I Vote for Change

Like good citizens, Craze and I headed out this morning to vote. To say I'm not thrilled with my choice of candidates is truly an understatement. For the first time in my life, I actually voted in a write-in slot. I didn't write in Mickey Mouse or some similar silly protest. Instead, I wrote in the name of someone I thought actually deserved the job and got ripped off in the earlier primaries. Likewise for a major race, I cast my vote for the Green Party. Take that Republicans and Democrats!

I'm sure my efforts will prove fruitless, but maybe if enough people do the same politicians will start paying attention. Like many people, I'm so sick of all the negative, misleading advertising and government officials who are more concerned with keeping their job than doing a good one.

Maybe I'm just super naive, but why do politicians suck so much? Surely this isn't true for all of them. But, I'm so tired of all the rhetoric. All of the words getting so twisted that they end up being just a conceited waste of breath. Supposedly this is the greatest country in the world. We can say it as much as we want, but the words alone don't make it so.

We're fighting an unjustified war. Our valiant men and women are dying every day and we're wasting billions. But it's not making this country safer; it's just giving our enemies more reason to hate us. If the government had really been so concerned about our safety, wouldn't it have been better to spend much of this money on homeland security efforts within our own borders? Or on the border itself for that matter. . .

And don't even get me started on the dismal state of education. All that money could be going to improve our schools and help make sure that we don't continue to lag far behind much of the developed world in terms of educational excellence. Or it could be providing much-needed healthcare for those in need. Or helping the homeless get out of the streets. I often see an old women living on Irving Park Road and I'm sure she doesn't want to be there. In a country of such wealth and power, we should ensure that no one goes hungry or has to sleep on the sidewalk at night.

I'd rather be spending my tax dollars on setting some of these things right, plus helping New Orleans get back on its feet and a concerted effort to stop global warming, versus dropping one more bomb over Baghdad.

Maggie Sumner will be casting her vote for Obama in 2008!