the caucus and the pakistan

The Iowa Caucus in only one week away, and the playing field seems to be wide open on both sides. The Republicans have no clear front-runner, just a bunch of old white guys trying to stay healthy and get as much press coverage as possible. On the other hand, the Democratic contenders are so close that we could see either one of their first tier candidates pull out a victory on January 3 (This includes Clinton, Obama, & Edwards). 

Now, how important are the Iowa Caucuses? Well for one thing, each party loves a winner. What this means is that people love to vote for winners. Whatever candidate is able to get the most wins in the beginning of the primaries, historically, is able to secure their party’s nomination. Therefore the little insignificant state of Iowa is pretty darn important once every four years. 

If you live in Iowa or New Hampshire right now, you are pretty much sick and tired of all the campaign commercials being shown every minute of every day. Compared to 2004, the candidates have spent 3 times more the amount of money than they did previously. Imagine if a candidate decided to not spend all that money on ads, and decided to donate it to charity, would you be more likely to vote for a candidate who did that? I sure would, and frankly that would get them noticed above and beyond anyone else who is in the running to be our next president.

Another important thing we as young people need to notice is what is going on in Pakistan right now. For those of you who haven’t heard the leader of the opposition was assassinated on Wednesday, this is important to note because our good buddy Pervez Musharaf (Dictator of Pakistan) will likely stay in power after the “democratic” elections in January. Why should we care? Well it was reported today that Al Queda claimed responsibility for this tragedy. Al Queda is known to be staging all world operations out of Pakistan, and our good buddy Osama Bin Laden is also thought to be taking refuge in Pakistan. So, let me get this straight, Al Queda just assasinted Pervez Musharaf’s biggest threat, interesting? 

How are the Iowa Caucuses and Pakistan related? Well if you haven’t already noticed the media is having field day with who claimed responsibility. Anytime, Al Queda gets in the news they are able to sway not only Pakistan’s elections but our own. Al Queda makes America feel vulnerable, and when we are vulnerable we live in fear and we then vote conservatively (2002, 2004). And look what voting conservatively did for us (Iraq, largest debt in history, Canadian $ worth more than the American $, housing market crisis, healthcare crisis, Largest expansion of presidential power, poor children without healthcare, etc.). Therefore, republicans and democrats (if they are in fear) will vote for the candidates who will give us more of the same (More $ for Homeland Security than healthcare, Wars, water boarding…etc), and not for the candidates who will legislate change. I believe we need something different in our country, and I will be damned if we are influenced to vote for more of the same. 

The Iowa caucuses and Pakistan are truely important to us as young people, so, stay informed and read between the lines. And get out there and VOTE!

Candidates for change:

Republicans: Mike Huckabee & Ron Paul

Democrats: Barack Obama & John Edwards