My Voting History, Hope , Corruption, Yada, Yada, Yada
March 13th 2008 15:18
Upon the advice of counsel I am gonna take this moment to reflect upon my youth. (Speaking in election years)
My youth, referring to when I first gained the legal right to vote.
At the tender age of 18 in the year of 1996, it was the year of Bill and Hillary Clintons re-election bid.
Oh how beautiful it was when our country had the illusion of the world loving us. Our economy was prospering with the tech boom and the only people rumbling were those right wing crazies who had the audacious mission of bringing down the Clinton Empire.
My youth, referring to when I first gained the legal right to vote.
At the tender age of 18 in the year of 1996, it was the year of Bill and Hillary Clintons re-election bid.
Oh how beautiful it was when our country had the illusion of the world loving us. Our economy was prospering with the tech boom and the only people rumbling were those right wing crazies who had the audacious mission of bringing down the Clinton Empire.
Two years had gone by since the Newt Gingrich lead republicans hostily took over both the house and senate but the house of Clinton stood tall. With what should have been an easy cruise to vicory for Bill & Hillary a challenger emerged from the right. This challenger was a war hero by the name of Bob Dole. This war hero pledged to bring conservative values back to the white house and not much else and ultimately failed. I placed my first vote for Bob Dole that year knowing he would lose and became a proud member of the Republican Party as I eagerly awaited someone who could end the scandal ridden era of Clinton politics. The era of renting out the Lincoln Bedroom, the era of Whitewater, the era of Paula Jones, Jennifer Flowers and Lewinsky Gate.
With the wool over my eyes I touted for someone to bring back the dignity that George HW Bush carried as Ronald Reagan’s vice president. As a child growing up democratic I cheered when he fell but throughout the Clinton Presidency I could easily see the changes he brought weren’t worth throwing a good man out of office. In a sense I realized that the 8 years of Clinton politics and scandal angered the American electorate so much that they turned to another generation of Bush’s in nostaligia.
In my next chance to cast a ballot for the next man to set the tone on a world stage I was faced with another choice between ideals. The ideals I saw in Al Gore to continue the Clinton legacy or the choice in George W Bush to bring back diginity to the White House. The other choice that factored into my 22 year old mind was the knowledge of conflicts in the Middle East to come.
The country was well aware of a man named Saddam Hussein who waged madness on his neighbors through torture and use of weapons of mass destruction however the perception was that he was an island unto himself and was not a factor on the world stage unless dealing with American interests like Oil.
As a gas guzzling nation we defended against this dictator but let him creep back to his castle and plot against his neighbors including Israel dropping a bombing here and there when he got out of line with those pesky assasination plots. The sentiment some Americans had at the time was that HW left the job unfinished or from others that we shouldn’t of gotten involved or that we created the problem by funding his wars against Iran. All sentiments were true in one way or another but my 22 year old mind was aware of the real enemy and the fact that there was an attack imminent on or around the year 2,000. This belief was based on the fact that the Muslim world hates us for our part in creating and funding the Israeli war machine. Among other things is the fact that they also hate us for occupying their lands in our many wars.
These facts and these facts alone laid down the issues for me in deciding between George W Bush and Al Gore. George W Bush the son of the man who orcheastrated the previous Gulf conflict with success, had an Army of War tested generals who had his backing and the same man who had the blood line of the last President who brought dignity to the White House. Or Al Gore the Vice President of the man who brought disgrace on the White House, Al Gore who I felt wasn’t ready to bring the nation together in a time of crisis, Al Gore who wasn’t offering a cabinet in our nations defense but a cabinet entrenched domesticaly and ultimately Al Gore the Vice President of the man who cut our military off at the knees by downsizing. History has proven that every time our military has recievied a cut it has resulted in conflict in the next administration. How does that old adage go?? Hindsight is 20-20? I think that’s about right in my synopsis to this equation.
I don’t regret looking back on my reasoning but I regret seeing what happened in the long run. In my fear of the unknown I resorted to the most name recognised canidate to take care of my country in her time of need. In the begining this proved to be the best strategy. I give the Bush Administration major kudo’s for handling 9-11. I’m not sure any President could have handled this event any better. Granted, our intelligence laid a major egg on this one which should of been red flag of things to come with the Iraq invasion and there’s also the fact that the administration received intelligence about planes flying into buildings which I’m sure were also echoed during the Clinton admintistration as well.
Adminstrations have laid eggs when receiving random intelligence time after time such as through out WWII with the rise of Hitler and Peral Harbor. On a non partisan outlook his actions during and after the tragedy echoed that of great Presidents in a time of tragedy. However the years after his invasion of Iraq reflected a different reaction on histories doorstep.
I was faced with these realities when John Kerry was offered to me as an alternative in the 2004 election. The media billed him as an ultra liberal and the Democrats didn’t learn from the last election. The elctorate was completely polarized in a battle of north versus south. Religious right vs progressive left, family values vs gay rights. I can never say I agreed with all the tenants of the Republican Party but limited federal govt was and has always been my greatest issue. This fact made it hard for me to break from the mold and declare myself an Independent this electoral season. In a nutshell these are the issues of past and present we have to deal with in the here and now....the Iraqi war is a collossal mess along with the events and aftermath of Katrinia, our economy is in another cycle of recessional downspin, our country is split between the new upswing of young voters and the jaded older voters who are being scared and want to hold onto the way things have always been because they believe change is impossible. Other issues involving current warfronts and new ones being laid down, government corruption on all levels and a categorical split in race, religion, creed and values.
As I see things on a non partisan level our country needs to bring it together or nothing will ever get done. The back biting in Washington has lead to both our President and congress facing 30% approval ratings. Most of you know how I think this should be dealt with and it’s not my place to impose those beliefs on you. Business as usual has become common place and I think it’s a sad thing when people won’t vote because they believe nothing will ever change or they are engrained to believe canidates will always say one thing and do another. It only makes matters worse when highly regarded politicians who attack and imprison wrong doers are found to have their hands in those very same cookie jars. It’s not my place to lay judgement on this man morally but I find it hard to have faith in a system that lays harsh punishments on men for their actions when these politicians whose job it is to regulate these things are dabbling in their businesses. To me it’s a sick and sad statement. We give our faith, hope and hearts to these persons only to have it thrown back in our faces.
No matter the consequences I still have faith in the overall meaning in our electorate and the founding fathers national intention of electing persons with the most overall mass appeal into office. Regardless of popular vote in the national election, true democracy in a large nation is not about the person who can win the biggest states but rather the person who can garner the most support around the country no matter what kind of partisan sentiments might be thrown either way. I find it troubling with the doomsday scenario that people in the largest states can dictate policy of the entire nation. We’ve had a war fought over this belief....
In a nation our size it’s important to factor in how small a voice our smaller states have and how great a feat it is for these states to get together and overtake the sheer electoral power of large states. If we’re gonna fix the problem either make the system completely for the popular vote (which would be chaotic and even hardeer to regulate) or give every state the same amount of votes electoraly. Sorry there’s no rally cry’s this week but I was feeling a bit nostalgic and also wanted to clear up a few issues. I really do enjoy all of your replies on this post and I’m looking forward to more spirited debate in the weeks to come because we’re gonna need it in the 6 weeks before PA. Another thing....I don’t want anyone to feel imtimidated to voice their opinion. People can say words don’t matter, or experience doesn’t matter or even looks don’t matter but there isn’t a person in the world that can say opinions don’t matter and aren’t the most powerful thing in on earth!!
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