Editorial Submission at the CW

There is a distinct problem present in the United States. Exacerbated here at the University of Alabama, sentimental voter preference has become an epidemic. The Clinton supporters who have bought into McCain’s brilliant political move to bring a woman aboard, the Obama supporters who revel into his ample rhetoric, and the McCain supporters who adore him because of his military background, they are the voters who elected Dubya and they are the voters who are sending this nation down a very dark road.

Do any of them understand the consequences of voting based on aesthetic qualities and not on a candidate’s factual policy making history or ideology? I don’t think so. The past eight years and the lack of any substantive domination by the Democratic Ticket in this election are evidence of that.

Here’s a newsflash for you all: Sarah Palin isn’t a feminist, Barack Obama isn’t a revolutionary, and John McCain isn’t a brick-topped military man.

I’m a lifelong Democrat. I was raised in a lunatic evangelistic family, and surrounded by bigots and racists as a child. And I fled to the opposite pole of the ideological and political spectrum. But Barack Obama won’t have my vote, nor will John McCain. How can I, in good conscious vote for either of them. With Obama I see some wonderful ideas but no substantive plans, and an over-socialized agenda which I cannot endorse. With McCain I see the same ignorant, nationalistic, and “maverick” tendencies that Dubya had. More importantly I have seen him polarize his policy positions to fall in line with the GOP and select a VP that appeals to a voter base and not to running a nation and though, for personally beneficial purposes, I love his tax policies, I will not endorse him. And in Palin I see an exacerbation of some of my own idiotic family-members: Out-of-touch, ignorant, and small-minded. Before you say I’m just a nay-sayer, I love Joe Biden.

How many of you will be voting for Obama because he’s black? Too many I think. And before you go search the internet for a policy that you support, think about the consequences of what you don’t know. And how many support McCain because Palin is a woman? Were you Clinton supporters? Don’t fool yourself with some idiocy about Palin being a feminist, she’s not.

My girlfriend’s mother is voting for McCain because Palin is a hockey-mom and she loves hockey. This is completely beyond comprehension to me. Don’t you people understand what the consequences of uninformed voting are? Nazis! Millions dead, massive wars, financial crises, Fascism! Go inform yourself and don’t speak of politics until you know something more than a candidate’s party, gender, or race.

And if you really want to break that glass ceiling or bridge that racial divide then sit down, look at their policies, and choose who you like best; and if you can’t decide, then I think you are in the right to make the decision to break either barrier.

Tim Spires

Sophomore majoring in Management Information Systems, Finance, and French