A Tale of Two Countries
With election fever running high with
Parliament of Canada
our southern neighbors, I’m reflecting on how we are different, how we are the same. What happens with the American vote for president affects Canada as well. We are tied together through geography, shared values of freedom and democracy, and similar lifestyles. We watch the same TV programs and the same movies.
And yet, there are marked differences when it comes to electing our leaders. Our Canadian elections for Parliament are over and done with, in a matter of months, many times less than that. The Americans, on the other hand, have been dealing with vicious and untrue campaign ads for over a year. Yesterday, I caught a video—shown during The Daily Show’s moment of Zen—of a little girl saying through tears she didn’t want any more Obama or Romney. She’d had enough. I’d venture to say most of the American population shares her sentiments.
As for the money that supports this endless campaigning—don’t the incumbents have a country to run?—it’s as if the heavens had opened up and rained dollars. The amount that’s been given by that 1% of the population, the ones who call the shots, has been obscene. When you think of a country whose infrastructure is in bad need of repair—especially now with the aftermath of Sandy—and its debt in the trillions, couldn’t that money have been better spent? Call me naive.
America is a country where the rich are running scared. They are so worried about losing their yachts, jet planes, three and more luxury homes, that they will do anything to get their guy elected. That guy is Romney. Fox network, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, the man who was under investigation in Britain’s phone hacking scandal, is for Romney. It’s the network that dishes the dirt about Obama every chance it gets, and boy, has it been dirty.
The White House
courtesy of Wikipedia.org
It’s hard not to believe that racism isn’t a big part of the story. I’ve seen Barack Obama visibly age in such a short time. I don’t know how he puts up with the abuse from the right. No matter how hard he’s tried, he’s been shot down. He started out his four year term in The White House, trying to be a conciliator. He tried to bring the two houses together, but the Republican right wouldn’t have any of it. Even though they’d messed up the country with an unnecessary war in Iraq and crazy concessions to the rich, they were unhappy their man didn’t get in, or was it just because Barack is black?
I’ve watched with sadness the television coverage of Hurricane Sandy and the horrific damage it caused to New York and New Jersey. I was in New York in the spring; it’s an amazing city with beautiful and friendly people. It’s probably my favorite city in the world. Yesterday, there was more coverage, this time of Staten Island and of a woman searching through the rubble for any reminder of family. She found an old wedding photo that was muddied and wet, and for a brief moment, she was happy. The city needs an undivided America.
From what I’ve witnessed, Obama has stepped up to the plate time and time again. He did it again with hurricane Sandy. Governor Christie, a staunch Republican, praised him and his support for the people of New Jersey. Mayor Bloomberg of New York has now endorsed Obama. This president has heart. This president speaks for all the people. Unfortunately, the ones at the top of the food chain don’t like what he has to say. They’re not happy that he wants them to pay more taxes. He just wants them to pay their fair share. Instead of looking around and thinking we have more than enough they’re gripping those dollars as tightly as the man with the gold in the fairy tale who in the end gets buried by his own greed. Well, I’m afraid if Obama doesn’t get elected again, wonderful America will no longer be wonderful, It’ll sink because those that have, don’t want to help those who have not. They don’t want a black man at the top telling them they have to give.
It’s curious that yesterday, the previous president, George W. Bush, was in the Cayman Islands, as a keynote speaker at a meeting about offshore investments. If that doesn’t speak volumes about what the Republican party is all about, I don’t know what does.
Here’s praying that the right man gets elected. I’m praying it’s Obama.
We’ll survive regardless of who wins, but for most of us it’s hold your nose and vote.
I can understand the “hold your nose and vote” feeling, as I think I’d be frustrated too with all the negative ads, all the waste of time and resources trying to get votes. I know you’ll survive. I just believe so much more could be done if the American people’s needs were put first, at the top of the political agenda, rather than the parties and all the people they feel obligated to because of enormous campaign contributions.