Just Vote, Please!

We all need to vote. I don't care who you vote for, either. Just do it. I can't stand the people who are not voting because "there's really no difference who wins; things will just be as they always have been..." That's no excuse not to vote. You don't vote under the delusion that the candidate you pick will magically transform the world. If you do, then you're just dumb.

For me, voting is about selecting the people whose track records and stated beliefs most closely match those of your own. It's not easy. There's never a candidate whose track record is perfect, and I always have disagreements with candidates on at least a few issues. For example, I disagree with Barack Obama's Religious views. I disagree with his Health care proposal (I am more for universal Health care that does not have a for-profit component). I also disagree with his support for NAFTA (I think we should abolish the act). When I vote, it about which candidate and which party you feel best has served the American public. It's about give and take.

Let me tell you why I voted the way I did. I actually thought about it, unlike a lot of people. I voted for Obama. Throughout the entire campaign, he shined, and he didn't resort to getting dirty and dishonest. I checked FactCheck.org every day, and also read online newspapers, and saw clearly that if there was any fault in Obama's literature, speeches, or commercials, the fault was that they were overly optimistic. Every fault in the McCain/Palin campaign was either deception, or an outright lie. McCain used fearmongering and told outright lies about Obama's platform and record, then he tried to smear him as a pal with so-called "terrorists".

Every time I checked the facts, McCain came up the loser.

Then I watched the debates. McCain performed sadly and acted like a frightened animal during the debates. His arguments were lame, and his responses to questions were nothing more than official campaign talking points. Palin's performance during her debate with Joe Biden was just plain retarded -- and we sure don't need another retard in the white house; we've had a retard there for the last 8 years, and he screwed up badly.

What's worse is the manner in which the Republican party and the McCain campaign staff acted during the entire campaign. They seem to want to appeal only to morons who can be motivated by the kind of rhetoric you hear from teenagers arguing in a grammar school playground. First, I couldn't help but see a traditional White double-standard, also called "White Privilege", at play during the last year. Then I saw familiar reports about Republican attempts at voter caging. Right wing pundits have always made me vomit, but Sean Hannity's attempt to smear Obama by using patently false and misleading information supplied by a white supremacist, probably gave me the trots, as well! But when republicans all across the board recently talked about how they represent "real Americans", it made me ooze a lot of unmentionable stuff, including disgust, outrage, and vitreol.

It's a pretty clear choice. You either go with the party of racism, McCarthyism, and Jesus, which started a completely unneccesary war and equates happiness with money, or you go with the party of diversity, liberalism, and social justice, which is in favor of living in peace with the rest of the world, helping people in need, and trying to secure a better future for all, and not just some.

In short, I'm voting for the guy who didn't have to lie his way through the election season, who I think has the better chance of fixing the idiotic mess that George W. Bush has made of the country, and the world.