Experience

I am confronted with the battle over experience all of the time.

How could a junior senator like Barack Obama really know enough about the government to be able to be president?

People have come to equate the amount of time that a politician has been in office with his or her ability to lead. In essence, we find experience to be preferential to education or intelligence. When a senator has served for many years, he takes on a certain tenure. Politics becomes a thing very much reminiscent of a John Grisham novel. I am completely convinced that all sorts of deals and secret arrangements occur on Capitol Hill all of the time. Politics has evolved to a skull and crossbones good ol' boys club.

And why not? Being a senator is highly profitable. You can earn money and pension by working hard in a factory for years on end, but the easier route is to become a senator.

Senators are paid $162,100 per year and are eligible for lifetime retirement after as little as 5 years in office. Health benefits are available immediately and are life-long. The average senator spends his time attending parties and benefits and fund raisers. A small amount of time is dedicated to actually participating in the senate. Senators eventually become professional politicians, their lifestyle above and beyond what most people encounter. How many Americans travel by "driver" and have an assistant to take notes and run errands at every whim?

People who have been in government for a while have become completely out of touch with their constituencies. The interest, instead of the welfare of their electorate, becomes how to make the most money while still getting reelected. Politicians forget the times when they had to work forty hours a week.

While the average American makes $26,036 a year, politicians make over SIX TIMES that much! When was the last time that people making $26k and $162k had a lot on common? In my opinion, the longer a politician works in Washington, the more out of touch he becomes.

Hillary Clinton didn't know what Red Bull was.

John McCain doesn't know how to use a computer.

How then, can these people claim to know or even relate to the problems of the middle class? I think that the answer may be to elect people who, until recently, were not so different from us.

I like the candidate who only recently paid off his school loans, not one who has untold millions.

I find that people who have actually lived in the middle class actually know what's best for it, not people who can "imagine" struggling. It is not enough to envision the plight of Americans, we must elect someone who has been there. I don't need experience. I don't need someone who hasn't stepped foot in a McDonald's in 30 years. I don't need a candidate who can't even figure out Hotmail. I don't need a candidate who continually hits his senile head on car doors.

Vote with your brain, not your eyes.

I should preface this by pointing out that the county in which I live, Indian River County, is predominantly elderly and, consequently, largely republican. For every democrat, there are 1.6 republicans. I was at a local business the other day, and the man behind the counter lamented that it was getting harder and harder to collect money for outstanding invoices. I sympathized with him, citing that most of us are in tough economic times. I said I wouldn't get into the politics of the economy because I know that I am in the minority in my county.

His response?

"I'll tell you one thing, that old boy gets into office, some old country boy gonna take care of him."

Let's break that down. What he meant was:

"If Barack Obama is elected, he will be assassinated."

As harmless as this may sound to some, I have a big problem with it.

Every time I hear someone say that, it sounds to me like people are trying to dissuade me from voting for him. In other words, "why would you vote for him, someone's just going to assassinate him anyway." It's essentially an acceptance of our collective racism. To me it implies a conspiratorial vibe. As in "some old country boy, like me, will 'take care' of him."

People who did not, in some way, share that racial motivation would refer to it as assassination, not "taking care of him."

Maybe I'm reading into it too much, but it's usually accompanied with a knowing look, as if to say, "you're with me, right?"

I just don't understand why we, as a nation, can't come together and forget that the best qualified candidate is a black man. The economy does not rise or fall according to the color of the president's skin. Our global success won't depend on how light or dark our president's skin is.

To be accurate, I'm not imagining racism, some Americans openly admit that they will never vote for a black man. To these people I say, DON'T BREED.

To vote for someone because he is the white candidate is ludicrous. The white candidate doesn't have any good plans for our nation. He's an old, senile, angry man, and has no business making decisions for Americans.