One more week...one more week...

One more week, and - barring any legal actions, recounts, or general shenanigans - we'll have a brand-spankin' new President. Along with this we'll hopefully start pulling out of the nosedive that we've been in for the past eight years. Things need to turn around for the US to be taken seriously as a world power again. Our financial state has left us nearly in a depression while our ineptitude in Iraq and, quite frankly, in all areas of foreign policy have turned us into a nation of fools in the world view.

To put it in football terms, the US has become the Detroit Lions. Everyone knows we're better than this, but somehow - usually late in the fourth quarter - we manage to fuck it up.

As a country, we're better than this. We're capable of earning a little of the world's respect back by putting into place an intelligent President who is capable of reasoning and listening with an open mind not only here at home but - most importantly - on the world stage. For these reasons, I cannot and will not vote McCain/Palin.

McCain is not the same man he was eight years ago. Gone is any sense of being a "maverick", replaced instead by a need to tow the Republican party line. How else do you explain his pride at "voting with George Bush's policies 90% of the time, more than anyone in my own party"? That's not being a "maverick", John -- that means that you were dumb enough to vote for failed policies even when your own party realized it was wrong. McCain's comments have shown just how out of touch with the public he really is: "I don't remember how many houses I own" and "...the middle class makes around $5 million...". For the past eight years, we've had government that has been out of touch; ignorant of the plight of the middle class - why should we continue the trend? I won't attack his age; to do so is rather juvenile - however, it is a concern. Should he be elected, he may not live long enough to serve out his term. This means that his VP, Sarah Palin, would take over.

This, in and of itself, is a freakishly frightening thought. To add to his mistakes, McCain didn't fully vet Palin. As such, he had no real idea what she was like; what skeletons she had in her closet. For example, Palin's husband, Todd, was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party until 2002. Palin herself spoke at their 2008 conference. Doesn't seem terrible until you know what the AIP is. The party's founder, Joe Vogler, advocated a bloody and violent secession of Alaska from the US. Again, Palin is married to a secessionist and has ties to this party - doesn't that call into question her loyalties? Should Alaska attempt to secede from the US, on which side would she stand?

Palin is incredibly pro-life; believing that abortion should be outlawed even - and I repeat - even in cases of rape and incest. She has said on numerous occasions that, should she be elected, she would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade. Additionally, she ravenously supports abstinence-only education, despite having a pregnant seventeen year old daughter. What I'm getting at is this: while I fully support having a woman as a vice president or even as a president, I cannot support someone who seeks to set women's rights back decades. Finally, time and time again she's proven herself to be a complete and utter idiot. Don't believe me? Check YouTube for some of her interviews and public speeches (specifically the Katie Couric interview, or any one of her VP speeches). She knows nothing of how the Constitution works, stating publicly that she believes the VP runs the Senate and inciting fear amongst her supporters by stating Obama would re-write the Constitution. If I remember my high-school civics class, the VP is only in the Senate to vote in case of a tie, and a 3/4 majority is needed in the House and Senate as well as a majority of the states in order to amend the Constitution. If you already knew this, congratulations. You're smarter than the potential Vice President.

There's been mud-slinging from both sides in this election, but the vitriol spewing forth from the McCain campaign seems particularly venomous. The words "commie", "Muslim", and "socialist" have been spat from both McCain and Palin with near McCarthy-esque ferocity. Ironically, McCain stated that he wanted a "clean" campaign - how is this clean? Smearing the other guy with slanderous words?

And now, rumours are rapidly emerging that McCain and Palin are trying to throw each other under the bus. Palin doing it to set herself up for a 2012 presidential run; McCain doing it to salvage any shred of a political career. By not fully vetting Palin, he botched his first presidential decision. Palin continued nailing the coffin shut by showing she was fully unqualified to handle not only the VP position, but would be a disaster should she have to take over as President.

I'm not telling you who to vote for. The only thing I ask of you, and the American public as a whole is to think about who they're voting for. Take some time before you head out; look at each candidate and their platforms. Get all the information you can, and vote your conscience. I've been a rabid politico this election, and I firmly know where my vote is going. I have faith that we'll make the right decision this time 'round. Remember, even though this is a US election the world is watching. What we decide on November 4th affects not only us, but the world as well.