What If...

What if the supreme court had not stopped the recount and Al Gore really did win the 2000 election.  How the last eight years would have been different.  The United States definitely would have been in a different situation than it is in today.  The nation's military involvement, its debt, dependence on foreign oil, and even the current political race would be drastically different.

First of all we probably would have been attacked on September 11th.  It is possible that a President Gore would have acted differently than Bush and would have taken actions to prevent it, but let us assume nothing could have changed that.  Without doubt, contrary to the rhetoric of some conservatives, he would have ordered us to take military action in Afghanistan.  However, we definitely would not have attacked Iraq, a President Gore would not have had the predisposition demonstrated by Bush and his allies, to attack this country.  Without doubt the primary reason why Bush and his allies “read” the intelligence in a manner which led us to believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was because they wanted to find something to justify an attack.  Without the Iraq distraction, the United States would have, by now, captured Bin Laden and been able to complete its mission there.  Furthermore we would have rebuilt that country, transferred power back to its people, and our soldiers would be home.

Without the enormous costs of these wars our national deficit would not be what it is today.  Furthermore, a President Gore would not have given the richest, in this country, the tax breaks which Bush handed out (and Palin-McCain are calling us “socialists” for wanting to reverse them).  These two facts alone would have significantly reduced, if not eliminated, the incredible increase in the US national debt.  The national debt is what is causing the dollar's value to decline and does have an impact on oil prices.  Simply put, as the dollar declines, the price of oil increases.  The declining dollar is not the only reason why oil prices spiked last summer but it is part of the problem.  The other part of the problem is the demand for oil and the United States does import 70% of its oil.

Under a President Gore, we would have, without doubt, seen a decrease in our dependence on oil.  Al Gore has been a strong advocate for reducing green house gases and eliminating our dependence on oil.  Under his leadership this nation would be further along in its need to utilize alternative energy sources.  The carbonites (those who advocate continued use of fossil fuels) have relentlessly attacked people like Gore, claiming that moving to alternative energy sources is too costly.  However, the price of energy is definitely a reason why this country economy is in a downward spiral.  It may cost us, in the short term, to switch over but if we do it then we never again will be dependent on foreign nations for our energy needs and our economy would be protected from the actions of foreign entities like OPEC.  

Eight years ago we all made choices, some chose to vote for George Bush, some for Al Gore, some for another person\, and many chose to not vote at all.  Many who did not vote believe that there was no reason to do so because it would not make a difference and there are some who believe that today.  I would ask you to carefully consider how things would have been different had Al Gore won in 2000.  How different the world would be today without the Iraq war, how our nation debt would not have gone from five trillion to ten trillion dollars, how the war in Afghanistan would be over, and how oil energy prices would not have caused enormous financial pain.  Without doubt the world would be different, that is why on November 4th it is important to vote.  

On November 4th, you will have the choice between voting for the status quo or to vote for someone who will make a change.  Make no mistake, Palin-McCain claim to be agents of change, however all you need to do is examine their record in this race to see they are no different than Bush.  The fact that they will question the patriotism of anyone who disagrees with their stances, call people terrorists for holding a differing political view, and calling them “socialists” for having a tax policy that taxes the rich and not the poor.  While John McCain may have been a “maverick” he has forfeited any right to continue to make that claim.  He has allowed his campaign to be consumed by rhetoric which has become the cancer of this great country during the Bush administration.  It is no longer a campaign based on the principals he claimed to believe in at its beginning, instead it has been preempted by Republican neo-cons under the leadership of Sarah Palin.  This November 4th be sure to vote and remember your vote does matter, the only way we can put this country back on track is to put Obama into the white house!