Politics

[plural]

There is a quote I heard once

something along the lines of

"do not vote for the best candidate, but for the one who will do the least harm"

in my ten years of voting
I have never had the privilege of voting for a candidate
in whom I believed

instead, I have always tried to pick the lesser evil

this upcomming election
has been my most difficult choice
and
it weighs heavily on my mind

I look at the past four years
at Bush's presidency
and find many things I disagree with or dislike
but there are also things I support

I support his approach to the Israeli-Palestinian situation
I support the war in Iraq, even if I do not like how it was done
[to me getting rid of a villian like saddam, even sloppily, counts as a good deed]
I like the progress that is happening in the rebuilding of Iraq
again even though it has had blemishes and stumbles
and in my opinion was poorly planned
the fact of the matter is that Iraq is rebuilding and moving forward
and that is an effort worth being proud of

but when I look at the few suggestions
Kerry's camp seems willing to offer
at best I do not see them as much better
and at worst
some I even see as being worse options

for a while it has seemed to me
that Kerry's entire campaign strategy
has been "Anybody but Bush"

or I have been looking but not finding a reason to vote for him

I am not sure how to take
the recent swift boat criticisms
they do stink to a certain degree of politicism
but then again
so does Kerry's exploitation of his war record

it seems like Kerry opened the door for this one

I mean you cant campaign on the fact that you are faithful to your wife
and then claim political bias and manipulation
when someone raises doubt that your record is a pristine as you say

I have a real fear of and a great dislike for Kerry's seeming reliance on the UN
[who I distrust entirely] and the EU

Whatever ones qualms may be with Americas human rights record
and whatever allegations one can make about America acting in her own selfish interest
History shows us time and time again
that the Europeans hands are far bloodier and far more corrupt
which is fine with me in general, I have few illusions about the nature of our world
but when they turn around and act like their shit doesnt stink
it offends my fragile sensabilities

as it stands
I have three months to make up my mind
in what I feel is a pretty important election
and
never before have I found such discomfort in my belly
with the choices before me.

Comments

[rdg.livejournal.com]

which state will you vote in?

[plural.livejournal.com]

Washington state

not a battleground state I realize
but I still feel an obligation to vote
and make the best decision I can

[rdg.livejournal.com]

i'm voting for gridlock
whenever one party controls both congress and the white house
spending just gets out of control
:(

[plural.livejournal.com]

yeah I have thought about that as well

we definitely seem better off when the president and congress are on opposing teams

[bookfoole.livejournal.com]

If nothing else, thing about the Supreme Court and other judicial appointments...we're already going in a police state direction...I beginning to wonder if we even will have the opportunity to have an election in another four years...just because we've had a legacy of a democracy for over 200 years doesn't mean we will continue to have one if the leaders don't believe in our system and I truly believe that to Bush and his administration the Constitution is just something to get around or weaken...or even eliminate if they think they can get away with it. That alone makes me want to vote Kerry.

oops

[bookfoole.livejournal.com]

"thing" = "think" in my world of hasty typing and spotty proofchecking.

[moderndayknight.livejournal.com]

Yet it's the liberal judges who circumvent the constitution and make law from the bench. Just look at the 9th circus court of appeals in Sam Fran for examples.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_sacchi/]

I heard something somewhere, secondhand so I don't know all the details, about Kerry's wife. You've probably heard this already, but I'll say it anyway.

Apparently she has a lot of family money that she spends in some pretty disturbing ways.

Such as, supporting certain terrorist groups (again, secondhand, so I can't say which ones).

I haven't gotten to research this myself to find out how accurate it is.

But still...

*twitch*

[nandan.livejournal.com]

Bush's take on domestic issues is just too corrupt for me. Deregulation of energy, a hold over from either Reagan or Bush I, bankrupted California, and caused a major power outage on the east coast.

I don't like the way he uses language, and don't like the lack of support for genetic research that will make our scientists and health care industry second rate.

I'm very concerned about the voting Shenanigans in Florida, and the recordless computerized voting elsewhere in the US.

I don't know that we can control the terrorists, but I do believe we ought to have some say in how tax dollars are spent and who is given the keys to the treasury.

