RFK said it.

The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of bold projects and new ideas. Rather, it will belong to those who can blend passion, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals of American society.

--Robert F. Kennedy

Today, Kathy asked me what I thought about the VP debate. "I still don't know who I am going to vote for", she said. I told her that I felt that on technical points Cheney won the debate, but that on sheer enthusiasm and convincing idealism, Edwards shone like the sun.

"I don't want to vote for any of them", she said.
"Why", I asked.
"Because I don't trust any of them.", she answered.

I asked her if she trusted Bush and Cheney. She said 'no'. I asked her if she trusted Kerry and Edwards. She said 'no'. I asked her why she didn't trust any of them, and she shrugged. So I told her that I would vote for Nader if it he had any chance of winning, but he doesn't, and I really want Bush out of office.

She asked my why I wanted him out of office. So I told her my opinion that we will reap 20 years from now the effects of his rotten foreign policies. I told her that Reagan created Saddam Hussein and the Taliban, supported many repressive and dictatorial governments in order to win the Cold War, and now we are dealing with the consequences. I told her it terrifies me to think what may happen if he is allowed to continue down this road for another 4 years. I told her my friends overseas give me a perspective on the US that most Americans don't have, and it saddens me to know how badly we are faring in the World's opinion. I told her some of my friends have told me that they understand that Bush wasn't elected, but was appointed, and so they don't hold Americas 100% responsible for what He is doing in our names, but that it will change if he actually is elected. if we are so stupid as to elect a man with the administrative policies that he has put into play, then we deserve what we get.

I also told her that what really decided me against Bush was when the abuse of prisoners came out, and when the CIA stepped up with proof that they had a Presidential Directive that permitted them to do what they had done. Rumsfeld. Arrrggghhh. I am so angry. We have no moral high ground. We have no RIGHT telling the rest of the world that they should uphold freedom and democracy and follow the Geneva conventions. It is the height of hypocrisy and undermines everything we purportedly stand for.

I told her that I lived in Massachusetts for 10 years and I liked Kerry. He was a good man who did good things and I trusted him. I told her I liked Edwards because he seemed to genuine, so unjaded. He seems like a common Joe who did very well for himself and then decided to give up a lucrative career to go into politics in order to try to make things better. He appears to be very genuine and earnest in his desire to improve the situation we are in. I admire that tremendously. I think his energy and his ganas (desire) are what we need. Idealists can change the world, simply by refusing to accept dogma. Cheney and Bush are dogmatic and lugubrious. Their reactioary ideology, their tendency to drive the public in the desired direction using the cattle-prod known as 'fear', and their failing public and foreign policies have forced me to cast my Vote against them.

I'll be getting my Election Ballot in the mail next week.