I have some time to kill and I can't help but play the devil's advocate.
First, before I pose my question, let me assure you that my vote does not matter. I live in Arizona and even if the entire rest of the nation votes for the Democrats, AZ will vote for its favorite son, John McCain.
At first I was very disturbed by this. I have actually never voted for anyone who actually got the electorial votes of my state. Now, however, I see this as a great freedom. I can vote for whoever I want without real repercussions. Kucinich...Nader...McKinney...Karl Marx...Bozo the Clown...It just doesn't matter. Regardless of how this conversation develops, you will vote for who you want as pres, and I will vote for who ever gives the Dems the idea that they once again did not move far enough left for me.
So here is what keeps me up at night during this election season. We have had 3 candidates who have temporarily destroyed their political careers to safe guard the people they represented. Two of the three have much more experience then Obama. All three have been right about difficult issues publicly when it was unpopular to speak the truth about those issues. They have had good judgment, spoken the truth and safeguarded us, yet they haven't got a chance in this election. I am speaking of course of Kucinich, Nader and Cynthia McKinney.
Additionally, the top Democratic candidates are both essentially offering the same health care package. Both preserve the current health insurance industry. Yet there is no reason to preserve this industry with its 30% overhead and third world care, except that these candidate feel that even with public support there is no way to get away from this system. With the insurance industry intact we can never have the health care the Europeans have at their low cost. Essentially, and very openly, these candidates have sold out the interests of the American people to big business. Yet one of these two people is very likely to be president.
So my question is why? Why do Americans feel that we must vote for someone who does not rock the boat too much? Do we suffer from low self esteem? Do we actually believe that our democracy is essentially over and we can only vote for the best candidate the corporate interest will let us have? Do we simply believe the corporate press? Are we incapable of having a conversation about what the country really needs or where we are heading that is outside of the narrow spectrum that the talking heads give us? Is that too difficult of a run on sentence?
I am putting on my devil horns and await your reply.