First and foremost is because I live in California where Barack Obama is going to win hands down. If it were close in this state, I’d vote for him because we just can’t stand four more years of Republican rule. It’s a concept too hard to contemplate.
Next, I voted for the ticket because, while Nader’s politics are okay, Matt Gonzalez is a tremendous individual. He’s a criminal defense lawyer by trade, he’s spoken at the San Francisco District meeting of the California Association of Licensed Investigators, and he knows the issues of our system of criminal procedure thoroughly.
But perhaps most important, I’m concerned that Barack Obama might be telling the truth about his desire to send more American troops to Afghanistan. I’d be a lot more comfortable if I thought he was lying about that.
In 1986, with Soviet support, Afghan armed forces totaled 302,000 officially and at the height of Soviet involvement in the country, there were 104,000 Soviet Red Army troops there.
In April 2008, Afghanistan asked NATO for funding to increase the size of its army from 86,000 to 120,000.
As of June 2008, there were approximately 53,000 “International Security Assistance Force” – including American troops, in Afghanistan.
Both John McCain and Barack Obama say that they want to send more troops to Afghanistan. Sounds to me just like how we got mired in the muck of Vietnam. Nader and Gonzalez can be counted on not to send more American troops to fight and die and come back wounded–physically and mentally–in that war. Remember what Pete Seeger sang — speaking truth to power when Lyndon B. Johnson was pushing on for “victory” in Vietnam — “we’re waist deep in the big muddy and the big fool says to go on.”
