Arriviste

The word means one who is newly arrived on the scene, posed to take off, as it were. The question is, who does it pertain to in our upcoming election?

That McCain is the same old same old is undisputed. Despite his genial appearance on Ellen the other afternoon, still, he is one, like Kerry, who has a tendency to flip flop back and forth in what he says. He did stand his ground on gay marriage in California, denying Ellen the ability to actually marry her lover vs. having a civil contract with her. And did it with self-deprecating humor that even he says is reminiscent of Reagan. However, his old style politics have been around since the founding fathers.

Hilary and Barak are a bit of a different story. We say we want change, but can we, as a nation, really accept this much change? A woman president? An African-American president? 

This is a giant moment in history for America, that we have finally evolved to have an election truly reflecting the cross culture of our country, but instead of celebrating it, we grind it under the wheels of the press, tearing apart every innocuous slip someone might make until it winds through the sausage grinder of the American press corps into an unrecognizable mess.

What is truly sad to me, in this day of arrivistes, is that we cannot have this giant moment in history without the tried and true cries of racism and sexism when what ever electoral party in question doesn't get what they want. If we don't vote for Hilary, we're sexists. If we don't vote for Barak we're racists. What about if we simply don't like the people?

And if generalizing the American people as racists and sexists is not enough, well, then break it down in the demographics on the nightly news. It seems, after tonight's pablom, that the more educated in Kentucky are voting for Barak and the less educated are voting for Hilary. Oh puhleeease!! Suddenly now voting for Barak is the way of the enlightened!

I recently wrote to a friend that were it not for the fact that my grandmother campaigned for the women's right to vote, and was the first woman to vote in Leslie County, and had to walk from Trace Branch to Hyden on a dirt road to do so, I wouldn't even bother.

I'm not interested in any of the candidates. Not one of them has pledged any sort of interest in researching new power alternatives, although McCain came the closest on Ellen the other afternoon when he said we had to cut our dependence on foreign oil and stop sending billions of dollars to people who don't like us. Duh!!! However, he's into nuclear power and I'm not overjoyed about that.

Hilary, when asked about strip mining, mumbled something about alternative power sources but didn't expound on it. Barak is bragging on his TV commercials about the $200 million he pushed through for coal processing plants. It was high on his list, but it pretty much knocked him down to the bottom of mine. More coal processing plants means more strip mining of my beloved mountains.

I think I am an enlightened voter, as well as some of my "less educated" friends. I'm just not an interested, excited voter. I don't see any indication in any of the candidates of what I am most interested in seeing happen in my country -- that we would wake up as a nation and realize that this Earth is not going to last under this brutal attack of carbon dioxide buildup, fossil fuel mining and burning, and fairly much unconcered rape of our natural resources. We are not respecting the Earth, as we are not doing anything to preserve it. When these candidates start talking that kind of talk, then I'll be excited, and then I'll be listening. Until then, it's voting for the one who's least likely to do the most harm. Same old, same old.