The Dartmouth Observer |
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Commentary on politics, history, culture, and literature by two Dartmouth graduates and their buddies
WHO WE ARE Chien Wen Kung graduated from Dartmouth College in 2004 and majored in History and English. He is currently a civil servant in Singapore. Someday, he hopes to pursue a PhD in History. John Stevenson graduated from Dartmouth College in 2005 with a BA in Government and War and Peace Studies. He is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He hopes to pursue a career in teaching and research. Kwame A. Holmes did not graduate from Dartmouth. However, after graduating from Florida A+M University in 2003, he began a doctorate in history at the University of Illinois--Urbana Champaign. Having moved to Chicago to write a dissertation on Black-Gay-Urban life in Washington D.C., he attached himself to the leg of John Stevenson and is thrilled to sporadically blog on the Dartmouth Observer. Feel free to email him comments, criticisms, spelling/grammar suggestions. BLOGS/WEBSITES WE READ The American Scene Arts & Letters Daily Agenda Gap Stephen Bainbridge Jack Balkin Becker and Posner Belgravia Dispatch Black Prof The Corner Demosthenes Daniel Drezner Five Rupees Free Dartmouth Galley Slaves Instapundit Mickey Kaus The Little Green Blog Left2Right Joe Malchow Josh Marshall OxBlog Bradford Plumer Political Theory Daily Info Andrew Samwick Right Reason Andrew Seal Andrew Sullivan Supreme Court Blog Tapped Tech Central Station UChicago Law Faculty Blog Volokh Conspiracy Washington Monthly Winds of Change Matthew Yglesias ARCHIVES BOOKS WE'RE READING CW's Books John's Books STUFF Site Feed ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Voting Strategy 2004 This is where I tell you how you should vote. Yes, I know it's amazingly pretentious but in this election we are casting our votes for millions of persons who, with bated breath and benign indifference, need us to be both responsible and informed. This is a vote that will determine the course of the nation and comes at a critical moment in international affairs. I. Your BallotFor President: John Kerry For Vice-President: Write-In, John McCain For the House: A thrid-party Candidate (but not the Greens) For the Senate: Any Republican who isn't a racist or a homophobe II. The Reasons (or the argument that John Kerry would make were he intelligent) A. Foreign PolicyBush has been simply disastrous for our country's reputation. With resolve, he has blundered from one mess to another like an unfettered bovine on a grassy plain. To his credit, he did correctly identify the reality of international terrorism, and, correctly (much to the chagrin of some of more leftist friends) invade Afghanistan. However, the understaffing of Afghanistan, the wild goose chase in Iraq, the president's refusing to apologize, his casual and cocky dismissal of Kyoto, the ICC, and the ABM treaty all show that resolve and bravado are for naught when misinformation and untruths abound. That being said, Iraq is the main front in the war on terror, and, I seriously doubt Kerry's resolve to see it through and Bush's ability to carry it out intelligently. The fact of the matter is, as I have said here, liberals inside Iraq have a greater hope for a post-tyranical liberal government on September 11, 2004 than they had on September 11, 2000. Will Kerry's internationalism rebuild Iraq and address the structural inequalities within the international market? Maybe. Will a president who is incapable of seeing, let's forget about admiting, his own errors (being president is "hard work") sucessfully re-oreint American policy after the meandaring, vapid compromises of Clinton? Absolutely not. B. The Supreme Court There will probably be many resignations over the next presidential term. Having a split government will promote more moderate justices willing to make the compromises necessary in a multicultural democracy. C. Domestic Economic Policy Bush's unrestrained spending, combined with lower taxes, has bankrupted the government. We need the fiscal restraint that real Republicans and Liberatarains offer in the Senate and the House. However, we need to send a message to Mr. Bush that we, the voters, find it unacceptable what he has done. D. Why Third Party? We, as the voters of America, need to send a message to Washington that if the two-party system continues to offer us uninspiring choices for leadership, we will turn to alternative sources for our inspiration. |