The John McCain Campaign Show - Cartoons and Commentary

All cartoons by Robert M Blevins

Created with the assistance of the free program at Toondoo

It's true that Americans are sometimes slow to react to the times. In both world wars, we were latecomers but when we did enter, we acted decisively. Today, America is in real trouble with problems that have gone unaddressed for too long.

The legacy of the Bush administration is going to be felt for a long time, and America is now gauging the measure of two men who promise to lead us out of the nightmare of the last eight years. It is a daunting task, and there are questions about both these men. One promises change, the other a continuation of what has gone before with a few reservations. One offers a positive message, the other a message largely based on fear.

America has reached a crossroads, and in less than a hundred days we will have to come together as a nation and decide who will lead us into the 21st century and away from the damage caused by the Bush administration. It will not be an easy task for whomever gets the job at 1600 Pennsylvania.

Voters are beyond tired this year. They are beyond numb. People are suffering under some staggering burdens, and John McCain's blind adherence to his own version of Bush Policy is a tough sell. Over a million homes are now in foreclosure. Our young men - volunteers all - are coming home in body bags as human sacrifices to a war based on lies. We are losing the battle for labor rights and the global market, sold out by corporations who not only outsource American jobs, but make obscene profits into the bargain. Meanwhile, hard-working American families are forced to make choices on how much health care they can afford, how much food they can buy, and how much they can spend on fuel this month.

In our battle against terrorism, we set aside our own values as a nation and established a torture center in a country we once pointed to as a bastion of evil. Now we operate our own version of a Castro political prison there. We allowed our government to spy on its own citizens.

Our founding fathers would never have tolerated these things, and neither should we today. When you give up freedoms for the sake of security, you gain neither freedom nor security. Ben Franklin said that, and it's just as true today as it was two hundred years ago.

As Americans, we've always viewed this country with a justifiable pride and we enjoy pointing it out to others as the beacon of freedom around the world. But today that vision is skewed. There is something not quite right about the whole thing. There is a dark shadow cast across the American Dream, brought upon us by leadership that put their own selfish agendas above the good of the people. Now, we are all paying the price.

If you doubt this, look to the people who lost everything in the Enron collapse. Those folks were victims of Bush's energy policy that allowed the infamous 'Enron Clause' to be included in the policy. It allowed the buying of energy futures on margin - something that was banned long ago because we discovered that buying stocks on credit was a bad idea. It caused the Great Depression. Imagine for a moment what would have happened if this policy had been extended to all stock market transactions. We would have soup lines again.

Look to the thousands of families who lost everything after Hurricane Katrina, and then received little help from the Federal government.

Remember the smaller disasters that our government was unable to address effectively because they used too many of our existing resources fighting a war in Iraq. Even if they had wanted to solve America's real problems, they could not. They pushed the country into high deficits and could no longer finance anything but their own selfish agendas and interests, many of these things either illegal or outside the scope of our Constitution.

In less than a hundred days, you will be asked to decide which philosophy this government should follow for the next four years. Unlike some previous elections, you may be choosing a future not only for yourself and your children, but your children's children as well.

Whatever you decide, make an effort to look beyond the rhetoric and do what's best for America.

If you make your decision based on that, then you have shown yourself to be a real citizen.

This writer supports Barack Obama for our next President of the United States.

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