Dear friends,
Many of you probably figure that an endorsement from me is no big deal, because (a) I am not an important person and (b) you probably presume I had my mind made up. While I can't challenge being just an average American, I actually have not been planning on voting for the candidate I am about to endorse. However, after reflecting on the state of our nation and a strange turn of events in my personal life, I am announcing to anyone who's listening that I'll be voting for Senator Obama for president.
Your first question is probably, "Umm, why weren't you voting for Obama to begin with? You WORKED FOR HIM this summer!" Well, here's the story. Back in the summer of 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon and Congress signed a nonbinding resolution condemning Lebanon's allowance of Hezbollah and giving full support to Israel's actions. As you may recall, the part of the Lebanese government still functioning had no control whatsoever over Hezbollah's actions. It'd be something akin to blaming the Democrats in the Senate for allowing the Republicans to exist. The government hardly wanted the civil warfare and invasion that resulted from all of this, but they were powerless to control it. Meanwhile, Israel came in, dealt far more destruction than had been directed at it, and gave a completely disproportionate response. They held very little regard for minimizing civilian casualties, and killed thousands. And to this, the U.S. Congress said, "great job, keep up the good work."
A few representatives, led by Lebanese-American Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.V.), tried to instead pass a more moderate resolution, which gave support to Israel while requesting that they try to minimize civilian casualties and civic destruction. It failed. Most members of congress voted in support, with three former or current "on the fringe" presidential candidates - Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney, and Dennis Kucinich - voting against or abstaining. Every sitting senator signed the bill, including Barack Obama and John McCain.
I was so disappointed in our government that day, so appalled that we would consider that to be an appropriate reaction to a delicate international and humanitarian crisis, that I vowed never to vote for anyone who supported the resolution. While normally I hate single-issue voters, I figured that it would be worth it to share with people my concerns about this foreign policy issue - namely, an untempered support for Israel and a horrible Middle East policy in general. I also figured that, hey, I am likely to donate to campaigns and help out with them anyway, so this wouldn't totally take my voice away. In fact, being from the solid blue state of Connecticut, and having been in an Egyptian desert during the primary, I figured that voting in the presidential race was about the less effective action I could take regardless. So I still donated to Obama and worked, unpaid, for seven weeks for him. I just planned on not voting for him.
Last week I sent in my ballot, having voted - why not? - for Nader, whose positions I happen to agree with anyway, but who obviously has no chance in hell of even breaking 2% nationwide. I realized an hour after I sent in the absentee form that I had forgotten to place it in the interior envelope. My vote would not be counted.
Imagine my surprise when I got a form in the mail to request a new ballot, with a hand-written note from my town clerk explaining what happened. My town was so small that, not only did she take the time to do this, but when I called up to confirm she even remembered my name and knew that she had received it a few days ago.
That she had taken that trouble made me think about just how important my vote is, even if - realistically - it has no chance of impacting the state of the race. Indeed, the few dollars I just donated today to three democrats running for senate had a lot more impact than a vote in a sure-blue state. But at the same time, the symbolic importance of the vote is not to be taken lightly. That's why the town clerk saw my vote, for Nader of all people, and went above and beyond to make sure it was counted regardless.
My new ballot should be in the mail today or tomorrow. And I will be voting for Senator Obama.
He is not a perfect candidate. I disagree with him on many issues. But in this time in our country, the stakes are too high and responsibility on our shoulders as American citizens that we can't let our hesitations and misgivings get in the way of standing up and standing strong.
Elections are not about ideology, and they aren't about pie-in-the-sky. They are about the real choices that we have to make. Looking back on this election in ten, twenty, or fifty years, I want to be able to say that I stood with Senator Obama one hundred percent - not because I agreed with him completely, and not because my one voice on its own even made much of a difference. I want to be able to tell the next generation that I took a stand for their future, for their education, for their health care, for their rights, for their security, for their opportunities, and for the values our nation stands for. And I don't want to think for a moment that anything stood in the way of me taking that position, and voting in the best interest of this people and of this world.
