Mainstream Politics: Our Defining Moment

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Recent polls show that Americans, in general, believe Barack Obama and the Democrats are more able and more likely to bring about change in Washington. Whether or not either side of our monolithic two-party system can ever really represent fundamental change, Democrats would certainly at least break with the questionable philosophy of the current generation of Republicans, in terms of repressive social policy domestically and belligerent foreign policy abroad; and they have outlined a clearly different approach to our failing economy from the Republican Party.

The past eight years, having been dominated by the laughable goals and scary tactics of the Neoconservatives, have arguably been among the most regressive years in American history. We have accelerated the growth of the chasm between rich and poor by bleeding the Middle Class dry. We have seen our government turn its back on millions of Americans displaced by natural disasters. We have embroiled ourselves in two ongoing hot wars and declared an apparently endless cold one, and have in the process appropriated resources -- vital for maintaining our own country -- for burning down and rebuilding others. Our economic situation grows more dire every week -- more Americans find themselves jobless and homeless while everyone in Washington with the power to amend it fills their time making flowery remarks about the "robustness" of the American Working Class, which is merely an excuse to go on doing nothing (and implicitly laying the blame for a potentially catastrophic economic collapse at the feet of those most injured by it).

But more sobering than all that is the way the power-drunk administration of President Bush has been running like crazy as fast and as far away as it possibly can from the Constitutional guidelines of our government. It pays no attention to Constitutional checks on its power. George W Bush and his cronies decry almost daily so-called "Activist Judges" for legislating from the bench, while Bush himself legislates almost more than Congress from behind his desk every single day with absurd "signing statements," choosing which laws his officers will or will not enforce; and creating new laws out of thin air with no legislative process by way of his Executive Orders. Furthermore, he asserts the phantom right of "Executive Privilege" to avoid scrutiny and transparency by agencies and officials charged with overseeing the behavior of his appointees and executive departments. The Bush Administration is now about as qualified to go galavanting around the world in the name of spreading Freedom and Democracy as Genghis Kahn would be qualified to enforce the Geneva Conventions at Guantanamo Bay.

Anyone who doubts that President Bush has changed America for the worse is deluded, plain and simple. This President has made life harder for most of us through his neglect of domestic needs, his strategic incompetence, and his ideological zealotry. His legacy is one of disregard for civil liberties, disdain for civil rights, and outright aggression against harmless foreign states; ultimately, Bush represents not only the failed philosophies of Neoconservatism but the dangerous philosophies of an overgrown and inefficient government that seems to think it is above the very laws that allow its existence.

After surviving these past eight years, the American people now face the question of who should lead us next. This, as well as any moment in the history of our republic, is a defining moment. It is not enough this time to settle for a popularity contest or a battle of wits. If we Americans cannot now muster the presence of mind to evaluate our options with clear minds, then we will effectively seal the fate of the experiment in self-government begun by our forefathers. We cannot afford to treat this election like just another election. The risk of allowing the erosion of the People's sovereignty is too great to allow the abuses of the past eight years to continue.

This year we must address questions not only of specific domestic and foreign policies, but of who exactly it is that we want to be as a nation. Do we want to be a two-faced country of hypocrites who cite due process and civil liberties when we want to pick a fight with Russia or China, only to toss those requirements out the window when it suits our needs? Or do we want to say what we mean, mean what we say, and adhere to our beliefs even when it means inconvenience? If we truly believe that all men are created equal, and that all men have inalienable rights, then we must force ourselves to observe and to protect the dignity of all men, including those who would do us harm. We cannot be both a shining light of enlightened civilization and a reckless behemoth bent on the annihilation of our enemies at all costs.

This year, America must choose. And we are so close to losing sight of what it really should mean to be Americans, that I am convinced that if we choose the wrong path in this election, we may never have a chance to assert our sovereignty as a self-governing, self-respecting people again.

[Vene]

I may have to steal this from you.

[Requia ☣]

Wait... we have a choice in this election?

When did they start actually counting the votes instead of using a random number generator?

[AFK]