it's finally here. election year 2008

i thought i would catalog the evolution of my thinking and position where politics are concerned.

here's my account:

this is a snap shot of where i was over ten years ago...
between the ages of 19 and 23 i did the following:

• wore black the day bill clinton was inaugurated.
• listened to rush limbaugh everyday (for pleasure. without barfing- not the whole five years but many of the five).
• ask for a subscription to the national review for christmas when i was twenty.
  
• i actually remember having a conversation with my mom (a staunch democrat) where i defended cutting all social program funding b/c of the 'survival of the fittest'. i want to puke now and crawl up into a little little ball.

what happened:

between the ages of 22 and 27:

• i actually met and lived amongst people in abject poverty.
• i saw the aftermath of communism.
• i had lots of close interaction with black people and started to learn more about racism and power.
• i met more people who were poor, whose grew up poor, and whose dad grew up poor and started to learn what are factors involved in 'a cycle of poverty'.
• i went to a church that talked about the poor and how close they are to the heart of God.
• and i lived in new york city.

my thoughts on this election:
none of the republicans interest me at all (with the remote exception of john mccain... sometimes). i have o.d.-ed on republicans. some of them scare me- but i will keep it positive.

the primaries for the the democratic party are more invigorating. call me a lemming- but i think it is completely legitimate to want to be inspired by a political candidate. i don't mean to place undue hope in politics as the solution to our world's problems. however, the reality is that politics and economics seem to be a large cause of much of both the desperate and hopeful situations in our world. probably b/c they are the avenue that power is ethier used or abused to change course and really impact history.

with that has my precursor- i will say the following:

i'm an obamaite.

when i think about the future of politics, the tone and pitch- i cringe. i think our country needs someone to lead us to a new path. the stuff we've tried had not only not worked- but in many cases failed miserably. on so many fronts- i am discouraged by what i see in our country and the wrong policies that get passed and the right policies that fail.

but when i hear obama's policies and approach to the things that matter to me (and i believe will influence our country and world for the better)- i am hopeful- infact i get excited for the future. i know that obama doesn't have the experience of some of his competitors. but clearly- experience is not a guarantor of a good president.

i had hopes that bill richardson and joe biden would get some momentum. i know they are candidates with very little real stake in the election and won't win the nomination- but i really like them both and would contend that both have more of the experience i am looking for (on foreign policy in particular) than any other candidates in either party.

* this ends my talk about politics for the year. i anticipate political talk will stir in blogdom and i hope to hold my tongue (as an act of discipline for myself- not b/c those types of dialog/monologue are inherently bad).

* i read a book this summer called tempting faith which was very good. it motivated me 'do' politics differently this season. we'll see if it sticks.