At the store today, I heard a gentleman ask the person waiting on him if he was going to “vote for the president”. The man at the cash register said, “Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t plan to vote for either of them.” The customer’s face showed momentary surprise, and then he said, “I know what you mean. I don’t feel like voting for them either.”

I have been flabbergasted to hear people that I know well and have assumed were registered voters admit to me that they “really aren’t,” and the main reason is they fear that if they register, they will have to serve on jury duty! I’ve been a registered voter since I turned 18. (In the Virgin Islands, we were not allowed to vote in presidential elections. So, why, you may ask, do they have representatives at the presidential conventions?) The fourteen years we lived in the islands was my only hiatus, and re-registering was one of the first things I did upon my return to the mainland. In the 21 years that I have been registered, in California and now North Carolina, I have never been called to jury duty. My brother used that excuse when he admitted he never votes, but said he plans to register next week since so much is at stake this year. In NC jurors are pulled from driver’s license lists. It is possible that he has just been lucky not to be called.

This is the first election that I have worked the polls, and gotten involved in the local party of my choice. It is the first election that I have donated money to that party, its candidate, and an Internet support group. I honestly believe that this year’s election is the most important election we have ever faced, and we need to register and to vote.

As Americans, we are a proud people. We have a two-hundred-year history as a strong and independent country, a leader of the free world, a country which takes the moral high ground—at least as far as we knew. Time and investigative reporting have offered a more in-depth look at what we were not told in our history books—from our secret overthrow of foreign governments to presidential dalliances such as JFK’s many affairs. The no-holds-barred investigative reporting of Watergate and Nixon’s culpability and downfall has evolved to the unmitigated prime-time coverage of the smear campaign.

When recent laws were formulated to hold candidates and parties responsible for their message (“This message was approved by…”) it was as a result of campaigns being so negative that war heroes such as McCain and Cleland were erroneously (but purposefully) portrayed as philanders and terrorists. If there was nothing bad to find in digging for dirt about a candidate—just make it up! Tell everyone that McCain’s adopted daughter is his “black love-child.” Show a photo of Max Cleland alongside Osama Bin Laden! Huzzah, Huzzah—the public is so stupid, we can get away with it.

But instead of ending that type of voter manipulation, our national media has run stories of the smear campaigns ad nauseam. Discussing these tactics takes the spotlight off more important issues—such as the war, economy, and jobs. Dirt is what sells. Television has paved the way for “anything goes” in its “survivor” atmosphere, and we, the people, are the ones who are losing.

I’ve found the Internet offers a more real view of the world—what is happening and how the rest of the world feels about it. On the Internet, I found out about bill HR163, currently in the armed services committee, that will require national service for all our children, female and male, age 18-26. I went to the government web site and read the bill which allows for no exceptions except mental or physical incapacity or proof of “extreme hardship.” The pregnant mothers and single moms who were in the national guard had to go when called—being a parent is not considered an extreme hardship. The attitude seems to be, find someone to care for the kid—you’re ours. If your child is in college, s/he can finish the semester, period, unless s/he is a senior, and then s/he can finish that year. And our government has worked out a deal with Canada to prevent any draft dodgers from heading north to escape induction. If we don’t need all of our children to fight his war, the president can assign the surplus to homeland security. If we have a real abundance of children of mandatory draft age, he can have some do community service for two years. The president can extend the two year duty term if he wishes. (Or, as he did with the reservists, just call them back no matter how old they are.)

My husband and I raised our daughter to respect life. We do not kill, nor have we exposed her to guns. We marched against the war before the invasion and were against the previous Gulf War, although not as vocal about it. We do not feel the president had the right to stage a preemptive attack against Iraq, and that congress did not have the right to give him that power by default. We taught Lyric about God’s love, and joined Unity because it focuses on that and acceptance, not sin and damnation. We relate to the Quaker attitude of peace and believe in non-violence. The administration has said it will be a long war. Are we to send our children to die for the sake of oil? I think not. This is one of the main reasons I encourage people to register & to vote for a change.

Of course, the administration says the war in Iraq is not for oil—it’s for democracy in the Middle East and will make the countries surrounding Iraq want the same. However, Linda McQuaig reported in the Toronto Star on 9/20/04 that Judicial Watch has just won the release of documents from Vice-President Cheney’s meetings with oil executives in the spring of 2001. The documents include maps which showed the “Exploration Blocks” of the Iraqi natural assets and the “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfields”—primarily France and Russia—and their plans to develop the Iraqi oilfields. Had the U.N sanctions been lifted against Iraq, (as Saddam was attempting to do) the U.S oil companies would have been the big losers. In February of 2001, the National Security Council issued a directive (reported in the New Yorker magazine) that the task force was considering “melding” “operational policies towards rogue states” and “actions regarding the capture of new and existing oil and gas fields”. All of these events were happening during the first few months of the administration taking office, months before 9/11. Dick Cheney was also the prime player in calling for the war, and continues to try to link Iraq to the terrorist attack, even though the president and the 9/11 Commission have stated there is no connection. In 1999, while head of Halliburton, Cheney said we would need 50 million extra barrels of oil per day in America by 2010 and that “the Middle East with two-thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies.” The five-page article is worth reading, and is adapted from her book It’s the Crude, Dude: War Big Oil, And The Fight For The Planet (Doubleday Canada, 2004).

As a postscript, I'd like to mention that Dennis Kucinich introduced House bill HR2459 to establish a Peace Department with a cabinet member who would advise the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State on “all matters relating to national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention of, amelioration of, and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict.” It would also cover areas of domestic policy such as school violence, civil rights, and labor laws. It would offer trained negotiators to help with peaceful conflict resolution.

I found this in an article written by Walter Cronkite for King Features Syndicate (8/12/04) on the Internet, and Linda McQuaig’s was a gift of the Internet as well. It is a great source for information and I hope these articles will convince you to make your voice heard—so register and get out and vote! 

~ Gabrielle M. Thompson, 2004
© 2004 Gabrielle M. Thompson

Gabrielle Thompson lives with her husband Ed and daughter Lyric in the mountains of western North Carolina at Eco-Cove, a 117-acre wildlife sanctuary and trout farm. She has a degree in Anthropology and is Coordinator of Library Services at McDowell Technical Community College. Previously she helped Ed build, sail, and charter the 75’ schooner, SATORI for 14 years in the Virgin Islands. She is a freelance writer and has written two unpublished novels. In December 2002, she had an article published in Moments of Grace Magazine, with an introduction by Neale Donald Walsch.