The Election

Well everyone, it's been a long, hard battle. And although the candidate that I would have liked to have in office right now was not elected, I feel a certain sense of irony in all this. Now, I'm sure most of you who are reading this probably agree with what I'm saying. In fact, not only do you more than likely agree with me, your anger probably prompts the question of why haven't I done more. Well, truth be told I could have done more, but I had enough faith in people to select what was right, not who was right. Oh what a fool I was. Not only did the people that I instilled what little faith I had in me fail miserably in their cause, most of them didn't even believe in their cause enough to vote. 10% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 voted. And only 17% of those between the ages of 18 and 29. What a miserable statistic.
And yet despite our complete and utter lack of participation we still feel the need to force this onto other countries. We who are so lacking in participation in our government believe that our government should go and impose itself upon others? Fools. Idiots. Every one. Or at least 51% of America is too uninformed or ingrained into a single train of thought to allow a sensible and intelligent president to be elected. Take gay marriage for example. Who here honestly believes what was dictated as true two thousand years ago still holds true today? Obviously 75% of America feels that way. Because 75% of exit pollers voted to have a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. So for you out there who believe in that, I tell you this:
Your uninformed bigotry fills me to the brim with hatred. YOU are no better than the scum who believe that blacks should still be enslaved or that white supremacy is a good thing. People like you who truly believe this is the case are the scum of the planet and don't deserve to live here if you cannot tolerate it.
Now, this is of course a wonderful moral issue, but it is not the most important issue at all. The most important issue by far is the national budget. Weather or not you realize it the national budget effects every single one of you. It is responsible for what sends your children (or in some cases, you) to school. It's what pays those brave men and women on the police force, who are firefighters, and who keep you alive in hospitals. It's what pays for the war in Iraq, and all those wonderful new homeland security departments. Hell, it even pays for your grandma's new Canadian medicine plan. And weather or not you realize it, this fund is limited. In fact, it's so limited, that we've continually spent more than we actually have for the last 4 years. Even before Bush and Clinton we spent more than we made, and so we've built up something called a deficit. Now, everyone's heard of the deficit, but how many of you know what it really is? Well, I'm sure that you all know how a loan works. A person needs more money than they have and so they choose to contact a bank, and they take out a certain amount. Then, every year, they pay back part of that loan. Now to make money, the banks need to say: "We'll make sure that part of the money you paid back goes towards getting rid of you debt, but we'll keep part of it as a form of payment for letting you borrow the money in the first place." Think of the national deficit as a big loan that the US has taken out from lots of other countries around the world. When Clinton came into office he did something no other President had ever done: He balanced the budget. And not only that, soon afterward he began producing a surplus. We had begun to pay back our debt.
This was in large part due to a new strategy in taxes by Clinton. Up until Clinton, the plan had always been: keep the taxes on the rich low and the extra money they receive will "trickle down" to the rest of the economy, thus improving the economy overall. This is also known as "supply-side" economics. This, as you can probably tell I'm insinuating, has not and never will work. When Clinton came into office he reversed that idea: He taxed the rich heavily and reduced taxes of the middle class. When he did this, republican economists predicted doom and gloom, and that if Clinton were allowed to go through with this the economy would collapse. What actually happened? Why, the economy BOOMED. We never had seen such marvelous times as the 90s. Inflation was low, the stock market was doing well, and everyone seemed to be getting happy and more prosperous. Then, Clinton's term came to an end, and a new president came into office: George W. Bush. And what was his first act? He reversed Clinton's plan, and put things back to the way they had always been. What happened? Why the economy CRUMBLED. All the sudden we were in a giant recession, nothing seemed to work right. What was Bush's solution? To give away the surplus. All three trillion dollars of it. He didn't give it all out at once; he gave it out in pieces, so that people wouldn't be suspicious of this massive money giveaway. He promised to keep 1.5 trillion of that three trillion for social security, where is that money now? In the hands of the richest 2% of America. And then what happened? We got attacked.
The 9/11 attacks had a drastic effect on the way we live today. It altered little things like how long it takes to get onto airplanes. And it altered us in big ways like the ways you look at everyone as you cross the streets. Everyone now looks around in fear that the person next to them is a terrorist. New names and words invaded our homes. Words like Al-Qaeda and names like Bin Laden. We were suddenly in a nation of fear. Nothing seemed safe anymore, and god damnit we weren't gonna take it anymore. What did we do? We Sent troops over to Afghanistan and we set out to hunt down and kill Osama Bin Laden. We cornered him. We had tons of ground troops and airforces pounding away at his defenses. We had him in our clutches and we had crushed his network of terrorism, and we almost had the man responsible for the greatest civilian bloodshed ever on American soil. And we left Osama alone and fought a war in Iraq to remove an "evil" dictator. I'm sure many of you who are un-informed on the issues will re-read that sentence at least twice. Ask yourselves: Why is it that we still live in fear of a man who in Bush's first year of Administration was promised to be brought to justice? Because BUSH FAILED. And yet so few people see that.
Now many of you are probably thinking along the lines of: well Bush has provided lots of reasons for why our economy has gone awry. Things like the "Clinton recession" and the tax cuts were supposedly meant to fix that. Well really, those tax cuts fixed the seeming "bind" we were in. They made enough people spend money to the point where we stopped dropping and started being steady. Now certainly this seems a just cause then! These Tax cuts pulled us from a recession! Well kind of. They made enough people who still had jobs spend their money on inconsequential things and made parts of our economy grow. But there is an overlying issue: job loss. Bush is providing tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas and that is the one of the true causes of our continued economic despair. People receive money from the government, but then the government takes away the companies' incentive to hire them. But even THAT has not had as large an impact on our economy as the war in Iraq. Nothing in our budget costs as much. Not the security increases, not the tax cuts, nothing. And what was the point behind the war in Iraq? To get the weapons of mass destruction? Why didn't we go into Iran or North Korea then? Why? I think it was to defend the oil. Now many of you may say I've been listening to too much liberal slander, but truth be told, even though we don't directly use that oil it makes of 40% of the world's stock hold of oil and two thirds of that goes to China. How many things can you find in your house made in China? Quite a few I'm willing to bet, and therefore, inadvertently, you are using oil from Iraq. And why do we need all this oil? Haven't we come up with any reliable methods for alternative energy? What have all those scientists been working on? Well, they've been hard at work trying to rid us of our need for oil, but unfortunately they're working on reduced budgets because that oil is still here now and so people are saying one of the dumbest things they can say: Why pay? Why Pay?! Because it's not your planet. It's not just your country. It's all of ours. And weather or not you like it you have to help it.
We don't seem to see the gaping holes and lies in the Bush campaign. Or at least 51% of America is so careless about reading up on the issues that they have chosen a man who is a complete and utter failure at being president. Am I the only one who's bothered by the fact that this is a president who has gone on record saying that there ought to be limits to freedom? Sure I'm not the first to make this observation, but I certainly won't be the last. Am I also the only one concerned that our president has a DUI record? Am I the only one concerned about the fate of our country?
No. Of course I'm not. 49% of the country is on my side, I'm just incredulous at the ability to ignore so many dropped hints and warnings. Our country is heading in the wrong direction fast, and I won't be blamed for not trying to educate what few of you that may read this.

