Rodney

That's a commendable point of view. But I happen to think that the greater of two evils can be sometimes be too evil. There's a tendency to believe that, no matter which party's candidate you vote for, nothing fundamental changes (or at least, not quickly or precipitously). But while Kerry may just be a run-of-the-mill politician, I have serious doubts about Bush's judgment. Not being able to summarize mistakes is a horrible sign. It means you're not open to reality, and are making judgments based primarily on your own preconceptions.

I go to a church in which our last pastor literally believed that she could do no wrong, that she was divinely inspired, and that all who were against her were sent by the forces of darkness. She even had a Cheney-like number two, a personal friend who accompanied her everywher, who would prop her up and tell her that she was completely right and we were all wrong. If you called the pastor on anything she did, she would say that it hadn't happened that way, or that you misunderstood; and then she would tell other parishioners that you were plotting against her, and misrepresent what you said. And of course, because she was wearing a white collar, people tended to defer to her. For a while. It helped that she was one of those people who actually could convince herself that her lies were reality, after a bit.

The church lost more than half its membership before we managed to get her out, and it's still teetering on the brink. So when I hear talk of getting inspiration from God and an inability to admit mistakes, I get really suspicious. And I very concerned that a vote for Bush/Cheney is not simply a vote for semi-corrupt-more-of-the-same, but a vote to continue in office a limited and unbalanced individual who could do serious damage to the country in the next couple of years.

And how did that bad pastor of ours get in, in the first place? She told us she was a person of moderate religious beliefs who wanted to respect all the different sorts of beliefs within our congregation: "a uniter, not a divider." She lied, of course, but in retrospect it's unclear whether she had a firm enough grasp on reality to understand that she was lying.