I've never really been interested in politics. In fact, this time last year, I probably would've had trouble describing the difference between a Democrat and a Republican. However, because I will be able to vote in the upcoming presidential election, I decided to take an interest so I can make my own informed decision. That's the main reason I watched Bush's speech on TV Sunday. Let me start out by saying that I really have no idea who I support for president. I guess I'm equally split between Bush and Kerry and don't really know enough about what each of them support or even what I believe to make a decision as of yet. With that in mind, I must say that I was not really impressed with Bush's speech. I know it was more of a friendly visit then a campaign visit, but still, with elections coming up in around four months, one would think that he would always have that in mind with every public speech he gave. I found it a little silly that he spent the first 10-15 minutes thanking the mayor, the city council, Shelley Moore-Capito (who my parents think is only in Congress because Bush supported her so much during her campaign), and pretty much everyone he could think of up to the boy and girl scout leaders and church officials, even all the people of West Virginia. Obviously, this roused plenty of cheers and excitement from the large crowd, all Bush supporters who probably would have cheered at anything he said that was the least bit praiseworthy or patriotic (and by patriotic, I mean all those things about "chasing the evil terrorists, who can't be reasoned with, out of their holes until every last one is gone" or something to that effect). Not to be overly critical, but there were some things he said that I found humorously ironic. For example, at one point he said something about how he was proud to be in the presence of someone who didn't try to change the constitution. I'm not sure who he was referring to, but I don't think I'm mistaking when I say that it was Bush who tried to change the constitution by adding an amendment banning gay marriage. Also, he said something about how there were so many more jobs in America. Funny, just a few minutes before his speech, the news people interviewed a woman who was concerned because she had just been laid off, along with about 270 people from her company. I'm sure she was hoping for more from the president than just a questionable statement that there were many more jobs available.

Basically, his speech had two parts. Part one: Thank you, thank you, thank you, West Virginia is great, blah, blah, blah, lots and lots of cheers and applause from the audience (who obviously would have cheered if he'd said something as simple as "Iraq and Afghanistan are bad"). Part two: Terrorists are bad, we're going to chase them down until they're all gone, we have to take the fight to them so they don't bring it to us, the people in Iraq are so much happier, they're living under a free government now (but aren't there still lots of soldiers in Iraq trying to keep the peace and even scaring some of the people? I'm not entirely sure I'd call that happy, living with soldiers and guns in your backyard), and the forefathers of America would be happy with the situation of America because we're trying to spread freedom and democracy to nations that were formerly trapped and oppressed by unjust rulers. Maybe I'm wrong to be skeptical, the audience seemed thrilled with these comments. I'm not entirely sure I buy all of that. I can honestly say that there was nothing impressive to me throughout the entire 25 minute speech. Well, I take that back, the number of secret service people that seemed to be following the president, wandering around everywhere was pretty impressive. Oops, it seems that my unbiased opinion has become sort of biased. Oh well, I read that John Kerry is coming on July 15. I'll try to hear what he has to say, then maybe I'll be just as critical of both. Then I'll have to vote for Ralph Nader. Just kidding.

Anyway, back to what I was saying before. I'm not entirely sure where I fit in in the whole conservative-liberal spectrum. I'm a registered Republican, but I didn't really think about it when I registered. I wasn't even planning on registering to vote at the time. I was at the DMV, getting my Learner's Permit for the 3rd or 4th time, when the guy working there asked me if I wanted to register to vote. So I said sure, and when he asked me if I wanted Republican or Democrat, I just said Republican. I hadn't really thought about it. My mom is a Democrat who is not afraid to verbally express her disdain toward Bush, while my dad is a Republican who rarely talks about politics. I think I was influenced the most by some very conservative friends who, in my opinion, have a low tolerance level for people who are the slightest bit liberal. I'm sort of hoping those people don't read this, or else I have a feeling I'll be in for some political lectures.

As far as my own beliefs go, I'm not really sure what I support. I find it difficult to say that one side is right and the other is wrong. I think that both sides have good and bad points to their arguments, and find it very difficult to say that I completely support one argument and think that the other is entirely wrong. That's why I'm horrible at arguments, I can't keep supporting my own argument because I end up finding something reasonable and agreeable in the other person's argument. Some examples on some issues that these friends feel strongly against: Abortion. Please don't disown me as a friend (if you read this, which I'm hoping you don't), but sometimes I think there are circumstances in which abortion may be the best option. Having an abortion just because you can may seem wrong, but I can definitely see instances in which it would not be a horrible thing. Rights for homosexuals: While I may not agree with the homosexual lifestyle, there always have been and always will be gay people in the world, it's not like they're suddenly going to convert to being straight. Anyway, throughout the course of my life, I have met some gay people who are very nice, and it would be sad to think that they should not have the same rights as everyone else. Who are we to condemn people and make them unequal to ourselves just because they choose to live their life differently? I'm sometimes afraid that thinking things like this is blasphemous to my religion, which is why I don't always know what to believe. As far as the war goes, I don't like the thought of always "chasing after the bad guys" like Bush says. I know that you have to stand up for yourself sometimes, but I really don't think it is America's responsibility to try to free the oppressed masses all over the world. I guess I really don't have a strong opinion on anything. I'm just walking a balance beam between two different views. Then again, I guess it's not really a big deal which political party you belong to, because in the big elections (yes, I know that's a very specific, professional term) you can vote for the candidate of whichever party you want. So I'll just keep my balance awhile longer.