September 17, 2008

political rant.

up until this point i've been trying my best to give both candidates a shot at my vote. i like McCain's energy ideas, but i like Obama's health care and his stance on social justice issues. i'm personally in complete support of Obama raising taxes for the wealthy. who cares if the richest people in the country get taxed more?! if you're making $500,000 a year you could be taxed half of that and still be making WAY too much. what do you even do with $250,000 a year!? i couldn't spend that money if i really tried to.

in first grade we did a fun activity called the Million Dollar Project - essentially, what would you do with $1 million bucks? you know what i decided?! i decided that i'd build a TREE HOUSE. a really big one with a fire pole and a rope swing. and then when that only encompassed about $1,000 bucks i decided to add electricity and put in a N64 and a TV and bought all the other electronics i could think of, and when i was done - i decided to donate the remaining $957,600 dollars to charity. and here i am 17 years later and i still don't understand what people would ever do with that much dinero. even 1/10 of that - i don't understand how you could spend it.

so when McCain blasts Obama about wanting to raise the taxes of the upper class - i tell the upper class to cry me a river and fork it over. if you can't be happy with tax deprived yet still bloated salary then you've got bigger medically addressable problems outside of governmental issues.

that ends my first rant. like i said. i've tried to contain myself and agree as best as i can with both candidates, but today in my Wealth Power and Privilege class i was presented with two military fellows who started in on how great McCain is and then when asked about Obama they were completely ignorant. They had no idea what they were talking about - but, boy, did they hate the man. did they know what his stance was on....anything? no. but they knew he wasn't republican and they knew he hadn't been tortured in the military in his past life like the MAVERICK.

from their perspective, it makes pefect sense. they're in the military so they're supporting the guy that supports the military. this is not to discount McCain's service, but we're not electing the person most like us - there are 305,179,081 other people in this country that are getting this president too. i'm tired of people supporting the candidate who is best for themselves. we're selecting the person most suited for the country. (it is unfortunate that - republican or democrat - 100% of congress is extremely wealthy).

i'm tired of a having a militaristically minded President instead of a socially conscious one, and that's the vibe i've been getting from McCain, and now from McCain supporters and i've had enough. i'd like a President that is going do address race and class issues in this nation instead of in war zones abroad.

i'm still going to watch the debates with the most open mind i can possibly muster, but I'm supporting Barack Obama until McCain proves he has more to offer than being "America's Maverick" - cause he's losing ground with me every time he boasts it. I didn't want to get emotional about politics this year, but Johnny Camo pushed the right buttons today in class and i'm currently on fire.

-ap.

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