The Power of A Write-In

I, along with a few other people, have become disgruntled with the current political primaries. I'm taking a class about it and I have been paying very close attention to all of the daily happenings. I feel like venting, so without any further delay...here it is.

I'm tired of people who only limit themselves to either one party or the other. I, for one, do not like Republicans or Democrats. I will never fully support either party and I know quite a few people who feel the same way. When the ballot it presented to me on November 4th, I am going to do what many Americans are afraid to do...I'm going to write in my candidate's name in the "write-in" area. People tell me, "You know that Ron Paul has no chance at winning, right?" When I hear this, I have to ask myself, "Have they forgotten about what makes the American voting system as wonderful as it is?" I predict (and I know that this has changed over the weeks) that the final ballot will have Barack Obama and John McCain going head-to-head. I do not support the idea of voting for the lesser of two evils or the easy frontrunner. That isn't me, it has never been me, and it will never be me. I have no problem supporting a candidate down to the final seconds regardless of their realistic chances of becoming elected.

To me, America has suffered by having only two prominent political parties. We limit ourselves to either one or the other. Come November, I will not support John McCain and I will not support Barack Obama. I will be in the minority and I will not be celebrating my candidates' win. I will have to live through yet another 4 years with a president that I do not support and did not vote for. However, I see this as a positive. If more people feel the way that I do then we can slowly make a change in this country. We can help push and support lesser known candidates who would be much better presidents, yet don't have the popularity, funding, and/or public appeal of the other candidates.

On November 4th, I will write Dr. Ron Paul's name in the area that says "write-in". This will make me feel better about the candidate that I voted for and supported. I feel that the majority of this country votes for reasons that I don't see as important at all. 70% of Americans state that "looks" and "appearance" are the most influencial aspects of whether or not to support a candidate. This sounds just like a high school class president election. People need to read the issues and the candidates experience in order to make an educated decision. Unless the blacks come out and vote like they did in South Carolina, John McCain will be the next president of the United States. I won't be happy with this and I will speak out as often as I possibly can. When voting for a lesser known candidate, I have the distinct pleasure of disagreeing with the president and all of the decisions that he makes. I won't disagree with everything that he does, but I will be a very critical observer.

On November 4th, do this country a favor and vote for the candidate who you feel is the best candidate. Forget gender, skin color, appearance, and promises. Look at the issues, their experience, and their voting record. Stand out for once and refuse to fall in line like all of the other sheep in this country. Vote proud and vote intelligently because the next 4 years of your life boil down to the results of November 4th.

Put Me In Coach

I'm ready to play, today! Baseball season is right around the corner and I can already smell the grass in my nose, hear the crack of the bat, and hear the sound of a little league team shouting their heroes name when they step to the plate. This, my friends, is baseball. America's pasttime and my favorite game. I've been into baseball since I was 4 or 5 years old and I have never stopped loving the game. Unlike many other things, a baseball game never seems to lose its luster. I long for the first pitch of the season, the 4-6-3 double play, the roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat, the smell of garlic fries and hot roasted peanuts, and the feeling I get inside my chest whenever I see a young boy and his father taking in a game. I love it when little boys get up and attempt to start a wave. Future leaders...these young ones. Baseball also makes me think about my future. I long for the day that I can take my first-born son to a game and explain the game to him. I can tell him about my childhood experiences with baseball, my first game, and the stories that my family told me growing up. I will show him movies like "The Sandlot", "The Natural", "Field of Dreams", and "Major League" (when he's older, of course). As soon as football season wraps up, like an adult salmon swimming to the place of his birth to spawn, I get a feeling that the baseball season is right around the corner. Baseball brings me back to the world of the fantastic. Problems, worries, bills, etc. disappear as soon as my ticket gets scanned at the gate. It's like an invitation to a place where time stands still and you are allowed a brief return to your childhood. Unlike other sports, baseball will never lose its luster with me. To quote Robert Redford from The Natural, "God, I love baseball". I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Well...

I went to the Seahawks playoff game against the Washington Redskins and it was great. I got up around 6am and I didn't get home until 10pm. We had a native guy in our group with a Sean Taylor jersey on and he got into a scuffle with a Seahawks fan. Fists flew, beers splashed, and the guy through a wooden coat hanger in retaliation?!? What?!? I know, it sounds weird and I assure you that it was. The Seahawk fan punched Mike (Redskins fan), one of our guys tossed beer on the Seahawk fan, and as the Seahawk fan was walking away tossed a wooden coat hanger at Mikey. His forehead was split open and he required stitches. $200 down the drain and a trip to the ER...a bad day for Mikey. Then Scott managed to do something really stupid. We were trying to get to someone's car and we needed to go over the railroad tracks to do this. There was a train that was fairly stationary on the tracks, but was going forwards and back every few minutes. Scott hopped over the train while it was moving and he did this right in front of a Seattle police officer. Typical Scott. The Seahawks offense seemed a bit off, but we did manage to get some decent yards on the ground. There is a glimmer of hope for one more home game. The Seahawks have to beat Green Bay in Green Bay and hope that the NY Giants can upset the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game in more than 10 years and Green Bay has only lost twice at home during the playoffs. It's a long shot, but I've got to keep a positive state of mind. At this point, I have been to 6 Seahawks home games this year and they have won each and every one of them. It feels good to be a good luck charm once in awhile.