It seems somewhat appropriate that the 100th entry on this blog deal with everyone’s best friend — Presidential elections and electoral politics! Well, okay, it seemed exciting when I put that exclamation point in there…

In the debate of George W. Bush against John Kerry, let me enumerate several reasons why Bush is not the right choice for me:

1. Bush has repeatedly lied to us in the war on terrorism, and continues his lies today even though he has clearly been proven wrong on matters of weapons of mass destruction and justifications for war. Not only that, they have covered up evidence that proves that Iraq has no WMDs — specifically, the Kay Report, written by David Kay on October 2, 2003. Only parts of this report have been declassified, but he writes:
   

   Information found to date suggests that Iraq’s large-scale capability to develop, produce, and fill new CW [chemical weapons] munitions was reduced — if not entirely destroyed — during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Fox, 13 years of UN sanctions and UN inspections . . . to date we have not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material.

   — Quoted in Oil, Power, and Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda
   ISBN 1-56751-246-1, p289
2. Bush has repeatedly turned down efforts to increase federal MPG standards on all cars in order to promote a cleaner environment. In addition, his most recent transportation package does very little for the environment itself.
3. Bush is responsible for smear campaigns against John Kerry, which, in my mind, is both unprofessional and unethical.

This is somewhat of a short list, but it gives you an idea of my objections. As for Kerry, since I don’t know much about him, it’s hard for me to really say much; however, I can give a list of my concerns for the next administration:

1. Federal environmental standards will continue to plummet and, due to our want for power over the international landscape, we will not take measures to decrease our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and will instead expand that campaign to overthrow countries that are not US-friendly, such as Syria and it’s client state, Lebanon.
2. No accountability will be afforded for the lies told to the American public during the ramp-up to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The materials that prove that Bush and party lied repeatedly to the public will be buried in favor of bipartisan amity.
3. No attempt will be made to allow a fair trial to Saddam Hussein, and much of the evidence that proves that he may not be as complicit in Iraq’s problems as this administration has suggested will never be released.
4. No effort will be made to recognize the independence of Kurdistan, in the northern regions of Iraq.
5. Efforts to privatize health care will not be made comprehensive enough to ensure that my generation can take advantage of the system. Social security will not be beefed up enough to allow the system to survive.
6. National security will still remain on the back burner; instead of focusing on our own borders, we continue to attempt to stabilize Afghanistan and Iraq, nations which have made it clear that they do not desire US help in governing their own countries.
7. The No Child Left Behind Act will continue to drag down schools in trying to comply with unreasonable guidelines and standards; rather than truly attempting to reform our educational system to be more sustainable, Americans will continue to accept the status quo.
8. Instead of tightening federal standards for cars — specifically the federal MPG requirements — they will instead be loosened, and no encouragement will be made to switch towards hybrid models or to make existing cars more efficient.

This is all, of course, a very short enumeration of the concerns and reasons driving my decisions in the upcoming primaries (both for the President and for Washington State itself). I invite comment on these — as you will note, comments are open for this post, but will close on September 3.