And for what few of you who do read this, remember: one who is willing to sacrifice a little privacy & freedom for security deserves neither. -Ben Franklin

*Compliments of http://kitkorp.com, a website maintained by my friend Kit*

im just so dumbfounded that people reelect him, when he had a surplus for teh first time in a long time, before he was president, and then watched him Give it Away. And then take more, and more, and more. He doesnt understand what it means to borrow. He doesnt understand that the government cant just create money out of thin air. Our defecit is digusting, and now that Bush doesnt have to worry about getting reelected, im afraid that all hell will break loose.

My friend works at a Major Oil Company in Lousiana and he said that if gas prices keep increasing at the rate they are now, in 2 years the gas prices are gonna be $4.00 for the cheapest gas. If that happens then we are gonna be in another great depression. WORSE than the one in the late 1920's and early 1930's.
-Conner

ALL BECAUSE OF GREEDY ASS BUSH!!!!
-Conner

Let's see him blame Clinton for what he does in these four years to come!
-Conner

seriously, ilook at this http://www.ebaumsworld.com/bush-bs.html ...wow

wow Aymon your pretty smart for being 16-wow i totally agree with you-i dont know how people could be so blind-i also think that making a law about banning gay marriage is wrong-we shouldnt decide on how people could live their lives and what they can or cannot do just because of our beliefs-Bush has done nothing for us-my father cannot even afford to by a house in the city-taxes are so high-gas is so high-its a shame we have to leave because we cant afford it while the rich people are building their stupid condos in our blocks-why not build some condos for us?for the homeless?Bush went to get Osama now tell me why he has Saddam instead??-and another thing is that his chicken a** didnt go to war when HIS TURN came-have you seen the movie Farenheit 911?that movie is amazing-ive never seen a government soooo crooked and greedy-i just cant believe i have to look at that moron's face for four more years-actually Nader probably would have been best-at least he speaks the truth and KNOWS the truth.-take care-Later, Marilyn.

Yeah i completely agree. Bush is like a reverse Robin Hood, taking from the poor and giving to the rich. I have seen the movie Farenheit 911 and it was amazing. I mean we have a guy who ways things like "they misunderestimated me" and then later talks to the press thiking hes funny saying, "I've coined new words like misunderstand, and Hispanically." ugh.

hahaha look at this http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/US-Election-IQ2004.htm

Bravo, Aymon! I'm there with you 100%!

You say that 51% of America is so careless about reading up on the issues... and I agree. But I must add one thing... I think that Karl Rove has read enough Machiavelli to know that fear is one of the greatest tools in affecting human behavior.

And he has so successfully driven the conservative political machine backing Bush by utilizing fear... fear of terrorism, fear of change in the midst of war, fear of loss of morality, fear of anything but Christianity ruling America, fear of cultural diversity, and fear of gay marriage.

I think a good portion of that 51% voting for Bush were scared senseless, and that frightens me the most. Because through human history, fear has led people to do the most brutal and senseless acts.

It's quite telling about the true nature of Bush that he is allowing the use of fear as his primary political tool. The last people to utilize fear in such an effective and unflagging manner were the Nazis.