My Pre-Super Tuesday Political Rant.

Before I really get into this let me first encourage everyone to vote. Whether you agree with me or not, please take to time to research the candidates and their positions, register and make your voice heard.

As we listen to the sound bytes, political pundits and talking heads covering the election I am struck by the narrowness of their views. Everything is presented with a bias, a lot of flash and as little actual substance as can possibly be imagined. For the latest example all you need to look at was the coverage of the last Democratic debate between Clinton and Obama. I recorded this debate and watched it carefully both live with some of my friends and again later on my own. I was able to establish for myself where each of the candidates stood a few key issues, what their key differences are and finally to see what the chemistry between these two candidates really was. However none of what I saw seems to have been reported. What got reported, rather, than the candidates and their performance, plans or views was the fact that there were a few cut away shots of celebrities in the audience. ‘Because, you know, those Democrats, *heh*, they just love those celebrities.’
It is clear that these tactics have been effective for many years as power brokers have controlled the media and thus the masses, but in this age of information such attempts at control look like exactly what they are. I am astonished that the people who run the networks have not caught on to this. There does not seem to be a movement anywhere in the major media outlets to clean up their act and implement some sort of standards of objective reporting and professional integrity. This is too bad because such a move would almost certainly make the first network to do it hugely popular, in my opinion.
Which brings back to our political conversation; America is a very large, very diverse place. What some people think in any given region is often opposed by some people in another region. What makes us all Americans is the underlying agreement that fundamentally; that’s okay. One of the things we cherish as Americans is the right to disagree. We thrive on our public debate and we reserve the right to change our minds and or modify our positions. What we have seen over the past seven years however is the erosion of these principles. After years of being lied to, over charged, led into conflicts against our own self interest, and told that any hint of dissent is in fact giving aid and comfort to the enemy we are more divided than ever. These divisions, or fractures at this point, run along just about every political and cultural front that can be imagined. They are the result of seven year of unchallenged conservative control and they are exactly what the conservatives want. As long as they can keep people divided and afraid they can ram through all kinds of un-American policies in the name of national defense and their war on terror, or drugs, or whatever the concept du jour is that fits the needs of the moment. The thing is that, as I say, in this age of accelerating information, the people are starting to catch on. The coming disasters that our country is headed into lay bare the underling jingoism, racism, sexism, cruelty and intolerance that have made them possible. In short the neo-conservatism that has led us here may have finally run its course. Now we need to regroup, take care of our own and look to our future. It is a future that is coming much faster than most people realize. The problems of the past, and even those of the present, pale in comparison to what is coming. Which candidate do we choose? Who has the best experience, the most integrity, the most personal character and the best vision for the future?
In my opinion, that person is Senator Barack Obama and that’s who I intend to vote for on Super Tuesday. I believe that Mr. Obama has the best chance of unifying this country, of undoing the damage the past seven years and of seeing us through the troubled times we now face.

Regardless of whom the Democratic nominee ends up being, I believe that what they should do is reach back to the other two front runners and try to include them as much as possible. Instead of a vague misguided war or terror let us clearly identify and eliminate those enemies that would attack us. Let us, instead of wasting resources on a selectively enforced war on drugs, follow the lead of Mr. John Edwards and declare war on American Poverty. Let us reform our tax, education and health care to make it the best in the world and then let us use that example to convince our global political adversaries of the wisdom of democracy and liberty. Let those of us who believe in looking to the future, rather than the past, join forces and unite our country in courage, rather than in fear.

Thanks for reading.