This will be my one and only political post (I hope). Just to let you all know where I stand on the US elections. I have done it before and I’m returning to vote for the third candidate. I’m not thinking about what others will say or do. I prefer to use my vote to express the candidate who I feel is the best and will make me feel integrity when I leave the mailbox, instead of like I succumbed to the pressure of voting for some guy who is “not that bad.” So …drum roll… my candidate is: Cynthia McKinney with the Green Party.
I know immediately you are thinking “what a waste.” I don’t think so. If we keep voting for one of the two tired candidates that the mass media and “democratic” dual party system offer us then we will always have just that: two options. Other democracies offer their people three or more viable candidates or PR (proportional representation). In these systems there’s actually a possibility of real change to occur. I thought that we were all about having more options, varying quality and prices, why not apply this motto to the most important job in the country: the president?
I have thoroughly reviewed both the main party candidates and allowed myself one several hour long debate with a friend in Spain. I’ve decided that when I return to the states I don’t want to get involved with the endless debates and speculations about the personal lives that it seems Americans are wrapped up in. There are far more important things to do in life: How about focusing on ourselves, our individual development and growth on this planet, beautifying the lives of those around us by our example? My goal is to spend x number of hours doing the above and zero hours scrutinizing political candidates, celebrities and who ever else the mass media slings in front of our faces to throw insults at and to distract us from what really matters. Are we still living in the time of public lynchings or days of the fearless but ultimately doomed gladiators as hypnotized spectators delighting in the onslaught and suffering of others, cheering as the smiling blade of the guillotine lands on another “deserving” head. We haven’t come very far from the point when Jesus broke through the mindless crowd and said so pertinently:
“He who has not sinned, cast the first stone.”
I would rather use my vote as one step towards ending a limited view of reality. Instead of not voting for either Obama or McCain, the distorted view that there are only two candidates running in the race, I will vote for the person I see as the best candidate in the race: Cynthia McKinney. She has the same views as I do on the War in Iraq and has never supported it, she is not afraid to do what she considers to be right, even when it is strongly unpopular, she has character and integrity and lastly, she is a black female, read more. I want real change, not the illusion of change, I want a drastic upheaval of the system. I know it will take a while and it’s not going to happen in the next four years and probably not in the subsequent, because, quite frankly, politics is fueled by corporate dollars. Anyone look at how much money Obama has raised and ask themselves whose donating it? Until candidates an
d indeed others like doctors and nurses are working for the pure unselfish benefit of the people, on a donational non-profit basis, we will always be faced with this double-sided coin candidacy and a false perception that we have only two choices: evil and less evil. If I can refuse to condone just one of these options I will feel better, but if I can thwart both evils then, wow, maybe there is hope! ~V
