I was reading a friend's blog moments ago about presidential candidates financing their campaigns, and I felt compelled to give my two cents on the American presidential election and candidates.
It seems like the nation doesn't realize that there really isn't that much difference between the republican and democrat candidates in our general elections (and there really hasn't been in any of the elections in the recent past.) A candidate for either of the 'major' political parties can be easily characterized: wealthy with lots of wealthy "friends" and political supporters. Both parties are primarily supported by money from wealthy individuals and narrow special interest organizations, whether they are the National Rifle Association, the AFL-CIO/Teamsters, the tobacco lobby, or the trial lawyers association. The candidates live in the same neighborhoods and send their kids to the same schools, and are members of the same clubs (the last may not be true for the current candidates given the continued existence of racism among the societal 'elite'). Their 'business' is politics. Once either gets elected, his next job will be to focus on getting re-elected, after that they can worry about 'running the country.'
Remember Senator Ted Kennedy, democrat and supposed environmental supporter who didn't want wind-electrical generation units off of the coast of Martha's Vineyard where he lives. On the flip-side, I'm sure that there could be a Republican who doesn't want the prison or the nuclear power plant built in his back yard.
This, however, is no reason to advocate our duty to vote and continually participate in the political process. I am hopeful that with the advances in the internet in the past decade that it will become more plausible that a third party candidate could be elected to a federal position. Keep up the forums, blogs, mySpace's, and Facebook's! Maybe we can improve our choices!
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8 years ago
