Today is election day. I am very concerned. And my friends who are voting Nader are really pissing me off. There's nothing I can do about it, and really I should be happy they are voting, but I can't stop comparing a vote for Nader to the equivalent of cashing your paycheck and then flushing the cash down a toilet. Working hard for something, and throwing it all away. And suffering the consquences.

I love the idea of fighting big business and saving the environment and educating our nation's future about participating in the beautiful democracy that we are priviledged enough to experience as American citizens. But for this election, with three Supreme Court seats on the line and American's role in the world hanging precariously, I must in good conscience vote Gore.

But to show you that I have researched my issues, now I will tell you why I will NOT vote Bush:

For the aging and infirm in America, who cannot front the $6,000 in prescriptions in order to qualify for Bush's tax break. I will not vote for a man who stated "THEY think that Social Security is a Federally sponsored program." It is a federally sponsored program, you ass.

Even though I was privately schooled, I believe that we should all contribute to more funding for public schools. Not give vouchers so that everyone can go to private schools. That makes no sense. So we will no longer publicly educate children? So people living on salaries under 18,000 and can't make up the other half to pay tuition, so their kids simply don't go to schools, or go and get no textbooks or art supplies, and we further the chasm known as class division or "the digital divide???" Brilliant.

I am voting Gore to maintain America's status in NATO and to maintain the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Do you realize that there is no such thing as a "missile defense program?" Does George Bush? Bombs like the one that destroyed Hiroshima are archaic. Today's advanced missiles, bombs and chemical warfare are 10 times or more the strength of the bomb we dropped more than 50 years ago. There's no such thing as first strike and second strike - Reagan was delusional - are you hearing me on this???? Once that missile is deployed, even a defense missile cannot stop the mass destruction that will occur. One missile can potentially destroy the earth. I'm talking big bang here, people, all over again. I'm voting for peacekeeping, not to bulk up a pseudo-Cold War defense program that will estrange us from our key allies.

I'm voting for a tax break for me, a middle-class jo-ann, and not the rich 1% of America. So I can save a buck. Not so the rich can get richer. Fuck Betsey Bloomingdale.

I am voting for the promotion of fuel-efficient cars and to prevent drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

I am voting to maintain my right to choose what I believe is right for my body. I am voting to prevent the deaths of young girls who have been violated by boyfriends or family and have gotten into trouble. I am voting to save them from back alley operations where they will become infected and bleed to death because they were young or helpless or foolish and had no one to turn to. I am voting to preserve the fair balance in the Supreme Court, which is in jeopardy for the first time since the 1930's.

I am voting for children to be safe from shootings at school. So that I no longer stare sadly, riveted to live television as children who remind me of myself a few years ago, kids who should be sneaking beers and kisses - are sneaking guns and bombs and ending the lives of fellow classmates. I don't want to worry about these kids who should be learning about Normandy in WWII, but instead, are running from the frontlines of a battle just as dangerous.

I am voting for Gore, because I believe, it is the right thing to do. I hope you do too.

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