The Polls Are In! Vote John Edwards PLEASE!

After ignorantly emailing a friend of mine about Hillary and Obama winning the Primaries (hey, I live in Walthamstow, I don't have a TV, and I recently got jacked at the library - I thought anything was possible at that moment), I still was sadly disappointed to see those two nut jobs ahead in the numbers.

Why you may ask? I am blessed enough to have been made both woman and Black, so wouldn't that be the best of all worlds for me? Well, I don't care if it were my own mother, if she was a wishy-washy as those two fools, I would just throw in my hat and vote Green (which, ex-congressional representative Cynthia McKinney is urging us all to do, and I don't think that's such a bad idea). Except, from what I know about my good ole' US of A, they rather vote for two squirrels in a dress than a liberal (or a chipmunk in a suit, in the case of Obama).

Me, I would like to take Cynthia's tact and vote Green, but this election is precious, and I don't see the majority of Black, or liberal voters for that matter, going that way. It would be nice. But it ain't happening. I mean, I use to fancy myself a bit of a revolutionary - I would vote Green because that's the greatest good, and if Devil's Little Bitches, the Republicans are running against Devils Little Idiots, the Democrats, I rather go my own way, and not be caught up in the argument "lesser of two evils" bullshit.

So, having said that, I am routing for the underdog, the man whose wife has had to battle breast cancer, the man who has had to sadly run second ditch last time around, when he is a first ditch candidate, John Edwards. And this is because, I can happily say, for the first time in god knows when we have a candidate who isn't in the "good old boy" network, or has a cigar club membership (think Monica).

War on Iraq:
Why not Obama? Well that seems so obvious, but I will indulge you people since no one seems to be reading the papers anymore. Obama lacks the experience (and I think sincerity, but that's another, more personal, unscientific issue) to run second ditch. First off, he's on this "phased withdrawal" crap. They have a president. They have a constitution. Need I say more? John Edwards knows America is America - out of there in 12-18 months, case closed, job (if it really was a job in the first place) over, get the fuck out and call it a day. And, to put the icing on the cake, unlike the other wishy-washy, mealy-mouth politicians, he admitted he was wrong in 2003. Hillary, "She opposes the 2007 "surge" strategy of pouring more troops into Baghdad and has said she would end the war if she were president. She favours the phased redeployment of troops and caps on troops numbers in Iraq" (bbc, link at title). Let me get this straight, she would end the war, but cap the troops. If she doesn't have Bill's tongue...double talk! Hillary lives in the world of double talk, legal mumbo-jumbo that accounts for a hill of beans in the end.

Economy:
Hillary has no plan for economy, just platitudes. Women need equal pay, middle class disappearing - but what's the action? Obama did follow in Edwards step with the economy, but Edwards is the only one who has a history of combating specifically poverty behind him. He started the Poverty Instituted in Chapel Hill, and has a plan for creating 1 million jobs by making America energy compliant. John Edward's is actually giving us the goods, while Hillary is just puffing smoke.

Health Care:
Medicine is near and dear to my heart, and affordable access is something that I really worry about. I have $5,000 (£2,500) in medical bills at the age of 21. My mother, who has had cancer, has $45,000 (£23,000), which is fucking ridiculous, excuse my profanity. So I was really listening hard to see where everyone was coming from, weighing what physicians and hospitals would say the fall-out was, and looking at NHS (universal health care here in the UK) as an example to make sure I could weigh the consequences of any revamping of the way America does things. These are my findings:

John Edwards has the best idea. "Under a comprehensive reform plan, Mr Edwards aims to insure all Americans by 2012. He has said he wants businesses, government and individuals to share responsibility, make insurance more affordable and reform the market to improve choice and quality and cut costs. He has said he would roll back Mr Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, due to expire in 2010, to help pay for the changes" (bbc, link in title).
Why? Because America's health care system is too bankrupted for a NHS type program. Americans also have been living without health care for so long, that the hospitals, clinics and even doctors offices would be booked for years. NHS here in Britain already has 1-2 year waiting lists, and America is just to sick for all of that. Also, because of this god-forsaken war (America's big time bit for good Karma, yeah the fuck right), we won't have the money to sustain such a massive change. Maybe before 9/11, but not now. We have a physician and nursing shortage as well, so that will be 200,000 million Americans going to doctors, and they won't be equipped. Who is going to foot this bill? Tax cuts alone can't do that. Many states have been electing this "guaranteed insurance" thing, which has been insuring that good working people are covered. From there, when America can recoup some of it's cash flow, we can ease are way into a universal health care, but right now, it would actually harm more sick Americans than help. CT scans, pathology reports, MRI's, weren't covered under my mom's Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Insurance companies can afford to insure Americans, they refuse because they are allowed to watch their interests above Americans. Corporate agenda's (including that of insurance companies), could be stopped with what Edwards is proposing, and instead of draining the US government further with universal health care, corporations and government can work in a synergistic fashion for the betterment of all Americans.

Obama wants a combo universal and insurance duo, but I think that's unnecessary for right now, and would end up too complicated for the average American. It also would create further class divisions, as premiums would in effect rise for the insured persons, and people under the universal scheme would be relegated to clinics and inadequate health care, similar to the insanity going on in the health care system now.

Hillary is an idiot.

So, you know where I'm voting, and I hope I was able to persuade some democrats away from the Hillary/Obama Hysteria, and to take into consideration the facts. I want a Black/Woman president just like the rest of us. But in my book Jesse Jackson won. We don't have to settle for second best just to make a good show - I want a truly progressive Black/Woman candidate, not someones wife, and a brown guy who wears a bow-tie with a Muslim name.