ReportFromTheFront's Blog

           In August of 1971 and just prior to the start of my senior year in high school, I -  along with those of my classmates who would be turning eighteen before a date certain -  was summoned to school to register to vote. It was a very exciting time for us as the law had just recently lowered the age of majority from twenty one. We were, most of us at least, very excited. Not only would we be able to vote in the upcoming election between Richard Nixon and George McGovern, we would also be the first to be so young to do so in, well…perhaps ever. We didn’t know, really; but the prospect of actually being the first to do something so important and be a small part of history just seemed to heighten whatever it was we were feeling at the time. Make no mistake about it – everything you ever heard or read about the apathy of many people of those years was real. Fueled by the lingering anger and anxiety over civil rights, the riots, three major political assassinations within a span of five years and the outrage over the war in Viet Nam, it was slimy and sinuous thing. It was insidious and permeated our young lives in ways that historians and pundits continue to write about to this day but can’t quite put their fingers on. To paraphrase (with my heartfelt apologies) Wavy Gravy, the great philosopher and self appointed spokesman of the Summer of Love: ‘If you understood what was going on, you weren’t really there’. Still, we were excited, yes we were. We were anxious to claim our birthright and make our voices heard.

            We were ready to vote.

            I cast my first vote sixteen months later and am proud to say that I’ve voted in every election since. Though my candidate didn’t always win – the RFTF win/loss column presently stands at 7-2 – I was always an eager participant in the political process and happy to discuss the merits of my man versus the missteps of the other guy.

            That is, until now.

            Things have changed, I fear, and not for the better. There is an old sales axiom which says that you can sell just about anything if you package it just right. The press, it seems, has taken that page from the Sales Handbook to heart in a most disquieting way. Thanks to the ever vigilant American 4th Estate this election and its process are different. This is the election about making major league issues out of what really amounts to nothing and presenting them with a ‘shocking’ spin just to sell more papers. This is the election about pettiness and non issues where the economy, the environment and the Iraq debacle are unceremoniously pushed aside in favor of the things that, it seems, are really on the minds on voting Americans across the nation such as the real source of Cindy McCain’s cookie recipes. Never mind her husband’s (revised) position on global warming – we’ll get around to that eventually. Why bother to listen to Barak Obama’s views on revitalizing our sagging economy when we can discuss his smoking habit to exhaustion? As of last week, the debate du jour was about which candidate is the bigger patriot and possesses more love of country; the one who wears a flag lapel pin or the one who doesn’t; the one who served or the one who didn’t.

            Oh, yes – And let’s not forget the biggest non-issue of all: faith. Though there’s no real way to quantify this, my guess is that the word ‘faith’ has been uttered more times by all of the presidential hopefuls in this election cycle alone than by all other presidential candidates combined since the founding of the republic. Yep, faith is important in that it provides one with all of the spiritual intangibles that hopefully, in the end, makes one a better person.  Instead of devoting themselves to the development of real world, achievable solutions to the problems that plague us as a nation, both McCain and Obama court pastors who and other religious figures in an effort to prove which man is the better Christian. Like I said, faith is important, but being a good Christian won’t make someone a better President. By way of example, allow me to cite Jimmy Carter. President Carter was – and still is – a man of deeply held religious convictions who didn’t just attend church for the photo – op. Yet, despite the depth of his convictions, there can be no argument that his presidency was, in a word, rather vanilla.

         So what, Mr. Candidate, do you really plan to do to pull us out of the Iraq quagmire in a timely manner? Where are the promised oil revenues your predecessor assured would be ours in order to underwrite the financial burden that has now made us an economic colony of China? What is your plan to revive our dangerously sagging economy? What about healthcare reform? Whaddya think about a revised tax code that distributes the burden more equitably and closes loopholes for large corporations such as the oil companies?  How about a plan to save the environment and stave off global warming? These are questions on my mind. These are the things which, in the end, matter most.