Ok, so I’ve been sitting here watching this election thing for the past couple of hours.
Well, the first hour was actually spent watching Election Night 2004: Prelude to a Recountwith John Stewart on Comedy Central – you know, it’s sad when you’d rather watch comedy than the downward spiral that is the state of our nation, isn’t it?
I’ve listened to both sides, I’ve debated with more people than I care to mention about these issues at work, and I – for the record – pretty much hate politics. Why? Because here we sit at 11:35 PM on November 2nd and the polls are something like two million votes apart. Just based on the last presidential election, there are no doubt tens of millions of people that didn’t vote this year, either, and I’ve just got this bad feeling that George W. Bush is going to be our President for another four years. It’s kind of like when you didn’t do nearly enough studying for tomorrow’s exam and you could stay up and cram all night, but it just doesn’t seem worth it anymore – might as well just turn in now, get some sleep, and deal with whatever is going to happen in the morning.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I miss Bill Clinton.
For me, it really all boils down to one single issue that feeds the entire election – religious influence on the political front. Honestly, I’m really rather proud of myself this year because I’ve taken the opportunity to begin to understand why people believe in what they believe and I think that overall, organized religion can have a positive effect on somebody’s life…but in a democracy it should not have an impact on how you run our country.
- Sexual orientation is a personal issue and should remain that – it’s none of my business what my neighbors do with their lives, so why shouldn’t those who fancy the same sex enjoy the same rights as the rest of us?
- In a land where poverty and unemployment plague our cities while we continue to waste our financial resources halfway around the globe, no child deserves to be brought into this world having already been dealt a losing hand. As far as I’m concerned, until a baby has left the mother’s womb, it is still the parents’ decision and no one else’s.
- I’m sure there’s something in one of those holy documents about “Thou Shall Not Kill…”but I suppose that doesn’t matter when the leader is a self-righteous monster.I don’t mean to pick on the bible by any means, but you know how the saying goes…“An idea can’t be held responsible for the people who believe in it.” I know I’m not the first person to say that I’m scared because President Bush doesn’t believe that a woman should be allowed to have an abortion when all life is precious, or that I’m scared because thousands of our brothers and sisters are currently diagnosed with life-threatening diseases that may be cured if only stem-cell research weren’t illegal, or that I’m scared that I may some day be called off to war to help liberate a country that doesn’t want to be liberated because the President is willing to send wave after wave of soldiers into the Middle East, as he believes that his Christian God wants him to – I can sit here and read on the television plain as day that over three million people agree.
What’s even more frightening is that an equal 3+ million people agree with Mr. Bush wholeheartedly and we see these folks every single day. Am I the only one who’s frustrated that you can have nothing but respect for another person’s system of beliefs, yet they still have no qualms about making these kinds of decisions because they believe that a man loving another man is an abhor-ration of their God??? In fact, tonight eleven states are voting to make it their business – we’ve shifted from a country who idolizes Homer Simpson to one that strives to be just as okily-dokily as Ned Flanders…what’s next – “sex is illegal for anyone not wearing a wedding band or otherwise bearing a notarized certificate from the Director of the Department of Homeland Sexuality himself?!” Jesus Christ, indeed…
So I’ll wrap this up and go to bed, knowing that I felt safer sleeping two months ago with a category four hurricane predicted to come ashore in my backyard the next day. I didn’t care much for his tactics, either, but please let John Kerry win simply because if nothing else, at least he has enough respect for the great melting pot that is this nation to leave his bible at home when he comes to work.
“…with liberty and justice for ALL…”