GO CITIZENS!

It's always amazing to me how many people I talk to that say, "I need to register to vote."

Not registered? I really can't understand that. The first thing I have always done when I moved (even before officially changing my address at the post office) is make sure that I can vote.

I first voted in 1971. Nixon had just changed the voting age, so I was able to cast my first vote before I could legally drink. The following year, I was privileged to vote in my first Presidential election. Of course, I voted (like everybody I knew) for McGovern. Then, I stayed up late, waiting for the tide to turn to the winner I knew would emerge.

I waited a long time.

I was a cradle Democratic. All my family voted the straight Democratic ticket (except my father - in 1968, he voted for the first time for Wallace. He didn't vote for racial issues, but Wallace touched him. It was the first candidate who spoke to his concerns, working class issues, without condescending to him).

In an strong union family, it was an article of faith to vote Democratic.

I first voted non-Democratic in the 1976 election, for John Anderson. Until this year, I continued the Democrat leanings. However, this year, I intend to vote for George W. Bush. Which puts me squarely at odds with my husband (who is showing signs of being a yellow-dog Democratic).

I've been looking askance at the Democratic Party since the Bubbagate scandals. The tortuous twistings that party line types have to make to accept the unacceptable have pushed me over the edge.

I cannot sanction sexual gropings of a teenager, nor lying about it under oath. It isn't a minor issue, it is fundamental to the question of the character of a man. Once the Democrats threw their support to Clinton, I began to leave the party.

The whole issue of Vietnam reeks of dishonesty. How can you run on proud service, when you have disparaged your fellow soldiers's actions? How can you testify about your participation in war atrocities, under oath to the US Congress, in the Winter Soldier hearings, and yet loudly speak of Vietnam as a proud moment in your life?

Senator Kerry, have your done ANYTHING since Vietnam to be proud of? Why don't you talk about it, then?

Although I have some issues with his handling of the prescription drug situation, and other issues, I have decided to support Bush as the best alternative to the totally unacceptable, morally bankrupt, lying John Forbes Kerry.