Eddie Ezekiel
Staff Reporter
I have been waiting for it; nervously, slowly, the first connection of America’s most recent financial catastrophe to the most famous of all American financial catastrophes, the Great Depression. Today while reading the New York Times online, I stumbled upon just this in an opinion article written about Sarah Palin’s philosophies on government.In the article published September 25, 2008, Robert Cohen says, “To persist with a philosophy grounded in America’s separateness, rather than its connectedness, would be devastating at a time when the country faces two wars, a financial collapse unseen since 1929, commodity inflation, a huge transfer of resources to the Middle East, and the imperative to develop new sources of energy.”
This reference to the Great Depression strikes fear into me, because our salvation last time was through economic stimulation via World War One. This time, however, war has been anything but economic stimulation, and the thought of ten or so more years of war is sickening. Also, it feels as if America isn’t just experiencing a spell of bad luck, but rather like an accumulation of threats we’ve ignored and been unaware of.
As of late, it seems like America has been stumbling further into a hole, torn open by a building force of political divisiveness, religious confrontation, and a long series of economic blunders. Maybe my reaction is a symptom of recently reading too much news after generally avoiding such negativity for the past few years, but the evidence seems too strong to ignore: America needs help. The American people need help.
It’s been too long since we’ve come together as a nation of well-minded people and simply worked for the peace and prosperity our forefathers fought to secure. We’ve seen presidents with courage and compassion large enough to rally our nation before.
Freshmen Matt McCarron says that Obama is “a very Kennedy-esk speaker,” with a confident, “self-assured image.” It will take this type of personality, combined with a noble set of ideals, education and experience to inspire and lead our country through rocky times.
Referencing Cohen’s argument, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates don’t appear to understand that times are different from even five or ten years ago. This election is so important because it marks the point where America can either follow the well-trodden path that has steered it towards an epic collapse, or work out a new path towards a new America. This does not mean sacrificing the “traditional” values of freedom and independence that make America so great, but simply adapting and evolving to the radically new world of the 21st century.
Obviously, neither candidate will single-handedly save or destroy our country in one term, but the actions they take at this crucial juncture will lay the groundwork for rebuilding, or implosion, in our future. Change often seems scary, but freshman Betsy
Warner calmly says that Obama’s campaign understands that “sometimes you have to take a risk for good things to happen.”
When deciding which candidate to vote for come November 4th, I ask that you think of this: who seems to align themselves with the values and ideologies that have gotten America into this huge mess, and who seems to understand that an evolved idea of the global village is necessary for America to survive in the new century?