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I'm tired of talking about electability and November 2004. I want to talk about the future. I have been wondering if I will ever see an America that isn't sharpy divided by political party...
I voted in my first election in 2000, and I have come of age in what seems to be one of the most sharply divided political climates in recent American history.
Older DU'ers may be able to offer some perspective and maybe this climate can be traced back to Nixon, but it seems like a series of events in Monica Lewinsky, the Florida recount, and the Iraq War have created a sharp divide between Republicans and Democrats based not on issues like abortion, affirmative action, or gay marriage, but on what seem to be personal issues about individual candidates.
Democrats *hate* Republican candidates, and Republicans *hate* Democratic candidates.
Bush was elected by riding a strong anti-Clinton sentiment, and this time around, the Democrats will stake this election on a strong anti-Bush sentiment. I don't feel like Clinton came into office that way; people didn't *hate* Bush I.
When Bush II came into office, there were immediately half of Americans who were against him. I feel this is coming in 2005 as well, whether Bush wins or loses.
The only candidate that I can see changing this is John Edwards. The people voting for Edwards in the primaries are not the ones angry at Bush or desperate to get Bush out of office, they are people whom believe in a message and a vision for the future. He has shown an uncanny ability to reach out to centrist voters and disaffected working families that aren't married to political parties.
I believe an Edwards Presidency will be one where a majority of Americans in the political center would feel satisified, as they were in the first 4 years under Clinton.
I believe that kind of feeling is the key to promoting a progressive agenda. Clinton's 8 years of prosperity brought us tremendous progress on environmental issues and a complete overhaul of the tax code from the Reagan days. The table was set for more progressive policies, but Monica hijacked the last years of the Clinton Presidency. The climate was ripe for a more progressive candidate in Al Gore, and without Monica we would have been able to take a more substantial step to the left in the same way Reagan/Bush I were able to take the country to the right.
John Edwards has a very progressive platform on taxes and like Howard Dean, I believe he could do a lot to restore peoples' faith in the government by aggressively attacking the lobbyists and insiders that run Washington. Like Wesley Clark, people see in John Edwards a man of integrity from a family they can relate to, and he will be a President the people will trust.
There are other candidates that stand in greater opposition to Bush and who provide more progressive platforms, but when I picture them in the White House in 2005, I also picture an energized right that will still be angry when 2008 rolls around. With Edwards, I see someone that can bring the country together, someone that sees these two Americas and can help us build one America.
I believe that's what we need in the coming years. We don't need anger, we don't need a revolution, and we don't need all our progressive policies to be implemented. I want this country to come together. I don't want to live in an America divided by fear and anger that is leading a world divided by fear and anger. I have a long life ahead of me and I am patient. I just want to take a step forward where I can see the next step and the step after that.
I want to live in John Edwards' America.
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