November 2, 2004
Yeah, I guess it's time for my craptastic little spiel about who I'm voting for. I'm hoping that by not writing this until I'm at work, you'll hit the polls before you read it instead of being convinced by my horrible prose to vote for the guy I don't want winning.
This is the third election I've been eligible to vote in, and I have yet to participate in one that didn't require at least some nose-holding. I don't think it's a terribly difficult choice though. I'm voting for Kerry.
Not for any of his policies, really, just because I'm tired of Bush and he needs to get canned. I'm sick of the lies, I'm sick of the misdirections, I'm sick of the assaults on basic civil liberties, I'm sick of the refusal to adapt to mistakes. In 2000 I thought the guy was a better choice than Gore: I didn't really want an environmentalist nutjob running the White House. I still agree with that sentiment, but I wish I'd had someone else to vote for. Maybe I should've just voted for Larry Brown and admitted that my vote didn't count for anything anyway.
But back to the matter at hand. We're dealing with someone here who (from what I can tell; I wasn't alive at the time) is more dishonest than Nixon. At least when Clinton told whoppers it was about not inhaling and getting hummers from a fat chick. Presenting shaky evidence as irrefutable so he could beat up the guy who embarrassed his daddy. Covering for the reporter who outed Plame (everyone else is getting hit with contempt-of-court charges for not revealing sources except the guy who the story was leaked to?) Those are pretty big right there.
On the basis of that shaky evidence Bush went to war in Iraq. Given what was coming out of Washington at the time I supported it. If I'd known then what I know now that would be different. But let's ignore that I got taken on that; more than half the country did, along with most of Congress. Let's look at the war effort. The disappearing explosives are just the latest poke in the eye for this botched operation. Time and again we've seen the results of having too few men in-country at the start -- insurgents holed up, looters raided anything and everything. We went from "liberators" to "destroyers" overnight as the Iraqis who should have been on our side saw us stand and watch while their countrymen wrecked the cities. Now they use the weapons we let slip out from under our noses against our soldiers.
I doubt I even need to mention Ashcroft and USA PATRIOT, or the TSA and Department of Homeland Security, or this nation's descent into attempted theocracy. We've descended so far in the last few years that people now think that being an Arab or a Muslim or just looking out of place means that due process is a privelege and not a right. We think that hassling old ladies will stop a terrorist from taking over a jetliner, or flying a Cessna into something important.
So I'm going to vote for Kerry. Let's look at some of what he has to offer:
- Tax-cut rollbacks for people making $200,000+. The libertarian in me disagrees, but the money's got to come from somewhere and I'd rather it not be me.
- Socialized health care. Because what we need in this country is even more brain-drain. Doctors are already closing their doors due to malpractice insurance going through the roof. Limiting what they can charge isn't going to help matters any. Remember, while we're going to Canada for penecillin Canadians are coming down here for surgery so they don't have to wait in line. I comfort myself by saying that since at least one house of Congress will stay Republican, this will never pass.
- Rebuilding alliances. Not terribly likely, given how badly we've fouled the nest over Iraq, but getting more people in there, even if it's just as support, would help. I doubt anyone would go for it, or would accept what little we'd offer in return.
- Three Purple Hearts!!!!one!! Shut the fuck up about Vietnam already. It was 30 years ago. I wasn't born until a year after it ended. Sure, the Swifties are full of it. I don't care.
There you go, the lesser of two evils. Go out and vote. Unless you're voting for Bush. In which case I invite you to stay home and consume the adult beverage of your choice, until you can't remember where the polling station is.
Edit, 5:10PM: So much for record turnouts and long lines; I was the only person there aside from the volunteers and the people handing out pamphlets. Go, apathy.
Edit, Wednesday 8:17AM: Congratualtions, Ohio: You're this year's Florida. Looks like the vote's close enough that they have to wait for absentee and provisional ballots to be counted. So, we wait a little while.
Edit, Wednesday 12:25PM: Well, this is interesting: Kerry's apparently conceded the race already. Now, it's extremely likely that he'd've lost anyway, but what happens if the planets align and the absentee ballots actually do give him Ohio?
