North Carolina Votes for Barack Obama

May 6th is upon us and the missus and I cast our vote today and I learned something interesting about Wake Forest, North Carolina. You see, I’ve never voted in a primary before because when I lived in NY it was only possible to vote if you registered with a party affiliation. So I was a little confused when the election official asked me if I wanted a Democrat, Republican or Unaffiliated ballot. After figuring out that the unaffiliated ballot was basically just a non-partisan judicial voting ballot both the wife and I asked for the Democratic ballot.

Apparently so did 268 and 269 other people!

In fact, the election official exclaimed that the Democratic ballot was the one that “most people were asking for.” After making my selection for Barack Obama, I walked over to the machine and placed my ballot in the slot. The red LCD readout displayed “362.” So if I was holding the 269th Democratic ballot and there had been a total of 362 ballots by 10:30 a.m. that meant that less than 93 people (just 25%) had requested the Republican ballot - IN A SMALL TOWN THAT OVERWHELMINGLY VOTES REPUBLICAN!

Very interesting I thought…. And that’s not counting the early votes that have already been cast, likely from those that know about such things, such as the partisan or the most highly educated. Hmmm?

Things seem to be looking good. Who knows, while this effect could be because McCain has essentially clinched the Republican nomination, the possibility exists that maybe this is going to happen all over the country on November 4th, 2008?

My prediction is that when the story is told about the general election it is going to be all about turnout and Barack Obama, not Hillary Clinton, definitely not John McCain and especially not George W. Bush, is the reason why people are being motivated to the polls in record numbers.

Whatever happens, the one thing that I’m absolutely sure of today is that the story is NOT going to be about John McCain or the Republican Party.

Things are looking good!

The Status Quo Rebellion

Some on the Left seem to be discouraged that their ideal candidate isn’t running for office and are lumping Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton together in their attacks. Some are even planning to lodge a protest vote by choosing to vote for another non 2 Party candidate. These people are essentially not voting, although they are going to go to the polls and pulling the trigger, their vote will be wasted on someone who doesn’t and unfortunately probably never will have any chance of winning. I admire these people’s ideals but certainly not their pragmatism.

I’m not saying that when given the choice between 2 candidates that resemble George W. Bush you should vote for one or the other. In a case like that I hope that people would vote for the 3rd Party candidate. But the differences in this election between John McCain and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are tremendous. On the one hand you have candidates that are supported by elitists and the criminally insane that back perpetual warfare and corporate welfare and on the other hand there is Barack Obama. The contrasts could not be more stark.

I’m supporting Obama not because I want to promote imperialism, the police state, corporate welfare, NAFTA or the monopolies of the 2 Party system but because I believe his candidacy might offer this country a glimpse of what it would mean to move away from the Uber-Right wing that has so dominated our politics in the past 50 years. His candidacy could mean a historical and sweeping leftward swing for the next 20 years or more. Don’t you think the agents of war and big business (Clinton, McCain, etc.) haven’t thought of that and are presently attempting to throw every disparaging nonsense they can at him in order to get something to stick?

Obama’s not going to be a savior but I believe with his brilliant ability to articulate solutions and his talent for empathizing with those with whom he disagrees, he just may be able to sway quite a few people away from the dark side. I’ll aid that cause in any way I can because after all, the overwhelming majority of people aren’t in the trenches fighting the good fight or out reading Chomsky or Zinn, they’re typically easily distracted by the simplicity and attractive baseness offered by the Right wing. If things are to change non-violently in this country they must happen through dialogue, patience and evolution, not revolution. If the present conditions persist and the purveyors of the status quo (McCain and Clinton) are successful in their quest for the Presidency it may mean dire consequences and spur thoughts of bloody revolution for the millions of people who come to believe that they are without representation, especially if they realize that the situational economics of their lives are not going to change, that they’ll always be fighting for the scraps, they’ll never going to get ahead and what they thought of as the “American Dream” is truly an oligarchic nightmare. Daniel Shays may just become the next “American Idol.”

Next Page »