McCain't

I am honestly surprised and frustrated with myself. I haven't said a word about the election, which is TODAY! The polls close here in Ohio in about half an hour, and I'm itching to see which way this historically red state will vote.

Voting.

Show me the justice in this scenario: a teenager who has been active in a wide variety of political organizations since the age of 12, and has volunteered many hours for various campaigns, and is, honestly, better informed on many of the issues being voted on today in Ohio than many of her peers with whom she has discussed politics with, cannot vote because she is 17.

Voting. I am extremely frustrated and downright p***ed off that I can't vote. I won't be eighteen till March, see? I know the law says you can't vote until you're 18, but it used to be 21. The goal is to get informed voters out to the polls and changing our country in whatever limited way we can, right?

Here's what I propose: Keep the voting age eighteen if you must, but if a teen over the age of, say, 16, wants to vote, let them. But make sure they're informed first. Test us. Make it a requirment of the political science and economics classes most of us are required to take before we turn 18 anyway. All it would take is five minutes and one of those computer screens they have at the BMVs. Ask us questions like, "How many members are there in the House of Representatives?" or "What political party is in majority on the Supreme Court?" or "What are the legal requirements for running for President as enumerated in the Constitution?" or "Is issue X about A, B, C, or D?"

You know, it wouldn't be that hard. Immigrants are required to pass citizenship tests before being allowed to vote; why not underage people who are passionate about politics and making a difference in the world?

It's a no brainer to me. They say young adults and teens aren't informed or educated enough to make the "right" decision. Like I said earlier, most of the people I talked to today who already voted, I knew more than they did about the politics and issues at stake. How scary is it when someone who isn't even allowed to vote knows more about the US government and politics than a person who has voted in the past three presidential elections?

Now back to politics. If I could vote, I would be voting for Barack Obama, because John McCAIN'T and Sarah FAILIN'
scare.
the.
crap.
out.
of.
me.

And I have reasons. Oh, do I have reasons. I live in your typical small town in Ohio. Palin was here last month, speaking at the local arena and the city high school. I work in a self-starter-makes-less-than-250k-a-year-or-even-ten-years-bookstore. So two of Palin's speechwriters came into the store the day she was in town. (My boss told me about this, and they should be happy I wasn't there, because I wouldn't have kept my mouth shut like he did.) They came in and started walking around, picking up books and such. One of them asked how much the books were, and they're half the publisher's price here, which is the cheapest in the immediate area. Well, this chick starts complaining about our prices being too high, and then asked, no, DEMANDED, that we tell her what the handwritten code in each book means. Honestly, it was none of her damn business-- it's for bookkeeping purposes and does absolutely no insult to her. Well, she raised a fit and wouldn't stop complaining about it until my boss told her what it meant. That's not the half of it. When she figured it out, she picked up this book from our collectibles section, and was like, "You mean to tell me this book has been here for 10 years and you haven't sold it for $20.00? Well, you need to sell it to me for $10 because no one else will buy it." Collectibles, airhead. I looked it up when I got into work that night, and it's now worth almost $90.00.

Oh, but the buck doesn't stop there. The speechwriters then went upstairs to our bargain room, where everything is under $1.00. She comes down with like 12 paperbacks and buys them. They announced later that Palin's staff went around to area bookstores buying books that they think should be banned under a McCain- Palin presidency.

Scary.
Downright, shake in your shoes scary.

But wait, there's more!

Palin refused to spend campaign money on food while in my hometown. She demanded that the Republicans of the city pay for not only HER meals, but those of her 68 staffpersons. And then we hear the next week that she spent 150k on clothes. She couldn't even shell out $15 per person for one meal on one day, when they do it every other day. Rather, they preferred to take advantage of the hospitality of our town. She drives me crazy. At least with Hilary we would have gotten an intelligent and responsible woman in the white house.

Onto McCain

One of my acquaintances here in town KNOWS John McCain. Her father and McCain were in the POW camp together, that period in his life that made McCain a "war hero" (personally, I don't believe wars can have heroes-- it's just orchestrated, mindless killing). She was raised calling McCain "Uncle John," has known him all her life. Anyway, her dad, before he died, went totally insane, and I mean that in the best way possible. He was acting like McCain is now-- the agression, the disorientation, the hardheadedness-- before he completely lost who he was. Not a comforting thought. My friend says she would have voted for McCain 20 years ago, but now, she wouldn't touch him.

I know people with Alzeheimer's. They act a lot like McCain did in the last debate, which, honestly, scared me even more.

It's not a comforting thought that McCain could be the next President of the United States.

Personally, I was backing Kucinich before dropped out and endorsed Obama. Now, I like Obama, but I believe the presidential election has become a vice-presidential election, and I really like Biden.

Come on, people. We need some change!!!