Voting
Posted in Politics by George
I really do not feel excited about any of the candidates running for President right now. Not one makes the environment a true priority in the campaign, and those that speak about the environment miss one of the most obvious steps toward a successful environmental and transportation policy, a gasoline tax. And those candidates that do sort of lean in my environmental direction don’t impress me with their economic stances. But as my citizen’s duty, I did my research on the candidates and cast my vote in the primaries this morning.
I was running on just a few hours of sleep, as I had a big predictive memorandum due for my legal writing class today, so I was not incredibly excited to be diverting my time from school to drive to the polls. But when I got to the ballot box, I felt some strong emotions. At the top of the screen, where it indicates what position you are voting for, it simply read: “President.”
I don’t know why, exactly, that struck me. Maybe, for a brief moment, I felt the power that the citizenry has to determine who the most powerful person in the nation or perhaps world is; or, in the alternative, which person will have a gigantic burden to carry on their shoulders beginning in 2009. All of the people on the ballot have asked for a great honor, or have offered themselves up as sacrifices. The word “President” is incredible in this context.
Well, I checked the box, pressed next, and then pressed vote, and my one-in-a-multi-million say was tallied by some computer, somewhere. Reality set in as I walked away - people are easily manipulated by commercials and interest groups and reasons that should have nothing to do with selecting a person. In truth, the Arrow Theorem and agenda setters (i.e. political parties) have much more say than the common man. But voting is still an incredible, thrilling power that we citizens possess.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I’d say you voted for one of the most powerful positions in the world.
It could be argued that Bernanke has more or equal amount of power and he is also in the US.
I like to run to the ballot box so I don’t waste my time driving. Since you are concerned about the amount of greenhouse gas we emit, you can run there too next time and save some gas.
It would be hard to win an election with a platform of increasing taxes on gas when a lot of people are already complaining about the high prices of gas.
McCain is taking a lot of abuse from conservatives for his stance on global warming. That the Republican nominee accepts global warming is a big step.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I would not say that the presidential candidates are offering themselves up as living sacrifices by trying to serve in the presidency. Maybe I’ve gotten a little cynical, and probably for good reason, but my feeling is that people want to become president for the power of influence in how this country runs. President Bush has not tried to build ties across party lines and a lot of his decisions seem to be motivated by his own personal morals, rather than what may be best for the people of the U.S. If he were to be a real living sacrifice, he’d make himself the lowliest of all people, maybe give away all his power and possessions to serve and become part of a marginalized community.