on the candidates

So now we know how the political season will shape out on the national scene. On one hand we have a career politician whose major claim to fame is his wartime experiences and who was rejected by his own party a few years back in favor of a man who had no war experience, no foreign affairs experience, and no intelligence and whose administration is the worst in the history of this nation. Now that makes him eligible to replace the stupid. On the other hand we have a man who is a self-made individual coming out of what is today's equivalent of a log cabin who knows what has made this country great. The racists say he's "black." But he's also "white" by the same degree. He's running on change, change for a corrupt Administration, change for a political world in which even when we elect people we hope will make changes (congressmen who say they will vote for impeachment, for health care, for getting out of the war in Iraq), we don't get those changes. We need to take on the big industries and business men who corrupt our very society away from its roots.

John Bush is not a self-made man. He is a son of privilege; perhaps not quite as privileged as the current spoiled brat in the White House, but his entrance into Annapolis was surely greased by having two admirals in his background. He's primarily a candidate because he is a war "hero", although I didn't know they gave medals to prisoners of war. As a military man, he attacked his enemies from hundreds or thousands of feet in the air without warning. That's not quite what we talk about when he talk about warriors. But his biggest problem is that he doesn't seem to have any idea about foreign policy. He supports Baby Bush in Iraq, which is the biggest mistake we've made in the history of this country, and he made the statement after Russian tanks rolled into Georgia that "we are all Georgians." Silly! We are not all Georgians. Look at that country. It is not a nation like ours. It is more like the dictatorships that the "sainted" Ronald Reagan (who began the moves that led to today's teetering stock market) supported. Yes, Russia needs to be pulled back but that sort of rhetoric has more to do with the memory of the Cold War than the world of today. Domestically, McCain doesn't seem to understand the America of today: $5 million before you're rich? Not knowing he owns and probably pays taxes on 7 houses? Not understanding that other people who have had his medical problems in this country would probably be bankrupt or dead by now because they can't afford health insurance that probably wouldn't pay enough of the cost anyway? Not understanding that keeping the tax cuts for the rich does nothing but keep this country sinking deeper into the red? And then he cynically chooses a woman, Sarah "Quayle" Palin, from a smaller state than Montana where the political system is corrupt to be his vice presidential candidate hoping to draw Hillary supports who vote vagina rather than issues. McCain is not good on those issues: He's anti-life. (Being in favor of population growth in today's crowded world is anti-life.) Palin supports creationism in science classes, despite the opposition of the scientific community (the argument is only religious and political). To me, the Republican candidate, who is one year younger than I, has turned into the typical codger who thinks yesterday was great and the good old days actually existed. The past is gone. It is over. We have a future that will change the order of this country forever and we have to hope that it will be better than the past. We cannot live on the glory of the past, but must carve a future that keeps this country as great as it has been.