A Call for Moderation
Seeking a Moderate Approach in the Election
NEIRAD enilno edition
This Tuesday our nation’s citizens will travel to their local polling offices and place a ballot for their presidential candidate. For the great majority, the choice will either be Republican party candidate John McCain or Democratic party candidate Barack Obama. Of course there is always the healthy slathering of smaller third party candidates. I even heard about a candidate from the Socialist Workers Party who even if elected, could never be president because he was born in Nicaragua. But generally, our nation has an essentially two-party system.
But so often in political elections, I find myself wondering, why is it that people are voting for one candidate over the other? Often when in political discussion, I will hear reasons for supporting one candidate or (more often than the prior) trouncing on another that seem incredibly superficial. Does the student who supports McCain support McCain because of his extensive political experience or rather because his VP Sarah Palin appeared on “Saturday Night Live”? Does the student who endorses Obama’s new economic policies do so because he/she truly understands them or because he/she is so convinced that McCain’s political image is that of an old frail man incapable of change?
Even more common, I’ll find myself talking to students who, upon being asked why they support one candidate or the other, cannot rouse any particular reasons other than the aforementioned superficial reasons. This is a particularly disturbing phenomenon. That is not to say that as students most of us have the ability to vote, but I feel that this lack of rationale for voting in an election is becoming a general trend.
When an election comes around, we must not go into it with a pre-designated political affiliation. Of course we can have our own differing political ideas and agendas (that is the very fact that makes democracy successful), but we cannot go into an election knowing from the start for whom we will vote. If we pledge our affiliation to one candidate, prior to assessing all the issues he/she presents, we find ourselves in a very dangerous position.
Let’s look at a hypothetical presidential candidate. And let’s say he belongs to the fictitious “United States Party.” (At least I’m assuming that that’s not a real party) If I were an individual who, upon hearing this candidate’s nomination, committed myself to his victory because either my family had traditionally supported the “US Party”, he was hipper, or whatever, then I will not be completely aware of everything that he will bring to the White House. I could support this “U.S. Party” nominee all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and later find out that’s this candidate has only a mere acquaintance with foreign policy or is a complete dolt. I think that a few of you might get my reference.
In the last few elections, we have seen a hairline split between the Democratic and Republican candidates.
Let’s look at the numbers. In the 2004 election, Republican candidate George W. Bush received 50.7% of the popular vote while Democratic candidate John Kerry received 48.3%. That’s only a difference of 2.4%. Even more striking is the 2000 election. Republican candidate George W. Bush received 47.9% of the popular vote and Democratic candidate Al Gore received 48.4%. That’s an even smaller difference of .5%.
I hope that these trends will not continue because they are surely frightening. The notion that when a candidate is elected, half the nation is happy with the candidate whereas other half is unhappy is a divisive concept in today’s world. It would not be an impossible thought to imagine an election that is so bitterly contested that it could severely divide our nation.
As you can tell, the intent of this article is not to support one candidate over the he other. While I do have my own political beliefs, I am not about to divulge them on the pages of Neirad Enilno. However, I will say that the candidate I support for this election is from the opposite party of the candidate I supported in 2004. It is so important in this respect that we understand exactly why we are voting for the candidate we endorse. We must do the proper research and make a selection on the basis of issues, not superficialities. We must not commit blindly for it is only when we are blind that we cannot see the true issues of the world. This will be one of the most influential political elections of our lifetime, so please, I urge moderation and I urge careful choice in where you lodge your vote.
