Anyone want to join my ‘anti-politician presidential crusade’?
I mentioned in one of my other blogs that I have really lost all patience with mainstream politicians. In fact, in that blog post I said I probably will vote for Ralph Nader or even not vote at all in the upcoming presidential election.
As I pointed out there, I'm a faithful voter. I have voted in every presidential election since 1968, when I first became legally able to vote. (Don't guess. Don't worry about doing the math. I'll tell you straight out -- I'm 60 years old. LOL!) I have literally voted in all but four very insignificant local elections since I moved to our present city in 1978.
So, please, no lectures about the importance of voting. Also, I was among those who whined that Al Gore lost the 2000 election because Ralph Nader drained off Gore's votes in Florida. I have since thought about Nader's comments on that issue: 1) if Gore had carried his home state of Tennessee in 2000, Florida never would have been an issue, and, 2) in America no votes "belong" to any candidate. We're free to vote as we choose.
But what I clearly have decided is this: EVERY politician who truly believes he/she is capable of winning a given election will ALWAYS say and do exactly what they believe voters want them to say and do to get elected. And when we're talking about something as high-level and coveted as the presidency of the United States -- you can just about triple the likelihood of that being true.
Now you know if you didn't before -- I'm almost a total cynic about American politics and politicians.
So what's the answer? I don't have an answer. I suppose we can only try to see what a politician has done/is doing rather than just "saying" and vote the best we can based on actual record rather than rhetoric.
But as for me -- I really do think I'll vote for Nader from principle or simply not vote at all. For a huge number of reasons based on what I believe their actions and rhetoric have shown me, I cannot in good conscience support McCain, Clinton, or Obama, really.
Technorati Tags: presidential politics, political cynicism, take time for living
Just to let you know I was here!
Keep it going.