Eight Stinking Years

This may be old news, but unless you have lived in a cave for the past two years, you know that Senator Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States. Personally, I'm prettty happy about that. I wanted President-Elect Obama to win the election. I also glad that President George W. Bush's term is almost over. As President Bush once said during a speech(and let me tell you, he ACTUALLY said this; I'm not kidding), "You had a burrito for lunch, right?" Now this is the man who was elected president TWICE, and in eight years after lying to our country nobody said, "Hmmm, something's wrong here. Maybe we should do something about it."

We all remember the 2000 Presidential Election. WHAT A MESS! It was the closest Presidential Election in American history. Al Gore was the Democratic nominee, and good ol' George W. Bush (sarcasam!) was the Republican nominee. Now let me tell you, this election was one that you probably will never see again in your lifetime. Some TV networks said that Al Gore had won the election and others said George Bush had won. They had to actually do a recount! If the electoral vote range is between 100 votes or less between the two candidates, there must be an automatic recount. Obviously, this was Gore's and Bush's case in that election. As Al Gore said in his presentation of An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning, "Hello, I am Al Gore and I was the president of the United States."

In conclusion, when you see President-Elect Obama be inaugurated, just remember how great these past eight years have been... NOT!

One Measly Vote

You know, I've been thinking about voting in the United States (voting for the President, governors, etc.), and you probably know we live in a democracy. If you do not know what a democracy is, a democracy is when the people make decisions through the leaders they choose. In the U.S., these include the president and members of Congress. When you have a democracy in a country, EVERYONE in the country is supposed to vote. Then again, there are those people that think one vote doesn't make a difference.

Well, THEY'RE WRONG.

In the movie Swing Vote, the character Ernest "Bud" Johnson forgets to vote for the next president on election day. His daughter, Molly, is so upset that she votes for him. Now here's the twist: the voting machine malfunctioned, and the vote was not counted, and the votes for each candidate are equal. Carried away with all the attention for the news media, Bud ignores the real issue: he must pick a president.

The concept of the movie shows that just one vote can decide who becomes the next president or member of Congress. It also shows that people take this right to vote for granted.

Totalitarian countries (dictatorships) give people little freedom and right to choose. For example, Germany under Adolf Hitler and Iraq under Saddam Hussein were totalitarian countries. Traditional monarchies, a country ruled by a king or queen, are usually hereditary, so people can't vote.

So people, do America a favor: VOTE!