Why I Voted The Way I Voted

After reading this week’s blog posts, it's obvious that everyone still has the election results in their minds. It seems I’ve barely commented on this issue, which is tragic, to say the least. I figure I’ll give my two cents.

I can’t deny that I’ve swung farther to the right in the previous year. While I certainly wouldn’t classify myself as “right-wing”, per se, my views have certainly moved towards the center, and I have adjusted my priorities considerably. Today, I would tell you that there are more necessary evils in the world than are often perceived. What moves the world is a combination of innumerable actions and reactions, and I’m afraid I’ve adopted an almost nihilist perspective of goodwill and social heroism. The battle against suffering will always be a losing battle, and I’ve no choice but to put my own interests paramount to those of others. Besides, I’m a realist; I can’t expect they would do the same for me.

That being said, it seems almost hypocritical of me to have lent my endorsement to Barack Obama. Although he represents everything I have become disillusioned with, I couldn’t help but cast my vote for him. Why, you ask? My response is admittedly abstract and convoluted: my vote was in the direction of social movement, and I voted to usher in the next phase in societal development.

It logically follows that, after a wildly unpopular term of leadership, society should plot a new course, perhaps into the unknown, if only to show their dissatisfaction with the current path. And despite my attempts at nonpartisanship, I still find many aspects of the Bush presidency indefensible. The sheer number of scandals, the undisputed unilateralism, the anti-intellectualism, all of it combines to form a torrent of ill-informed policy decisions. It’s fun to watch this from the sidelines, but not when you are a direct subject of such failed designs. I try to see both sides of the issue, really I do, but so much of the past eight years of leadership seems, to put it bluntly, dim-witted, that it cannot go unpunished.

Let me be the first to say, I have always admired John McCain. People like him deserve the presidency, and it’s a shame that the tidal wave of disapproval had to hit him. But this could only rightly be an opportunity to teach the Republican Party the limits to power in a democratic state. It could only have been won by the opposition; otherwise, multi-party elections are all but meaningless. This election was the chance for those who would switch party affiliations if need be to follow through on their word.

I didn’t vote for Obama because he’s a political prophet. I don’t even have great expectations for his presidency; he, like John Kennedy, will have a beloved, inspirational, yet ultimately ineffective presidency (though I wholeheartedly support Joe Biden, my original choice for president). I voted for him because it is the logical next step for society, that an unpopular, arrogant ruling class should be rightly reprimanded by their constituents. The Republican Party needs to regain its humility; its backing of Sarah Palin as Vice Presidential nominee shows it hasn’t lost its drive against intellectualism. In the end, I backed Barack Obama, not because I see the country improving drastically under his leadership, but because it’s the natural next step in history.