Why This Presidential Election is so Important

Some readers accuse me of talking too much about politics. Yes, it can be over done but in reality few things impact one's life in so many ways both on the large national scene and at the local level. For those who ignore politics and stay uninvolved/uninformed, in my view they forfeit their right to bitch and complain because all too often those who wear the PTA/soccer mom blinders are part of the problem because they all too often vote for liars like McCain/Palin based on sound bites as opposed to any true fundamental understanding of the issues.

*

As for this presidential election, I believe that we are faced with the choice between two world views. One, represented by today's Christianist dominated GOP represents the worse aspects of the past (including a preference for ignorance and religious bigotry) and a mindset which, while giving lip service to equality under the law, etc., actually believes that civil legal rights should be dispensed based on who one sleeps with, the color of one's skin, one's native language and a host of other prejudices. To me that mindset is the antithesis of what America should be all about. On the other side stands a mindset that faces the future and, while not perfect in many ways, does represent a belief that all citizens have legal rights be they black, gay, Hispanic or non-Christian, etc. This country cannot afford to allow the forces of division and discrimination represented by McCain/Palin win on November 4, 2008. My fellow blogger Bob Felton at Civil Commotion (with whom I do not always agree, but whom I always respect) has an interesting take on McCain/Palin which somewhat dove tails with my thoughts on this. Here are highlights from Bob's blog:

*

Unexpectedly, I’m finding myself with serious reservations about McCain, though up until about 15-days ago I expected to vote for him. The Palin selection is awful. She doesn’t appear to be very bright and, worse, she seems incurious. And she is definitely a serial liar: the ‘bridge to nowhere,’ the vendetta against her brother in law, the polar bear fiasco, on and on.

*
The sheer awfulness of the Palin selection says something about John McCain, too, and with the recent advertisements we know what it says — he means to win, and he’s willing to saddle the country with an incompetent, and tell any lie that’s useful, to win.

*
It probably seems a strange analogy, but bear with me. Recall Tiananmin square, back in 1989, the huge dramatic crowd scenes, that brave protester who stood in front of the tank. Recall afterward, after scores of protesters were killed, and the crowd dispersed, the old men of the Forbidden City insisted that there hadn’t been any disturbance at all, that the whole thing was overblown media excitement.

*
It was a lie. The whole world knew it was a lie — and those clowns had no idea that they had humiliated themselves and that the whole world knew they lied because they had no grasp of the reach of then-modern communications, couldn’t understand what it meant that the entire world had watched events in real-time.

*
I keep thinking of McCain-Palin that way, that they are so out of step with reality that they don’t know every word they utter is fact-checked within minutes after they go public. You cannot lie any more. Obama missed the mark with his jibe that McCain doesn’t use e-mail, but only by a little.