I'm voting against living in a banana republic.

[moderndayknight.livejournal.com]

I must respectfully correct you. There was no deregulation of energy in California. The ignorant media and the lying leftist political class is full of shit.

Deregulation means to get rid of the regulations. The government colluded with the power industry in California and fixed the prices in the retail market for energy while at the same time allowing the prices in the wholesale market to fluctuate.

Deregulation would be allowing all prices to fluctuate.

The power companies were making out like bandits as long as the retail price was above the wholesale price, but when the wholesale price skyrocketted on them, they couldn't raise the retail price BY LAW, and they got soaked.

Economics is a subject the government has a specific interest in keeping the masses ignorant of.

[zaiah.livejournal.com]

And we, here in Oregon, are still paying for it while my local power cooperative is forced to burn oil to supply our local lines, as the high lines stretch over head and southward, after all the years the hydroelectric infrastructure we've been paying on for years all goes, first dibs, to California. Meanwhile Oregon peak power usage DOES NOT CONFLICT with California peak power usage and we pay a higher sesonal rate when there is already excess power on the grid! *growlrs!*

[budhaboy.livejournal.com]

I support his approach to the Israeli-Palestinian situation

That would be let Sharon do whatever the hell he likes?

Makes sense to me, but at the same time, why then give Israelis a freakin' dime? I say let the lot of them duke it out on their own resources and let God sort it out, but That's just me, I've got nearly no emotional attachement to either side.

As for Saddam, he would have collapsed at one point anyway, why should we have risked blood and treasure to accelerate it? To keep out the extremists? Look at Iran. at some point the amount of money to be made will ultimately corrupt whateverthefuck ideology anyone ever has, and they would ultimately come around to a more 'pro western' point of view in the end...

As for the UN... Sure they're a bunch of icorrogable bastards, but they are our incorrogable bastards... In the end they do at least try even if they fail more often than they succeed.

As usual, feel free to eviserate my position on the middle east, I definately need the education.

[plural.livejournal.com]

Bush's approach isnt to let Sharon do whatever he likes, and he often criticizes him, however he refuses to take the UN/EU position of holding Israel to an unfair and biased standard.

It is unreasonable to expect Israel not to defend itself, or to treat the administration who is sending suicide bombers to attack her people as honest negotiating partners. Bush's approach, in my perspective, is simply to require the Palestinians to do more than words before expecting the Israelis to make concessions.

I have never liked Sharon, but I have to give him credit for being particularly surgical in his military actions and for looking for ways to disengage. He has accepted that there was no partner for peace in power on the Palestinian side and decided to try to find a way to protect his people without having to maintain martial law in the Palestinian terratories. Even if I disagreed with many of his proposals, I think he is at least trying to be productive in making the situation better for both sides.

[budhaboy.livejournal.com]

Again, as my only real cultural touchstone, I see Israeli-palistine as not unlike N. Ireland. The IRA NEVER got the british to cow to their demands, and the british never got peace from the butt of a gun.

As this is my (and likely europe's) touchstone for their approach to I-P conflict, can you blame them? At some point, ONE side is going to have to blink...

[plural.livejournal.com]

I dont see them as being parallel situations at all.

First the land that makes up Israel, was predominatly purchased by Jews from Arab landlords, primarily Syrians and Lebanese.

Secondly the Palestinians were migrant workers, with zero property rights or even claims prior to the state of Israel. It would be like california being claimed by a bunch of migrant farm workers.

Thirdly, Independence has never been a Palestinian aim, even with the exact 1967 borders, the only goal of the PLO has always been the destruction of Israel and extermination of her people.

It is not a situation of civil war but situation of two seperate countries, one Palestinian and one Israeli, in a prolonged conflict. One side has repeatedly shown its willinginess to make deals for peace and security, and the other has only walked away from the table repeatedly.

Someone has blinked, many times, it has been the Israelis and all it has done it to encourage more violence from the Palestinians.

[moderndayknight.livejournal.com]

I won't vote. But, something else to consider is that there is a decent chance in the next four years of a Supreme Court Justice position opening up. I do not want any Kerry appointees on the court.