Election day

Looking at the eerily close US presidential races this year between George W. Bush and John Kerry, one can't help but be worried about the direction America is taking. We have the former with his bravado and trigger-happy stance and the latter with his peacemaking and optimistic stance. With an air of uncertainty with regards to America's future, one could just watch and hope for the best. This is even more true with my case since I cannot vote yet; I need to become a US citizen first to exercise my right to vote.

When I look at both challengers for the seat at the White House, I cannot help but be biased towards Democrat John Kerry. To me, he seems to be the one who makes a lot of sense. From trying to repair relationships with other nations and restoring trust to America to bringing back jobs here by taxing heavily those who do outsource jobs, I believe John Kerry deserves his seat at the White House.

George W. Bush, on the other hand, does not seem to make any sense with his policies and plans. While it is true that the issue of terrorism and national security may be his aces up his sleeve (only because of his paranoid "let-us-attack-first-before-they-attack-us" stance and hostile foreign policies), he does not have much with regards to domestic issues and the economy. It is John Kerry who has sound plans for both - by making healthcare more affordable and bringing back jobs. To add to that, he will be trying to reach out to other nations, especially those ostracized when Bush decided that the best thing to do is to go into Iraq because of "weapons of mass destruction", which were not found at all. Later on, he conceded that there were indeed no weapons of mass destruction. This makes you think what kind of world we'll be living in if we have Bush for another 4 years. My terrible gut feeling is that the US will be starting World War 3 sometime in the next 4 years because of Bush's hostile and uncooperative stance. Sure, he declared in his campaign that "there will be no military draft" if he is elected President but what are the chances this is true? He cannot be trusted, as seen in his decision to invade Iraq with the premise that there were indeed WMDs when there are actually none. Now he says there will be no military draft - how true is that?! Of course, once he wins the White House again, he'll probably turn his back on that and start building America as a war machine. With the number of potential conflicts he's getting into (North Korea, Iran, Syria plus current ones such as Iraq and Afghanistan), it will come as no surprise that we may have World War 3 and the military draft around the corner just because of his hostility. You can tell how it will all happen - the military draft, the wars coming ahead - just because of his stance. Who's the trigger-happy guy anyway - Kerry or Bush?

Bush simply mishandled the funds America had after Bill Clinton left office in 2001. With record surpluses after Clinton left, Bush has turned these into billions of dollars in record deficits. The economy came plunging down and millions of jobs were lost, more than 200,000 in the state of Ohio alone. Would you think another 4 years of Bush will improve this? Heck, no. This reminds me of his father, then president George H. W. Bush, Sr., who was defeated in 1992 by Clinton. The elder Bush lost because the economy during his time was also terrible, much like the economy is right now. With another 4 years of George W. Bush, America and the world is headed towards disaster, not just because of potential wars but also because of a worsening economy.

Now, it all boils down to one day. One last day. One last day to decide who will be the next President of the United States. With the race really tight, all we could do is just pray that whoever wins will take America and the rest of the world into the right direction. May God bless America and the rest of the world.