Sarah Palin, I'm Sorry, But...

This hurts, but I guess I owe Sarah Palin an apology. Here's the story.

When she announced that she was leaving her position as governor of Alaska, I was convinced I knew why. I really thought it was because she was going to be on "Dancing with the Stars." It's the only thing that made sense to me. I figured she would use that popular television show to build up a fan base before the next election. I was so sure of this, that I even made a bet with my wife. The loser would have to take the other one out to dinner at this expensive restaurant that we both like.

Well, I lost the bet. Sarah Palin didn't stoop as low as I thought she would, and so for that, I apologize to her.

Now I am not one of these people that just jumps on the popular bandwagon. There is only one person that has made me dislike Sarah Palin and that one person is Sarah Palin. I watched with an open mind the vice-president debate, and what I saw made my jaw drop.

Here was a woman that was running for the second most important position in our country and she approached it with memorized answers and forced, down-home phrases that I'm sure were meant to be charming, but came across sleazy and uninformed. I felt like I was watching a woman who was running for student council and I found that very disturbing.

After the debate, it then appeared that she just wanted the spotlight. She reminded me (and still does) of a reality TV show contestant, which is why I figured her new strategy was "Dancing with the Stars."

So, Sarah Palin, I'm sorry that I thought your motives where below what they actually were. However, I will still never vote for you.

I am a firm believer in the phrase "never say never," but in the case of Sarah Palin, I have made an exception.

Why I Voted for Gerald Ford

Although my views tend to slant towards the liberal side, I have never considered myself a Democrat or a Republican. I tend to vote for the person and not the party and have been both pleased and disappointed in the political choices I've made over the years.

In 1976 (my first election) I voted for the non-popular choice for president - Republican Gerald Ford and have been ridiculed for that decision ever since. However, I still stand by my choice.

At the time, I was probably more of a Democrat than anything else. Eight years eariler, my sixth grade class held a mock election between the presidential candidates (Nixon and Humphrey) and I gave an emotional speech on why Hubert Humphrey was the better choice. If I remember right, I believe I said something "original" and compared him to Abraham Lincoln.

When I was finally old enough to vote, the Democrats had another "Lincoln like" candidate in Jimmy Carter. I liked what Carter stood for, but felt that he was to gentle to be a world leader.

No, I liked the guy that everyone else hated - Gerald Ford. I believed then and I believe now that he was disliked not because of anything he did, but because he represented the same party that brought us Nixon and the Watergate scandal. The election had nothing to do with Gerald Ford and everything to do with Richard Nixon. The country wanted the memory of Watergate erased and in the voters eyes - Jimmy Carter was that eraser.

Gerald Ford was given two years in the White House before the public voted him out. Two years does not make a proper presidency, but what Ford did in his two years in office was something many presidents have trouble doing in four. He brought trust back to the highest office there is at a time when the country really needed it.

To me that says a lot and is the reason why I voted for him.

Vocabulary Complications

Words can sometimes take on a life of their own. And depending on which word, who is using it, and the context in which it is presented, that word can have all kinds of meanings and uses.

Thanks to politicians and the media, there are now two words that seem to only mean one thing, and when one uses those words, one should be prepared for the avalanche of name calling and arguments that will soon follow.

Those two words are "liberal" and "conservative." You can't link yourself to one of those words without someone getting bent out of shape. The reality of the situation, though, is that most people are a little bit of both.

Leave it to the government leaders and the reporters of news to have tunnel vision when it comes to two words that if approached with a little openness, could just very well lead to some form of partial unity.

Jim Crow, Uncle Tom and Me

I was one of seven white people standing in a forty-five minute line today to cast my vote for our next president.

As I looked at the faces of the black voters in line, I couldn't help but see a part of my country's history within the eyes of the people around me.

I saw Frederick Douglass, Hattie McDaniel, Herman Perry and the 849th Battalion, Dorothy Dandridge and Jackie Robinson. I saw Dred Scott, Rosa Parks, Buckwheat, Shirley Chisholm and that man with the dream.

But as I stood, a minoity in that line, I never once felt that race was the reason we were all voting. What I felt instead, was a positive energy filled with hope, courage, change, and the importance of history, both past and future.