The Big Three

Race, Politics, and Religion.

This is supposedly yet again the election that will have everyone buzzing. This will be a historical election, they say. This election will be one to tell your kids about, they say. I personally hear this and I doubt. I doubt because 4 years ago I heard almost the exact same thing and I hoped. I put in my ballot, stayed up late watching it on TV. and I prayed for the best. The result was not very pretty.

And yet here we are I’m four years older, smarter, and more pessimistic. My generation was supposed to change the world 4 years ago and it did not. And it seriously worries me to have the same result this time around. Not to mention with a much older man that has less patience than the current president. But, I find myself asking, could this possibly happen again? Please don’t tell me the GOP actually has a possibility of winning? The answer is yes, they definitely do have a chance due to race, religion, and politics in America.

Presidential candidates today have to defend themselves in many more issues than past candidates did. Many young Americans today barely realize that JFK was a Catholic, or that Nixon was a Quaker. But these days everyone expects Hillary to explain why she’s Methodist and how is that going to help her decision making. Wait…what? How does being Methodist affect the decisions in turning around an economic recession? Or how will Christianity affect Obama’s decision to raise your Medicare? In a world where Church and State are apart, religion sure is still packing a Roy Jones’ punch.

Another factor in favor of the GOP is the obvious one, race. No one has ever won the White House without being a white man of moderate wealth. And hear what you may but I’ve heard of democrats saying they’d vote for McCain if a black man was the democratic nominee. Yeah, I heard that this century. Unfortunately that’s the truth in a surprisingly high number of older white voters. They might not discuss it too openly, and I would have never believed it was a kid, but growing up in Alabama changed me a bit.

This is but a short, opinionated article on the state of Presidential candidates and the upcoming election. Politics is a difficult thing to discuss without offending people but it has to be done. Yes, I understand some of McCain’s policies are easier and more liberal’s than Bush’s, but at the end of the day if he wins my friends will still be dying in Iraq, food will still be ridiculously expensive, and I’ll need a bike due to 6 dollar per gallon gas.

-Eight