Restive State

A missive on choice.

So it's Election Day. The day of reckoning and choice for the American people. But does it really matter? Is the choice of one guy over the other a futile desperate attempt at choice? What really is the difference between Kerry and Bush? Here at Restive State I say not much.

While I admit to being a member of the A.B.B. club, it doesn't make me feel empowered or like I am really choosing. Jerry Garcia once said, "Choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil." Is that what the grand ideal of democracy has been reduced to, or has it just fully manifested its true roots? 200 years ago it was a battle between 2 rich white men for the presidency. And in that time it has not changed one bit. Sure the methods may be different, but it is still the same.

Now before everyone calls me cynical let me mention that I'm pointing out the obvious. We have not had a real choice in America. Ever. 2 years ago no one knew the senator from Massachusetts, much less thought he would be the challenger to the throne. He was manufactured, groomed, and created for us. Bland, centrist, no skeletons, a war hero with a long record of public service, who went to Yale (and along GW, was in Skull &Bones...just tidbit for all the conspiracy buffs), and is partially heir to the Heinz fortune. Yes, he sure is the common guy, average Joe 6-pack and I am sure he represents the interests of the average American, because he's "just like us." But he's not. Not anymore than George W. Bush is. And that is really why neither represents a real choice. It's the same entree, just prepared differently, which it can be argued is a choice. But chicken, no matter how it's cooked is still chicken.

Restive State will be covering the election as best as I can, between work and school there is that possbility. Maybe though, something will change, and then again, it might not. Time will tell. But at least I'm doing my part and voting. And though it makes me feel wrong, kind of like a sellout, I'm going to cast my vote for Kerry and the hope that things might change.

The revoltution starts tommorrow, and it will be televised...