Thread: What are your Thoughts?

As he left the Constitutional Convention September 8,1787, a certain Mrs. Powell shouted out to Benj. Franklin, "Well Dr. What have we got?", and Dr. Franklin responded "A Republic, if you can keep it!"

Republic and democracy are not mutually exclusive. Regardless of how many times or how loudly it is shouted otherwise, the United States of America fits the definition of both and is therefore a republic and a democracy. However, that argument is both tedious and off topic.

I will be voting for Obama, simply because he is a black man. I believe it is more important to defeat racism and hatred than to be concerned with neverending flow of political rhetoric. We know any candidate makes promises that are impossible to keep. My main concern is more along the lines of what harm a president may do. I am much worse off now than I was eight years ago. I lost two very good jobs due to realignment of corporate priorities and elimination of government funding for not for profit organizations. I watched a very wealthy president exhibit shameless cronieism to repeatedly help out his very wealthy friends and family. I saw absolutely no concern for the working class people of this nation. I watched the current administration run a steady, divisive campaign of fear mongering. I watched in shame the obvious disregard for the poor black people of one of our greatest cities when Hurricane Katrina cause the destruction of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. I am pretty confident that help would have arrived much sooner if Fairfiled County, CT; Weschester County, NY or any other affluent, predominantly white community were equally threatened. I think the old white guys have run this show long enough. I think it is time to relinquish a bit of control and show the world we are truly beyond racist beginnings that have been swept under the rug for so long.

I see Barack Obama as a man who has managed to rally people together, people of all walks of life. I see nothing more important than uniting our nation's people to learn to communicate and work together for our common good.

I am not a strong backer of any party. I don't believe in the spewtum of any politician. I don't think I will live long enough to see any appreciable changes in any of the key issues. However, I see us as a nation with an opportunity to make a great step forward in the ranks of humanity. I sincerely hope we seize that opportunity.

Brad