A reasoned approach to caring...

There are times when I ask myself why I care so much about unearthing the dubya machine. Why should I care, right? Roughly the eight out of ten times that I bring up conversation in relation to voting, how the president should conduct himself, or just politics in general, people either believe that it doesn't matter who is president-- "they are all corrupt", and that their vote doesn't matter for the same reason. Someone said to me recently that they "always felt like it didn't make a difference to them who was president". I asked them if it would matter to them if their child was in Iraq. This person thought for a second and said, "well, probably".

Call me naive, idealistic, whatever, but if I remember right, the president has the power to declare war. Of course congress also has to grant them that authority, but the final decision lies with the president, and it also helps when your party is the majority in congress. Also, the president has the power to appoint his cabinet members, as well as supreme court justices, two of which seats will be open next year.

More than anything it seems, the president has a huge responsibility to be a good spokesman and diplomat for our country, due to the huge media cartel--- see Cheney, "go fuck yourself" and dubya, "get these motherfuckers away from me", "you're a real asshole". The president has a responsibility to know who the president of Pakistan and the prime minister of India is. This person should be held to a high standard as they tend to serve as paradigms or representatives of the people in this country. In other words, if the prez looks like an ass, we look like asses.

It may be true that things have happened in virtually every executive administration that many would consider less than par to their moral standards and values, but the monkey is beyond words in my eyes. How is it, that one whose administration led us into a rather spendy war based on false premises isn't held accountable. What about his service in the national guard, his excellent speech skills, his secretive, unilateral approach to the concept of terror, which resides everywhere in the world, his questionable business ties (ken lay of enron, among others), his former drug and alcohol use, etc., etc.

Aside from this, I do realize that not only do many people not care to vote, but a reason for this is the fact that we end up choosing between two party candidates. The public, along with the media, is so gridlocked on partisan lines that we have to choose between two people who repeatedly spout off one-liners and seemingly unrealistic promises. The only thing I can think of to change this is to at least get people thinking about policy, thinking about how our spokesman in chief, along with congress should make important decisions that reflect upon everybody.

While I am not necessarily certain what a Kerry-Edwards presidency would do for us, I am certain that they have more "credibility", as someone said to me earlier, than this administration. If anything, better "spokesmen and women", or "advertisements", if one could refer to them as such. As it stands now, the current "advertisement" is killing this country's ratings, and as long as this gridlock is in place, if the only choice I have is to vote for the better ad, one that brings us closer to freeing up party lines, then so be it.

As far as why I care, dude just gives me a bad feeling.