As many of you may have seen, there are a lot of humorous videos on You Tube about the forthcoming American election and the candidates for president and vice president. I’ve been thinking about writing a post on this subject for some weeks, but either didn’t get round to it or wasn’t sure what my angle was going to be.
Now I know what I want to write about.
I want to ask a particular question: have Americans got the courage to vote for change or will they plump for the familiar?
Well, if history serves, I believe they’ll do the latter. Americans seem to be very much for Obama at the moment. A great majority of us who don’t get a vote in November would like to see Obama in the White House also.
But when it comes time to place that mark against a name, won’t most Americans have a final thought about things and lose their nerve? Also, the Christian Right in America is already gearing up for an all out assault on the Democrat candidates. The Christian Right see the election in a very narrow way; sexuality and abortion. I was listening to one Christian commentator who was speaking against Barack Obama because he described himself as a world citizen during his visit to Germany. She called it the Spirit of Antichrist.
I don’t care whether Sarah Palin believes the Earth is 6000 years or 6 billion. Science has not proved the age of the Earth or the galaxy. It has theories and calls them fact. Evolution is a theory too. There is no concrete proof for creation or evolution. If someone has a religious faith or is an atheist or an agnostic, it shouldn’t preclude them from taking part in politics.
If she’s anti-abortion that’s her prerogative in a free country. Some people use the old argument that if she’s against abortion then she’d force a woman who is raped to go full term and have the child.
Let’s look at that for a moment. If a woman gets raped and becomes pregnant does it follow that the child has to be aborted? Rape is a terrible, terrible crime; it’s violent and hateful; traumatic and the damage is lasting. These things are not in question. Any woman that has been raped I have the greatest sympathy for and I know quite a few who have been. But, a life has been created here, however brutally. Doesn’t that life have rights too? Well, this post isn’t about abortion, it’s about an election. Women already have the right to have an abortion in the US.
From my point of view, this election is about how America views and interacts with the rest of the world. Most Americans know little or nothing about the world outside their borders; and worse, they don’t actually care. If it isn’t covered by the stars and stripes, fuck it, who cares…
I was recently talking to a black American man online about the up-coming election and he said to me: “I’m black and I’m not gonna vote for Obama.” The obvious question escaped me at the time. Why is it relevant that this man is black? Because in America the divide between black and white is still great. They may pay lip service to equal rights and racial equality, but when the chips are down, the old prejudices come out. Will white America really vote a black man into the White House? I don’t think so.
I believe Obama is the best candidate, although I was impressed with McCain during the recent debate. Well, after George W. Bush, McCain would seem urbane, in touch and intelligent, wouldn’t he? I feel that the world needs to see a new America; a less arrogant and ignorant America; an America that actually helps the world rather than plunging it into war after war and bullying countries out of their resources. I also believe in the special relationship between America and my country; but I’d like to see it a little less one-sided when it comes to who makes the sacrifices.
America really could be a light in the world if it really wanted to be; but sadly most Americans don’t give a shit and will vote their fears and prejudices. Does America have the courage to vote for real change? Sadly, I don’t think so.
