Vote Early, Vote Often!

Time to get political.
2004-11-01

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." -- T.S. Eliot

I am currently about to return to America after a four year 'sabbatical'. When I first moved here, Clinton was in office. 9/11 hadn't happened. The dot com boom was just looking down at the slope of decline. Things weren't perfect, but they didn't look abysmal. It is a politically introspective experience living abroad in the UK.

I used to own a '71 Ford Mustang. A big, gas-guzzling muscle car penis extension. It was a fun car, and I would constantly get comments and 'Mustang stories' from people who knew someone who owned one. In the same way I get 'America Stories' about people's experiences in America. Everyone seems to have an idea about the US. When I first came here they were very relaxed and fun("Yeah, I went to Disney World when I was young" and "Man, Clinton has bad taste in women"). This is a sharp contrast to current stories("George Bush is a wanker." and "I wanted to go to America to work but now I'm not so sure because of the Patriot Act").

I can see America has become much more political since I last lived there over four years ago. It seems from my voting research that the blurry line is very divisive on at least a couple issues. The war on Iraq/ the war on terror seem to be the key point that differentiates the candidates. While Bush constantly uses the old marketing tactic of associating irrelevant facts together to attempt to make a cohesive argument, he can't seem to fail to give the left media something to laugh at.

Kerry uses a lot of the same tactics used to pull the seat out from under the incumbent. Its easy to berate the president when you haven't been one. Its easy to use a lot of generic words to elicit emotion from voters, then try to hammer home a couple facts. The good thing about Kerry is that he has a very presidential nature, has a strength, but most important to me as an expatriate, understands the broader view of the US OUTSIDE of the US, and that that view really matters. Kerry isn't afraid to be iconoclastic, to be intellectual when appropriate, and to use his power.

Regime change starts at home.

There is over $400 million going into the campaign of both parties. There is no such thing as a president by himself, but a cabal built up around the president based on their contributions. Take a look at Bush's Pioneers or Kerry's Co-Chairs. To give you an idea of how amazing this looks to British eyes, the average amount spent by candidates for their campaign in the UK is $6000. Here is a great article, but don't get dizzy from all the spin.

What's an economy? And nowhere in sight is an America talking about the economy. Something that I can't comment on, because its a very hard thing to grasp from across the pond.

Get scared and obey. That is what terrorism is about. If this is true, then Bush is truly the world's largest terrorist, because that's all that his campaign is based on. The terrorists do not hate freedom, they are not 'evildoers', the world is not a playground inhabited by five-year-olds. Terrorism is a word, used by Bush to keep people in line. The people who are terrorists were once 'friends' of the US government. Terrorism is fear. Fear that the US's bloated oil-based economy will die without maintaining military interests in the middle east. Fear that the rest of the world wants what we have, so we better protect our interests at all costs. At all cost, at what cost?

America is a great country, and is actually part of something called 'Earth'. This 'Earth' is filled with many other great countries (some are actually greater than America, but don't say that because the Americans will think you are unpatriotic). These countries all attempt to live in harmony. Current American policy doesn't really seem to care about these other countries, and is more interested in protecting American interests at the expense of foreign policy, than applying a global neighbourly view.

I feel , like most previous presidents, and most Americans(I hope!), that American foreign policy is paramount in a time of war. In a world now with one superpower, it is important to keep a benevolent outlook on our neighbors and work with them.

And so, its time to vote. And from a voting viewpoint, how can you look at a country at war that has an ineffective foreign policy figurehead? Bush's current foreign policy consists mainly of dictating terms to other countries that we're fighting a war on terror, and posing an ultimatum. The only reason that Bush has survived on such pathetic diplomacy is his financial connections to Saudi Arabia. Is this the most effective method of diplomacy?

Most importantly, can we do better? Of course we can.

Please vote for John Kerry, and get Bush out of office. Thanks for listening to my rant :)