Posted by Dave on 01/03/08 at 09:47:20 am
Categories: Political Ravings, Barack Obama, Campaign 2008

So the primary season officially begins today.

My support for Barack Obama has been clear for months, if not years, on this blog. Of course, he does not come close to my ideal candidate, but he is the best of the bunch. Well... Dennis Kucinich is the best of the bunch, but again, I have as much of a chance at becoming the next President as he does.

My prediction is that on the Democratic side the top three, in this order, will be Obama, Clinton, and Edwards. On the Republican side my guess is Huckabee, McCain, and Romney. And I truly hope that Ron Paul finishes third above Giuliani.

But with all of that said, I am starting to care less and less, which is somewhat ironic considering some get their political news from me. I enjoy politics. I enjoy learning about them; I enjoy writing about them. But I am also am continually becoming more and more cynical about them. And I also am becoming more and more disinterested in the broken political process in this country. In a system where what should be viable candidates, both in terms of policy and experience, are ignored and not given a chance because they are not charismatic or pretty enough, we have problems. In a system where we are forced to choose between the best of the worst, we have problems. In a system where people use and abuse religion and faith as a tool to get elected, we have problems. In a system where candidates are at ease with being reckless with facts in order to discredit their opponents, we have problems.

With all that said, with all of my cynicism, with all of the tension between politics and my faith, with all of my frustrations with the system, elections in this country do matter. Elections matter because they impact us; they impact our neighbors; they impact the poor and the rich; they impact Americans and the World. Few, if any, elections in the world have as much influence on world events as major elections in the United States. They will very possibly directly influence and impact not only everyone in this country, but citizens of Iraq, Iran, China, North Korea, Columbia, Sudan, etc.

So while I have become disenchanted with they system and process, the elections still matter. And while I have no faith that any of these Presidential candidates will be interested in furthering the Kingdom of God (one day I will talk about what this means... but it is not as scary as you may think), I also don't want or expect them to do so. I will support and vote for candidates who put forward policies that make sense. Policies that align with my political ideologies. Policies are effectively work for the common good, at least as much as possible.

So I will probably continue to write about politics. And I will continue to care and vote. But my perspective on what it really means may be changing.

| Permalink