I have been thinking about the events of past 4 years, and the events before that leading back to the times when I was hardly ever political or interested in politics.
I do not know about the rest of you, but my knowledge of politics , when I was little, came from watching my dad ranting and raving about DAs (Dearness Allowances: those tidbits of rupees that the central government throws at the predominantly middle class workforce to adjust for inflation and price increase) or lack thereof in the latest budget announcements. Those extra Rs.200 he would receive after taxes, would I guess have helped cover the charges for the cycle repair he incurred that month, or that extra chit fund my mom or he had joined. Indira Gandhi may have called for emergency rule; there may have been multiple parliamentary elections conducted since the current government was toppled in a no-confidence motion ; we may have had the embarrassment of enduring 2 prime-ministers- one the regular, and the other his so-called deputy; MLAs literally hitting it out in the assembly afterJayalalitha first came to power (I remember seeing an MLA ranting against the DMK on TV while his bleeding forehead was reddening his starched white shirt and his dhoti was tattered to reveal his striped underwear. Ah the good days!).
Never did I stop to think then what else was going on outside. While the Indian foreign policy was restricted to regional diplomacy, guess there was a lot of turf wars being fought by the cold war adversaries right in our backyards that I was not very aware of then. For the first time in my entire puny life, I am actually worried about this upcoming election here. I feel so powerless and emasculated when I see the events unfold one after the other. I have been talking with the good citizens of this country when and where I can and am in a position to find out about their views of this election. There have been the ultra-liberals (this IS Upstate NY), the coveted undecideds, the ultra-republican crowd. There have also been the unconcerneds", who reminded so much of my parents. This last group are of the category who have this attitude of "Who the hell cares ? Its one crook versus the other anyway."This particular group is the one that I see mobilizing their opinions. Every single one of them hates the incumbent. And mostly because of his Forrest-Gump-like attitude toward everything. They are tired of the jokes, the barbs, his "misspoken blurbs", his compassionate conservatism speeches. I just don't know how big the group is unfortunately. (If a person needs his deputy to hold his hand during an important deposition in front of prominent statesman, it would be a joke to see the debate where one has to improvise. I see the debate as the turning point in this election. The one with the deputies in particular. The one in 2000 was a joke don't you think?).
I am thinking of writing to the challenger to encourage him to stand out as a sincere person who makes more mature mistakes, not the juvenile ones. I don't know what tone to strike, what else to write. All I know is the following: There are republican voters who hate the incumbent because of the above-said information. But they don't trust the challenger because he is just a democrat and people are proud of just being republicans. There are democrats who obviously will vote their choice. But the undecideds might swing the incumbent's way if they don't see a difference. A case of the proverbial known devil. Sen. Kerry is just not swinging the votes his way, and it pains me that I cannot put my words onto paper to throw my opinions in as a third party observer. I think this does concern me in some way somewhere. I know this is important, but I am struggling to make sense when I write.
Do you guys understand what I am trying to write here? Does anyone agree with what I say or not agree? Do you think I should not be overly concerned? Are we not in a closer-knit world now that 15-20 years ago ? Last of it, do you agree this election will define OUR lives, the lives of the floating idlies?