El Capitan
Like many of my fellow sorta-liberals, I'm trying to rifle through the names and platforms of the many Democrat possibilities for 2004 (also like many of my fellows, I neglected to vote this past weekend in a state election. I suck).
My ideal candidate, according to The 2004 Democratic Candidate Selector (made before Clark tossed his epaulets in) is Dennis Kucinich.
I think I must have been feeling awfully pissed off at the incumbent (as I often am), while taking this quiz because I know I'm not Dennis Kucinich liberal. What's more disturbing is that, according the quiz, my number two match is the Rev. Al Sharpton. And I know I'm not that foolish.
The candidate I'm actually leaning toward, Dr. Dean, came up as number four (below Mosley-Braun, for crying out loud). And he's more liberal, per se, than I really ever thought I'd be.
In high school, I discovered Ayn Rand, and was briefly swayed (as I often was in those heady, wayward days) to her objectivist philosophy. Who is John Galt, indeed? I've moved steadily and rapidly leftward ever since. I truly believed in Al Gore, and he was very centrist. And really, that's where I thought I'd stay, though I often voiced my dismay that there was no difference between the two major parties. Everyone was stuck in the middle (with you).
Enter George W. Throughout his presidency, I've felt almost like a rebellious teenager. With every move he (and his adminstration) makes toward right-winged tyranny (hyperbole? yes, thank you), I find myself moving a step closer to the left. Three years ago, if these same candidates came up, I would have stood behind Lieberman. As time passes, though, I find myself climbing up the liberal ladder, finding myself now at Howard Dean.
Will the Democrats have a chance? I have think they will. Everyone was excited about tax cuts, but how have they helped anyone but the already wealthy, really? Did that extra few hundred dollars truly change your personal economic outlook? And we rallied together after the terrorist attacks, only to be manipulated and lied to to justify a vengeance war in the name of our fallen dead. Did the people want this war? Would they have wanted it had they known the truth, that, as the administration has finally come out, there are no clear ties to Saddam Hussein and the attacks? Would they if they had be informed up front about the obligations--personnel and fiscal--we now owe to Iraq as the occupying force?
I'm disgusted with this presidency, this administration. The one brave voice within it (Colin Powell) has been tempered to the party line. I'm saddened. And more determined than ever to see a change.
Damn, this soapbox feels good.