Terryville, Connecticut, U.S.A. — Voting in the upcoming 2004 presidential election will probably be the most important political decision that people will have to make since, well, the last presidential election.
But a lot more is at stake here this time around. The direction that the United States will take in the next four years will, now more than ever, be inherently dependent on who sits at its head.
Two major candidates, with two very different opinions on how to run the country, are vying for the highest position in the land in one of the most heated election campaigns since, well, the last presidential election.
Republican candidate George W. Bush has given plenty of powerful speeches to crowds cheering, “Four more years!”
If elected, he has promised to keep his aggressive stance against terrorism.
With two countries blasted back to the Stone Age (where for the most part they were to begin with), there is little doubt that he will keep that promise if nothing else.
It would be easy to simply label him as a dim-witted, incompetent liar who has taken the country down the tubes, and then call it a day. However, even without such cynicism, the decisions he’s made while in office, especially on foreign policy, raise a lot of issues.
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, still hasn’t been captured. The weapons of mass destruction, which were supposedly in Iraq, were not only never found but now seem to have never existed in the first place.
So many things have been blownup in Iraq in the last few months that it can hardly even be called news anymore.
And then there’s the Republican Party’s refusal to admit that any of it was in any way a mistake.
With such horrible errors already made, surely a regime change would be in order. Surely John Kerry would make a much better president, make much better decisions, and make the world a better place. Surely.
The question is, how exactly is John Kerry planning to do this? What is John Kerry’s miracle solution for the problems that plague America?
He has berated President Bush’s policies and practices many times, saying that he will do things differently, more effectively, and more efficiently.
But the question still stands: how is he going to do this? How can he hunt down and kill terrorists without a war and without putting American soldiers in harm’s way?
How is he going to get more allies involved in the war on terror when The Wall Street Journal reported that France and Germany aren’t likely to send troops even if Kerry is elected? How is he going to fund the many government departments that need funding when, as he as pointed out on many occasions, the economy is still a wreck?
A vote for John Kerry is a vote for a safer America, a stronger economy, and a better life for us all.
Now if only the Democrats could prove any of that, they’d be all set.
Stefan Koski is a Reporter for Youth Journalism International.
