I will soon be 58 years old. I have reared two children who are on their own and who seem to be in good marriages. I hope to have grandchildren someday. I have never considered myself to be particularly political. I have never registered for a political party and have pretty well split my votes between Democrats and Republicans at the national level. I have never considered a Presidential election to be all that important. The first election I voted in was in 1972. I think I voted for McGovern. The only thing I know for sure is I didn't vote for Nixon. The absentee ballot I received from Alabama only listed the electors and showed an elephant, a rooster and a donkey at the head of each list. I either voted for McGovern or Wallace since I didn't know which set of Democrat Party electors was which. (Don't try to tell me I should have researched it. I was in Germany and seem to remember that I received the ballot about the time it had to be mailed back.) Since then, I have voted for Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Perot and Bush.
This time I will vote for Bush. The current terrorsit threat is the only issue on my short list and it is apparent to me that Kerry doesn't have a clue. His approach reminds me of the one the Germans took for twenty years while the European terrorist gangs were blowing up American soldiers. It was a nuisance since the terrorists generally avoided blowing up Germans.
Getting blown up is much more than a nuisance for those so killed and their families.
So I go from being a person who really didn't think it mattered who was President to thinking this election is the most important one I have ever seen.
Go figure.
posted by Larry at 1:20 PM
