Monday, February 4, 2008

Electing Our Path to the Future

With tomorrow being "Super Tuesday", I can't wait to see who will sweep the nation off it's feet. I'm still kind of pissed about the Michigan non-primary though. Is anyone else upset that the democratic party has made all these claims of making every vote count, yet all of Michigan's democratic voters have been silenced in the primary process? I can only hope that in the final election, we don't have issues with computer ballots being misread or lost or hanging chads or anything else.
This year's presidential election race has been a very exciting one. I hate to say it, but on both sides of the aisle, I've been fascinated with the dynamics that have been going on. I have been excited about this lineup of democratic candidates, especially, considering that last time around, we had a pretty lousy selection to choose from. This year, we've seen several dynamic candidates step forward. Maybe, in a way, I'm glad that I didn't need to make a choice in this primary election, since I see potential in both front runners. I am disappointed that Edwards dropped out, I saw potential in him as well. Being fickle, perhaps I'm better off waiting to see who the final nominees will be so my choices are more limited.
There are several issues that I hope won't get forgotten in the shuffle. Universal health care, for example. (By the way, there is a series of 3 talks going on about that at the Flint UU church. The second one is tonight (Monday February 4). There is one more next week. I think the information may be on their website, I'm not sure.) Some of the other issues that I feel need to be addressed in a serious and perhaps even radical way are: school funding (ditch "no child left behind"), mental health accessibillity for everyone (especially for teens), creating local jobs in Michigan and all around the country, limiting the use of genetically-modified crops and creating safe buffer zones for growers who choose not to use gm crops (corn crops, for example, often get contaminated by gm crops being grown nearby), eliminating NAFTA and other trade agreements that exploit poor workers in other countries while moving jobs out of the United States, repairing the child protective services industry, eliminating CODEX, eliminating the electoral college so that every vote really does count, and on and on and on.
So, as we gear up for the fall elections, think about what issues you want to see addressed. Everyone is talking about the war, the economy and "change". What exactly does that mean, and what kinds of changes are they talking about? What, in your opinion, needs to change?

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