Two rich boys?

Over the summer, I listened to politics on the radio on my way to work. As the summer progressed, I understood that Bush and Kerry were candidates with the same policies, for the most part. I have paid most attention to politics as understood by the radical left of Eastern Mennonite University. As a result, I know that Bush is bad. In fact, those leftist voices tell me that I should have something akin to hate for Bush. If I strongly dislike Bush, and Bush and Kerry appear to be the same candidate, I must dislike Kerry.

This left me with a problem: who to vote for. Having once again caught the call of the radical left of EMU I decided that I should write in some guy called Dennis Kuzinezich (however you spell his name). Then I watched the debate. It was here that I was set straight. John Kerry and George W. Bush are not even remotely the same person.

Bush went in and invaded Iraq with the support of a large international coalition including formidable nations such as Poland. As all of us who have been glued to our idiot boxes know, Bush attacked Iraq because Saddam Hussein was a terrorist planning a nuclear strike against all major cities in the continental U.S. Bush is making us Americans safer by killing those terrorists. I don't, as a Mennonite, believe in redemptive violence. I think that violence perpetuates violence. Everyone knows that Bush is a war-time president, and he will hunt down terrorists and kill them no matter the costs. But Kerry is different. Kerry even went as far as to say in the debate, "I will hunt down and kill the terrorists, wherever they are." I was stunned by this extreme divergence away from Bush's policy.

Bush has often been accused of using the politics of fear. With these fearful politics, one would be able to control the mindless masses to do one's bidding. I was overjoyed to find that with Kerry we no longer would have to be afraid. With Kerry as president he will never cut down on the cops program, as Bush did, and he will never leave the firehouses short on funding, as Bush also did. He will increase funding to provide national security to the extent that he will require entire airplanes, or at least their cargo holds, to be X-rayed so that we can be as safe as absolutely possible. With Bush we were encouraged to be in constant fear of being attacked, but with Kerry the nation will be so afraid that we individuals will not have to be.

In all seriousness though, I think we should be discussing what really matters. During the first presidential debate we got a look at two rich boys who went to Yale. Who do you want as your president: the one with the blue tie or the red?