Is anyone else getting very scared for Election Day? My nerves make themselves quite known every time I think about the upcoming presidential contest. As I looked over my Colorado absentee ballot this past week, permitting medical use of marijuana and funding a new library seemed insignificant. The list of presidential candidates this year is ten persons long - Al Gore, George Bush, Ralph Nader, along with little known candidates like the Socialist Party's David McReynolds. But when it comes down to it, we only hear about the choice between Gore and Bush.
Almost everyone these days, from newspapers across the country, to columns in Time magazine, has concluded that the choice for president in the 2000 election is a choice for the lesser evil. There are few people I know who are absolutely enthralled with one candidate or the other. Perhaps George W. Bush comes across as personable and wants us all to love each other and our government's policies, but when it comes down to it, his experience level does not approach that of Vice President Gore's. Bush supporters scare me to death (to be perfectly honest), and his plans with what to do with government money (I.e. the surplus, taxes, and Medicare) do no add up. In sum, my vote will be for Al Gore, and I feel the reasons I have support my decision well.
Gore has been in the White House for eight years. Granted, the Clinton administration had some flaws, but good things have happened in this country since Clinton and Gore took office. With things like a woman's right to choose and gun laws (or lack thereof) at stake, I know I have to stand firm on the issues I believe in and stand by, or at least vote for, the man who supports those issues. I do not believe that Gore can do harm to this country, but I cannot say the same for George W. Bush. Perhaps Gore would be somewhat passive, but I believe that when it comes down to it, he is much more capable of making the right decisions.
Here's another scary thought, in the presidential election, the popular vote does not really matter. Now, I am NOT saying, don't go out and vote, I believe everyone should, but truth be told, when it comes to the presidential election, the electoral college has the final say. The members of the college are supposed to vote in the way and for the party that they were elected to (by popular vote), but this does not always happen. In 1888, Benjamin Harrison became president, beating out Grover Cleveland, even though Cleveland had many more popular votes. Some speculate that if the same thing happened this year, Bush would win the popular vote and Gore would win the electoral vote, meaning that Gore would be president, but would have some limitations on his power. With around 200 electoral votes still up for grabs, you can bet that the candidates are doing their best now to not appeal to the American people, as much as they are trying to capture every last electoral vote they can.
With Election Day creeping up, I believe it is our duty, as educated Americans, to cast a vote for the next leader of our country. With this duty though, comes a responsibility to do what is right for you, for me, for our grandparents and for the ill. Not everyone in this country makes $100,000 a year. Not everyone has access to good medical care. Not everyone was raised to believe that guns in the wrong hands are bad. And not everyone needs to be a "nice guy."
Lindsay Reder is a junior majoring in biology-psychology. Reder is a production manager for The Tufts Daily.
