On Thursday I participated in the local precinct caucus after rearing at the fact that I was a registered Republican. For those of you wondering, I think this had to do with a past Congressional election and not the previous Presidential Election. I did not vote for Bush - ever! Clearly coming to my senses in this the end of my 29th year, I changed my voter status to Non-Party, which gave me an enormous sense of freedom, likened to being released from jail. No one can claim me as their own! Since I am a pretty independent bitch most of the time, it really only makes sense that I would choose to be independent in my politics.
With this new status in place, I proceeded to stand with my parents in the "Undecided" corner. This was my mother's brilliant idea because she wanted to hear why other constituents were voting for their chosen candidates. I have to say it is interesting to hear people's educated and uneducated views. For example, I asked one woman why she was supporting Hillary Clinton and she said, "Because she is the only one who knows where Afghanistan is." That seemed like a really ridiculous reason to me, and I should mention that the main reason I went to the Democratic caucus was simply to vote against Hillary. That being said, I was a little torn between Edwards and Obama. In the end I went with Edwards because I had cheated and looked at the platform on his website a few months ago. I was mildly impressed that he actually claims to care about rural America and its growth and improvement. On the other hand, if rural America grows and improves I suppose it won't be rural American anymore . . .
In the end our precinct awarded John Edwards 3 delegates, Obama 2 and Hillary 2. With a feeling of patriotic duty instilled in our hungry little bellies, the fam headed to the local tavern for victory burgers and fries -- no doubt produced by the corporate farms that are ruining rural America, but I digress.
Thursday night as I was getting ready for bed and Obama was on the television set booming out his Iowa Caucus Victory Speech, I thought about my ideal presidential candidate and who I would vote for. What I realized is that this country needs someone who is going to say it like it is and not just make stupid promises. We need a president who is going to shake his finger at us a country like an angry dad and say shame on you. Shame on you for blaming the government and the corporations for all our problems. They didn't get us into all of this mess. Most of it we did to ourselves. Think about it. Jobs go to Mexico and China because we are too cheap to pay the price that it would cost to produce goods in this country and since we always want more, the cheaper stuff is the more crap we can buy. The mortgage companies didn't send us into debt -- we sent ourselves there when we signed loans for houses we knew we could never afford. The drug companies -- okay the drug companies are pretty much evil, but to a large extent the health crisis has been caused by people living unhealthy lifestyles and running to the doctor every time there is a sniffle or ache. Gas is expensive because we continue to buy in order to drive three blocks instead of getting off our fat asses and walking there. And No Child Left Behind? People left their children behind a long time ago when they plopped them down in front of television sets and computers at home and in their mini-vans and left them to the act of brain-numbing.
We need a presidential candidate with the balls to stand up there and say, "You jackasses. I can't solve your problems." A good leader would say hey, work with me here and encourage people to make individual strides toward the improvement of this country while also creating change in the government. Sometimes I just get so irritated by the way people expect someone else to come in and solve their problems.
This isn't the most organized little blog, I don't claim to be a political writer or anything, but they were some thoughts I felt necessary to share. I have no brilliant ending as a good essay should. Get over it.