Take Off, Eh
- Wade
Since some of you may not have noticed, we held a minor political event a couple of days back. You may have read about it. The incumbent, a southerner with a bit of a conservative tilt, won-- not a landslide, but unlike last time the victory was clear. Yours truly wasn't doing cartwheels over this victory-- in fact, I had backed the other candidate, a left-of-center northerner with an apparent penchant for windsurfing and Botox injections. However, I wasn't necessarily broken up by his loss, either. The Democrats could have put a syphilitic goat on the ballot and I would have voted for it. I felt no connection to John Kerry, other than that he was not George W. Bush.
Yet 51% of the population disagreed with me, so Dubya gets four more years. Don't misunderstand or misunderestimate-- I do not like this man. I believe his allegiances lie heavily with the business sector, and he makes many of his policy decisions based on these allegiances. I believe many of his supporters land in the highest income buckets, and he makes many policy decisions to try to keep those supporters in those buckets. I believe he thinks the United States has a God-given right to impose our theories of government on lands thousands of miles away, under the assumption that because it works for us, it works for everyone. And he's willing to let Americans die in battle because of that belief.
But really... how much affect does the identity and policies of the President have on me? Because that's what it's really all about, isn't it? I'm not going to have a late-term abortion anytime soon. I have no family, no friends in Iraq. My uncle doesn't own a competitor of Halliburton, so no one I know is getting screwed out of money. I do have friends and family in a prominent terrorist target (New York City), but I think they are affected by the election about as much as.. well... I am. If they want to attack us again, they will do so whether the White House is occupied by John Kerry, George Bush, or that goat.
Disappointed in me? Go ahead. Because I'm just following the trend. I guess that's what everyone else is doing. Yeah, I think the war in Iraq is a mess. Sure, I don't like how Dubya lets "the voice of God" drive his policy decisions. Of course I'm distressed about how we seemed to have shunned most countries and alliances. But that Dubya... he cut my marginal tax rate! He even went so far as to get rid of the "marriage penalty," that fun tax quirk that made marriage a financial disadvantage.
Don't you see? You can squawk all you want about high-minded ideas like foreign policy, integrity, separation of church and state... but that's all fluff. What it comes down to is how much money I end up with. Bush gave me more of my money. Kerry wanted to spend more money, which would reduce the amount of money I end up with. Bush is the obvious choice. I'm surprised only 51% of the people figured this out.
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feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
