We're in Deep Kimchee, Folks (Warning - Rant Follows!)

First of all, despite what you may have seen here, I am registered as an independent.  What this means is that I hold both of the main political parties in contempt, and right now, neither has a candidate that I can support wholeheartedly.
 
By reports that I’ve seen, it looks like both parties are content to ignore people like me and concentrate on their “fan base”.  Good luck to them.  I think they will discover that there are more like me out here than they realize.
 
Now, as things stand I cannot picture any circumstances that would convince me to vote for John Kerry.  As a person, as a politician and as a “Vietnam Veteran” he has shown me that he will do and say anything, and I mean anything, if he thinks it will get him one more vote.
 
By the same token, President Bush hasn’t really given me the “warm fuzzies” either.  While I support and respect the overall leadership he has shown in the War on Terror (and this is a war, make no mistake), most of his domestic policies seem to have come right out of the Democratic playbook.
 
The one single thing about this election that just scares the hell out of me, though, is the way that the parties, the news media, Hollywood and others have worked to divide this great nation.  Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Watergate, even Vietnam have not had this effect on the nation as a whole.  The bitter, spiteful hate that has been stirred up could not have come at a worse time.
 
We are a nation at war.  AT WAR.  This cannot be emphasized enough.  Most of the Islamic religious leaders are either actively calling for the murder of our citizens or are quietly supporting and applauding these actions.  Worse, most of Western Europe and our neighbors to the north and south are not only claiming neutrality in this but in some instances are actively encouraging our enemies.  And before people start wringing their hands and crying, “Why do they hate us so?” the answer is very, very simple – they envy us so deeply that they can hardly live with themselves.  Countries like France and the Netherlands can think back to when they were a world power and what they did with that power.
 
Never in the history of the world has there been a nation like us – the most powerful in the world but with absolutely no desire to become an empire.  Think about what other nations would do with the power we wield – hell, look at what they did when they had such power.  Many parts of the world are still trying to recover from their colonial pasts.
 
Our internal politics are doing their damndest to tear us apart at the very point in history when we need to present a united front to the world.  And if we don’t get our act together soon, we will be history.
 
Oh – about the election?  As things stand, I fear that I will have to hold my nose and vote for the incumbent.  But I think he has a long way to go before I can be comfortable with that choice.

The opinions expressed here are subject to change without notice!