Vote.

All my life I have envisioned the day that I would be in that final battle between good and evil (I was born into a WWII war zone). To stand with my fellow warriors to bring justice to the world. To free every man/every woman to manifest all of their potential. To walk with those great and small who have fallen in other battles to preserve the honor of our species.

In 1960 after graduating from a classic "American Graffiti" adolescence I joined the Marine Corp PLC program (platoon leader class) to become a warrior in that ageless war for justice. I was not accepted due to poor eyesight. I chose to go to college.

As a science student there was little time for courses in history, sociology, political science etc., but I dabbled. As I did I found that many of my perceptions regarding the world were based on false premises. I found that to a great extent I had been "herded" through various possibilities into a very few "realities". Disturbed by this I reacted by putting some of my latent scholarship into investigating who was doing the "herding" and why.

This was the era of Viet Nam and it was not hard to find why we were engaged there and who indeed was benefiting. Once again as history has shown us so many times, we were at war for resources. The herding was done by those who benefit most by competition (rather than cooperation), the multinational corporations whose only loyalty is to the God Manna ($). Aided by their political cronies they have sent generation after generation of young men and women into battle.

Nothing has changed except that the stakes are higher. Yes, there is a threat of retaliation for arrogance that is steeper than ever before. We live in a world of destructive technologies unavailable to earlier peoples. Yet the answer to preventing the use of these technologies to bring havoc is the same as it was 6000 years ago or more. Social justice, the sharing of the Earth's resources and the recognition of our rich diversity. The recognition that all peoples have a right to express their unique perception of life and manifest it. At it's highest level, an acceptance of separate realties that all have at there core a rule often quoted but rarely exercised, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

Today we here in America are the country which has the most influence in how this particular scenario will play out for perhaps the next 1000 years. We have an election this year which will have an enormous effect on the coming generations of not just Americans but the rest of the world, indeed the planet.

Regarding the environment alone, there is but one choice. The environmental record of this administration is deplorable and shows a complete lack of understanding of how this planet works. Either that or they simply do not care. What is equally important is that this wonderful experiment in democracy that is called America is being usurped by a group of people who have not the slightest idea of "human rights" and whose relationship to mother earth is personified in Reagan's comment,"if you have seen one redwood tree you have seen them all". Does this really make sense to you? Does not the earth in all it's dynamic and ageless cycles sustain our very existence? Is that really not clear to everyone?

I could go on with a litany of facts that show how cynical these usurpers have become. They truly believe that you and I are dimwitted and incapable of decision making unless "herded". Is this what Jefferson, Adams and Franklin had in mind when they framed the arguably most sensitive sociopolitical document ever written (which is not perfect but remains as a beacon for the direction of true liberty)?

This is no time to be afraid to stand up for the principals that are so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United Sates. Do not vote because you are afraid of some outside force....vote because you see the potential for justice and liberty in this world to end all reason for any form of terrorism.

Urmas Kaldveer