A Voice of Reason From an Ohio Voter

No matter who wins tonight (or tomorrow or next week, though I think it will be tonight), I will support that person as much as I have supported Bush. This sad, sad election has wound down to Bush vs. People Who Hate Bush, not Bush vs. Kerry.

That saddens me. As a child, I was fascinated by elections and politics. Now it just makes me sick to my stomach most of the time.

Both sides are to blame. Both sides have fault in how divided the country is. Neither side can stand behind the other side when they happen to have a man in office. If Gore would have won, I guarantee you the Republicans would have acted towards HIM the same way Democrats have acted towards Bush the past four years.

Politics aside, I will stand behind whoever gets elected, because, dammit, as an American I should. I may not always agree, but I will not stoop to childish games and stupid bumper stickers and all the other super-childish-playground-like tactics that go on in American politics. Let's grow up as a nation, take our wins and losses as grown men and women, and throw our support behind who's in office.

Sure, I will criticize and debate politics with my friends, but when it comes down to it, I will respect the office and the person who holds the office. In four years, we get to do the process all over again... that's what's great about our country. We are NOT stuck with whoever gets in office.

I encourage every American to do so. If we are to continue the war against terrorism (as both candidates have promised to do), then we must stand united. A nation divided against itself WILL fall.

I for one, am very enthused by the prospect of a Kerry Presidency. For the record, I voted FOR Kerry. Not simply against Bush.

I will promise to fight vehemently for the rights of all citizens regardless of who is in power. To blindly stand behind any single man who has stolen one election and may just do it again is not an option for me. I will wait to see if provisional and absentee ballots are counted. If they are not and the US does not cry out for an investigation, seeing as how this race is so close, then our problems are far more horrid than a partisan split.

can someone please just mention Nazi Germany so we can move on to another subject?

It's the damn two party system is what it is. Bush is religious nut who does crazy things in the name of Christianity (just like Hitler! There's your Nazi reference, Zuzi!), and Kerry's a frelling waffle. What other option do we have? Some of us would like to keep America the land of the free, so we have to get Bush out of office, but what possible option do we have to replace him with? Kerry sucks almost as bad, but we're fairly certain he won't be AS bad as Bush, and Badnarik would probably be a decent choice (balanced budget and freedom of the people all in one package), but he doesn't even appear on some state's ballots.

So yeah. Pro-Bush or Anti-Bush. So what? We don't run the political machines. We just vote. It's the political system that needs changing.

Aaron,

I think you misstated one thing. It is not Bush vs People who hate Bush, as if the people voting for Bush all love Bush with every fibre of their being (though the zealot-like way that many people support him is eerie to me). I voted for Kerry because I thought he was the best candidate to lead the country, just as I voted for John Ellis Bush for Governor of Florida because I thought he would be the better leader. Many people always feel it is the lesser of two evils, but in the end, that is politics. This election was no different than those prior. The Republicans HATED Bill Clinton and it could be argued they voted for Bob Dole and George Bush Sr. just because he was not Bill Clinton.

In the end, regardless of who wins tonight, we will survive. I am just not sure that 4 more years of a Bush presidency will leave us with a country I want to remain in, and that is saying a lot coming from Venezuela.

(Zuzi there is a mighty fine thread regarding when you lost your viginity...In the off topic forum we luckily have a right to post to whatever we choose regarding whatever topics we wish)

Is Air America right...did Bush just get Ohio?

Good points, Cristiano. The country will last... we just need to unite on at least the war on terrorism.

Yep... so much for the lead the reported Kerry had there, huh?

Bush is winning in Ohio by 100,000 votes; check CNN.com. It will be very difficult for Kerry to win now.

Well supposedly the people are pretty pissed because Fox misreported...there is likely not enough info...guess I'll wait and see.

Dunno, after months of watching TV (because I have to) all I ever heard was 'Vote Me, the other guys a dickhead'..

At the end of the day I think a lot of people voted for whoever they though had the less shit stuck on them - as opposed to what their candidate actually stood for...

Siggy.

personally i'm just as free as i was four years ago. if he gets another four years meh, it's another four years. you can't turn America into a totalitarian regime in eight years. checks and balances. there just isn't enough difference between the two parties to make a victory for one a real life changing event. vote for who you like and whoever wins, life goes on basically the same as before.

and thanks for the tip about the virginity thread Isis, i'm really shallow so that's exactly the kind of thread that appeals to me, and for pointing out that people have a right to post their opinions in the off-topic forum. that's kinda why i'm posting my opinions here.

It was just a joke Zuzi...sorry lol...don't know ya so I wouldn't assume you to be shallow...if you were you would have never read any of these threads. On the subject of freedoms the pat act II and the reinstatement of the pat act I with these provisions will take care of that.

don't worry about it Isis. the way you can tell if i'm joking is if i'm awake. i was making fun of myself not you.

seriously tho....when do the patriot acts go into effect and take away our freedoms? i still got all mine.

Sometimes we don't all feel the effects of the errosion of freedom. It just happens bit by bit...the Patriot act is in effect...Pat II will be voted in if Bush gets back into office broadening the scope of it's capabilities and changing definitions to include the gen pop. I guess we will have to wait and see.

No you're not. Read up on the Patriot Act. You can be arrested, held without being charged, denied access to a lawyer or outside contact with the world, for an indefinte period of time if the government decides that you're a terrorist. No trial or impartial jury is involved in this process, just poof, you're gone.

I can remember reading a newspaper article about it happening to a man who was held for six months without any rights whatsoever. They told his job he was a suspected terrorist. They told his friends. They told his family. He now has no job, no friends, and has been released back into America where he now bears the stain of having been arrested for being a terrorist WITHOUT ACTUALLY BEING ONE.

On top of that, the government will (in the next four years) expand the definitions under which you can be arrested through the Patriot Act, so it's even easier for American citizens to be arrested and held without any rights whatsoever, assumed to be guilty without a trial.

That's not the freedom that's described in the Constitution. You are NOT as free as you were four years ago. Not by a longshot.



Who said anything about a totalitarian regime?

Fuck, I don't even want the government in my BEDROOM, and yet Bush has been trying to keep sex (in certain forms) illegal. Fuck that! Literally! They have no buisness telling me what I can and can not do with another consenting adult.

He's also been consistantly trying to break down the barrier of seperation of church and state. Hello?! Fundamental concept of the Constitution he's destroying there!

He's killing Iraqis with the excuse that he's saving them from a mass murderer. He invaded a country for pretty much no reason other than finishing what his father started. The man is crazy!

Destroying what America is doesn't mean turning it into Iraq with Saddam at the wheel. All it takes is a few minor changes, and what freedoms we once had that were -guaranteed- are now either privileges the government decides when to give us, or out right taken from us entirely.