Why Am I Voting For

What am I voting for?  Or does it matter?  Like many other people, I voted for Barack Obama in  2008.  I voted for him because he said--repeatedly--that he would end the US Bush Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, would close the US concentration camp at Guantanamo, and would stop the US practice of illegal torture.  He also said--repeatedly--that we should honor "whistle-blowers."

He has done none of those things.  He has expanded Bush's two wars to four, adding Syria and Pakistan to Iraq and Afghanistan:  they are all four now Obama's wars.  (Obama is a good name for a warrior!)

Instead of closing Guantanamo, he has continued to flaunt international law and added nearly four more years to the brutal, inhumane punishment of prisoners there.  Both their continued imprisonment and their treatment violate the U. S. Constitution and U.S. law.  (In case you happen not to know it, at present--thanks to Bush II and Obama--US citizens no longer have their constitutionally guaranteed rights called "Habeas Corpus.") 

And rather than stop the use of torture in US prisons, Obama has expanded it beyond Guantanamo:  PFC Bradley Manning--an heroic whistle-blower--was tortured for one year at Guantanamo, and now has been held for another year (no "Habeas Corpus") without being charged with a crime. 

If Obama had promised to stop taxing Americans, and then doubled their taxes, Americans would have revolted.  But doubling the number of our wars instead of stopping them--as he promised--doesn't bother anybody.

If Obama had promised to double Social Security benefits,  but then reniged on that promise, Americans would have demanded his impeachment.  But not closing Guantanamo, despite his promise, doesn't bother anybody.

And as for torture--and the conmtinued incarceration of Bradley Manning for exposing government crimes--Americans don't seem to care.  And Obama has already declared PFC Manning "guilty"--of the crime of whistle-blowing.

What am I voting for in 2012?  Nothing.  Why am I voting for?  I'm not.  And there is no provision for voting against.  (We learned that in 1968.)

None of these three serious issues--our wars, our concentration camp, our incarceration of Bradley Manning--has been mentioned so far in this campaign for the presidency.  None of the three has been mentioned either by the candidates or in the news media.

 God bless America:  it needs it!  May God forgive it, too, once it has corrected itself and repented.

And by the way:  the chorus of the second verse of "America the Beautiful" prays, "America, America!  God mend thine every flaw.  Confirm thy soul in self control, Thy liberty in law.".
 
Amen.