Saturday, September 20, 2008

VOTE!

When McCain elected Sarah Palin as his running mate, I found it half insulting. Yeah it was strategically a great move to steal Hilary Clinton's women supporters but how can McCain hate on Barack Obama for not being experienced enough when Palin is less qualified then Obama is. Palin's supporters claim that when she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska she gained more experience then Obama ever could. Uh, I called BS! Wasilla had about 6300 residents when Palin left office... Can I let you in on a little fact? Most Fairfax County Schools have the same, if not more, students then she had residents. George Mason has more students then Palin had residents. Is that REALLY who you want as vice president, oh and God forbid Palin become president if (er, when) McCain croaks. If we are basing levels of qualification on how many people our candidates are governing over, then I would like to nominate my elementary school principal. She was a great principal and if she could handle a few thousand kids under the age of twelve, well golly gee, she can run this country! Or even our student government president, but I guess my principal would be better... cause she is a chick.

And for all those voters who had supported Hilary Clinton and quickly ran over to the McCain/Palin campaign only because Palin is a chick... how uninformed and shallow can you be? What ever happened to voting your interest? If every American was dumb enough to vote that way, I mean Paris Hilton could be president. Aaaand, that would be so hot! If people are going to vote according to gender, why not vote according to how hot the candidates are? That would mean the Obama/Biden campaign would crush! (Right?) Its outrageous that some Americans can't take the time to look up the candidate's position on atleast some of the issues, but instead they support and vote for candidates according to thier gender. Its just dumb!

But I can't hate too hard on dumb voters. Atleast they are voting. How about those Americans who aren't even bothering to register. Sitting in the JC at school, those nice ladies walk around and are pretty much signing up for you. You don't even have to get off your lazy butt, yet I hear a good number of students who say they aren't registered and just don't have the time or don't want to. ARE YOU SERIOUS? They are saving you the trip and the time, they are holding your hand and spelling your name out for you! You don't even have to think and you're turning them down? Oh man! You are so cool, I hope to be as cool as you someday. For those people, I don't want to hear you complain about anything! You don't have the right! You gave up that right when you decided you were too cool or too busy to register and vote. Americans before you fought thier asses off for you to have the right to vote and make a difference. By not voting you are saying you just don't care that they fought and died for your rights and freedom.

Guys this is by far the most important and ground breaking election ever! For the first time in our history we not only have a non-white candidate running but a female candidate! So vote and vote smart! Vote your interest! Do you want the government telling you what to do with your body? Do you want your father, boyfriend or brother to be absent in your life while fighting in Iraq? Do you want a repeat of the past four years? VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Have the culture wars returned?

If your email exercise responses are any indication, the overwhelming majority of you believe more Americans identify with Barack Obama's story of multiculturalism, compromise, and change than with John McCain's story of duty, heroism, and tradition. But I wonder how people who live in small towns across the United States, towns with populations that share the same race and religion, might have responded. Do you think they would agree with your opinion?

Reconsider your response. How much of it was influenced by your personal history and by living in a multicultural, largely urban region? Sarah Palin's acceptance speech last night offered a lively and determined defense of small-town conservative values, and the buzz in the media hints that she may have ignited a culture war between liberal, urban cosmopolitanism and conservative, rural conservatism. Given the positive reaction to her speech, can we continue to argue that her embrace of tradition, duty, and heroism represents only a minority of Americans?