these fans really serious about voting or are they just happy to have
something to protest?
There’s the same
anger focused on the local levels.
Sitting here on my desk I have a pile of political junk mail (there’s a
double meaning...) Among them all it’s rare to find one of substance,
and some of them are unintentionally funny… like the one sent from a
liberal candidate denouncing his conservative opponent. To paraphrase
this doubly hysterical letter, “My opponent a non-progressive and a
traditionalist! He’s against Abortion, he’s for school vouchers, Gun
Owner Rights, Parental Rights and wants to lower taxes by cutting
government spending to the bone…”. The flyer actually won me over… for
the candidate I didn’t know enough about until I got the flyer from his
liberal opponent. Good job.
What does this
negative campaigning do besides
alienate voters besides sending a voter to the other side?
Forigen Involvement
On many message
boards you’ll notice that there are
a few citizens of other countries outside the United States who are
passionate about George “Dubya” Bush… they passionately want to see him
defeated. I’ve noticed how many of these people are ill informed about
what’s actually going on in The War On Terror or lack any knowledge of
who John Kerry is and his record. Much of what I said in my last rant,
“Media Bias”, holds true for the European media, only more so. Also,
the government of Canada doesn’t allow the FOXNews network on Cable or
Dish, but they don’t hesitate to make Al Jazeera available. Our
non-American members of these boards like to boast about how they
celebrate “Free Speech” better then the Americans do, but don’t mention
about how the conservative views are suppressed in their own country.
On the Internet,
there has been a lot of traffic
from non-Americans PLEADING with voters here in the states to vote
“Dubya” out of office. Elsewhere there are demands that American’s
start opening their eyes to what’s “really” going on in the world, but
their arguments falls apart when an articulate conservative posts
compelling facts that proves what’s “Right” and that some of us are
actually paying attention to something besides the elite media or
reality TV…
There’s even the
intervention by the European media
and two examples come from a British Newspaper: The Guardian. First,
there was the letter writing campaign to registered voters in Ohio from
readers of The Guardian asking them to vote for Kerry, then there was
the editorial from the same newspaper calling for the assassination of
President Bush…
On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush
loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving
the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more
years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no
benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee
Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?
Imagine the
outrage if citizens and the press of the
United States became this actively involved in a campaign of another
nation’s election. Imagine the global outrage if a conservative group
flooded regions of Belgium to elect a more Conservative and less
secular Prime Minister.
Conclusion
While these
people are expelling great energy in
their hate for the current president, is there anyway to know for sure
they understand the issues or have a clear understand of what John
Kerry believes? If they do, would the please let Mr. Kerry himself
know, I’m sure he would appreciate that. Seriously, while those of us
on The Right are obsessing about Mr. Kerry and what he’s done (or
hasn’t) in his decades as Senator, do we REALLY understand his record
or have we just relied on Conservative news sources? As someone who’s
lived in New England, I’m very well aware of his record, but do those
who haven’t had the access to these local news outlets see the bigger
picture behind his protests against war and his wife’s billions of
dollars?
In all this
hate-inspired propaganda, could we have
blinded others and ourselves to the real issues? Could we have missed
something about good about the Candidates, over-looked because we’re so
obsessed with what’s bad?
In less then a week, those
questions will be moot and irrelevant. I’ve
come to the point where I’m no longer interested in what the folks
think about this election who aren’t voting here in this country. I’m
not curious about what the folks think over-seas with the exception of
our military men and women who will vote by absentee ballot. I’m hardly
amused anymore by the emotional pleas from other nations asking to
think twice about whom we vote for while at the same time they’re
outraged by American influence in the world.
Since there are people here at home
who only get their news from blogs
written by their favorite performers, I can’t be bothered to take the
time and hear what these fans have to say or what they believe.
In short, it’s
tedious to read and listen to the
opinions of people on both sides who are ignorant of the issue and are
voting based on venom. We’re talking about the future of the country,
but many are talking about this election as if it’s a gang-war and the
insults have become too personal. We’re forgetting that those of us
here in the United States are all Americans.
I can’t wait for
the election to be over; I’m sick
and tired of being sick and tired. What ever happens, it’s in God’s
hands. Providing there isn’t a recount or anyone contesting the
election results… I look forward to getting on with my life on
Wednesday, November 3rd.
