Friday, October 19, 2007
I share a bathroom with Obama.
By this I mean that I work in a bakery that shares a bathroom with the newly established campaign headquarters for Barack Obama, right across the way from the Royal Crest Bowling Alley in the Hillcrest Shopping Center.
This is funny to me because my boss is a staunch Republican.
I’m not leaning in any particular direction yet. On the one hand, I am told that I may not have Social Security when I’m 70, and on the other hand I’m warned that I’ll end up waiting a considerably long while before I become eligible for my first knee replacement surgery.
nutgraf
Having such conversations reminds me why I checked the “independent” box on my registration card. Nothing seems like an entirely good idea in the long run, no matter which side of the barbed wire fence you stand on.
It seems that over the last few weeks I’ve been having a lot of conversations about who I’m going to vote for in 2008.
Having such conversations reminds me why I checked the “independent” box on my registration card. Nothing seems like an entirely good idea in the long run, no matter which side of the barbed wire fence you stand on.
I give all credit to the candidates, however. No matter what tickets they are running on, they have the toughest job in the world: selling the future to the American people. Some want to fight to make the world free, others want to work to make the world like us again, most want to save us money in the long run (“us” being a loose and hazy term). There are promises about the environment and about education. One thing is certain, all of them are dead set to point out that they have never been affiliated with George W. Bush.
In all this bickering and politicking I’m still undecided, just as I was in 2004 when I ended up voting for Kerry because he wasn’t the one sending guys and girls my age to die in some forsaken desert thousands of miles away. I viewed that as a deciding plus.
However, the one thing that will ultimately decide my vote in the future—the promise that a politician can make me that will make me proud to pull the lever in support of his or her administration—is a promise that will read something like this:
“I, _______, promise that it will be my highest sworn duty to do one good deed for an American citizen every day, whether that action is to defend his life, accelerate his pursuit of happiness, or recover his liberty. And I charge every American to take this oath along side me. We will work together to help one person each day, and we will do this with the knowledge that we may not receive retribution or thanks.”
In my mind, an American fights for the liberties of his countrymen and not for his government, he works for the betterment of tomorrow and not for his president. He takes care of himself as well as others to the best of his ability. He gladly sacrifices and never takes his rights for granted. To this model American, all are equal and none are denied voice. I would proudly elect any candidate who said these words and lived by them whole-heartedly. Stances on gun control, birth control, immigration control, and economics are secondary to this superlative oath.
Smith is a Rose Hill graduate student in English.
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