The question I ask myself each day about the upcoming election is what is the driving force of the voter? What matters most to them? What will be the deciding factor in which lever they pull on November 7th 2006?

One thing that I know for sure is that the issues are not being debated. Once again the public, the American people, are the ones who are suffering here and once again I am going to point my finger at the Democrats for this one and a slight point of the finger towards the Republicans. I’ll explain why.

When an election is coming up, I want to hear about what the nominees are planning. I want to know what their idea is for a better tomorrow. Currently the only thing I hear from the Democrats is all about Rep. Mark Foley and his inappropriate e-mails to under aged pages in Washington D.C. For the record, there is no evidence that Foley actually had a physical relationship with the young man in question. But his e-mails were inappropriate and unacceptable. His resigning in shame is exactly what should have happened. But now there is this huge backlash about who knew what he was doing. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is under fire over allegations that his office knew and did nothing although Speaker Hastert adamantly denies the allegations. He claims he only knew about the scandal after it broke in the news. From what I’ve heard there are plenty of people who may or may not have known what was going on with Foley, Republicans and Democrats alike.

So now this is where the Republican Party gets some blame and here is why: They ran on the platform of “Family Values” for years and it made sense after 8 years of William Jefferson(BJ) Clinton. The guy single handedly gave the Republicans the platform to run on. His constant infidelity and lying was an easy target. But what the Republicans did that is now coming back to haunt them is to lump all the trash in the same bag. Just because BJ Clinton is a snake doesn’t make the entire party vipers. But now that is what is happening to the GOP. Anyone who’s shook the hand of Foley is now slime and to be honest its not right.

If you want to vote out the incumbents do it because the person you are voting for has a better plan for the future. The issues that need to be talked about are National Security, lowering taxes (because we all know the Democrats are going to tax the shit out of all of us no matter how rich you are), the Economy, and Foreign Policy etc… The Democrats are spreading the Foley scandal around hoping that it will persuade Republican voters to either stay away from the ballot box or to vote against the party that talks about Family Values but doesn’t practice what it preaches. If this is the reason to keep people away from the polls well then Americans have lost their minds! The action of a single person in government should not take precedence over issues like the economy, lower gas prices, the North Korean issue, 4.6 unemployment rate, the budding democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Iranian nuke issue and of course National Security.

Those are the reasons people should go to the polls this November. Whether you agree with the current Administration or not, those are the reasons to go out and vote. Not because of one disgraceful politician who took advantage of everyone. But do the Democrats want the public to think about that? I don’t think so. What they’ll focus on is Mark Foley, a supposed Civil War in Iraq that only Democrats and retired Generals claim is happening. Meanwhile the Generals on the ground and the troops on the ground will say different. They’ll say there is sectarian violence but they’ll also talk about all the good things our troops are doing in Iraq. Have you ever and I mean EVER heard a democrat talk about the great things our troops are doing in Iraq? Nope. And you wont. Because using the Iraq war, which is the War on Terror that was started by the enemy, is one of their last hopes. Failure in Iraq would ensure voters to put their faith in new leaders. Do you think that it is even remotely possible that failure in Iraq is a hope for some of these folks? I’m not saying it is, but I’m not saying it isn’t either. I don’t trust the current leaders of the Democratic Party. Sure the Republicans haven’t been perfect. No one is. But at least with George W. Bush you know where he stands. He sticks to his convictions and doesn’t allow politics to sway him and his beliefs. He understands the enemy and I’m not too sure that the current leaders of the Democratic Party do. They’ve proven they’ll switch their stance on any issue just to take the other side to gain votes. John Kerry is the perfect example. King of the Flip Flop!

The Democrats are clinging to life in politics right now. They are hopeful that this November they can get another chance to lead. My hope is that they don’t get that chance just yet. Nancy Pelosi is a nut case. She’s the biggest liberal in the biggest liberal city out there. The idea of her being Speaker of the House is nuts! God forbid something happened to President Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney and we’d all be saying President Pelosi. That’s horrifying!

So this November I hope the voters go out in swarms and they do it because it’s the issues that they care about. Not the actions of some schmuck who has serious problems. Imagine Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid running congress? YIKES!!! They’ll block everything Bush tries to do just because they can. Forget about what is best for the country. Just vote against Bush! Vote against tax cuts for everyone. Vote against being strong on National Defense. Vote against the people who’ve turned our economy around only a few short years after our country was attacked. Vote against the people who’ve been in charge as unemployment continues to drop and something that is incredibly important to me – vote against the people who stand by and defend Israel as if she was one of our own. Will the Democrats defend Israel? Or will they join in the tremendous amount of anti-Semitism that is quickly becoming common in this world?

November 7th 2006. Go out and vote. Vote for who you want. You don’t have to vote down party lines. Research the candidates and see who is talking about what is important to you and vote. Just go out and vote!

All feedback can be sent to mikezevon@hotmail.com

Thank you for reading.

BACK TO MIKE ZEVON'S INDEX