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On Rudy, Hillary and John C. Bowling…
You know those type of friends that you are completely comfortable with? The kind that you could tell anything too? The kind of friends that within seconds of reconnecting with you are already discussing deep issues and telling old stories? The kind that love you no matter what you say or do, that pat you on the back when you are right, and kick you in the pants when you are wrong? The kind of friend that berates you in your blog comments for not expanding on how deep and important your relationship with them is? Well, I was with those kind of friends this weekend, and within seconds of dropping my suitcase I was asked this question:“So, what do you think about Giuliani?”
Now, I refuse to turn this into some sort of political blog. In fact, I’m actually kinda annoyed that people are already talking ’08 election when it is 20 MONTHS AWAY! Way too much is going to happen between now and then to really be talking about this stuff yet. Having said that, the conversation with these important, deep, meaningful, and bestest of best friends quickly turned toward third parties and “throwing away your vote”, a topic that I am always willing to debate because I’m sick of the “vote for the lesser of two evils” mentality. I have voted in every Presidential election since I have been eligible, and I have yet to vote for someone I didn’t wholeheartedly want to be my commander in chief, and I don’t plan on starting 20 months from now.
The fact is, at this point, I don’t trust Rudy’s views on what is by far the most important issue facing our culture, abortion. He gets around this by saying he will appoint judges similar to Roberts, but his history seems to indicate differently. These are the issues I will need to resolve in my conscious before I can vote for the man. So when all the primaries are done and the nominees are finalized, if we are looking at Hillary vs. Rudy, and Rudy still hasn’t assuaged my concerns, what am I to do? Do I, out of some crazy fear of the apocalypse that will be upon us if Hillary reigns supreme (you do get satire, right?), vote for someone whom I don’t really want to occupy the office? Do I pack the family in the mini and book it north to Canada? No. I weigh my third party options, find out where they stand on abortion, and other issues of importance to me, and cast a vote for a person I can get behind. In fact, if Rudy is nominated, it would be nice for someone like Newt Gingrich to run as an independent to give the more conservative among us a chance to vote “en masse“. And if I don’t find a viable candidate among them I will gladly write in a name of my own choosing (probably John Bowling, though he might just turn it down if elected. I love that man.)
The point is the more you adhere to a lesser of two evils mentality the more you give away your vote to a conglomerate. It is their responsibility to nominate someone I will vote for, not my responsibility to vote for whoever they nominate. All you are doing is telling the Republican (or God forbid, Democratic) party that they can throw anyone they want in there and you’ll pull the lever. You are essentially voting by proxy, giving your vote to someone else to make for you. As for me, I plan on casting my own vote thank you, even if it is almost two years from now and I have no clue who it is yet.
Comments? Questions? Do you chant RUDY, RUDY, RUDY? All feedback welcome below 🙂