Former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart's visit goes to the heart, pardon the pun, of the Democratic Party's continued lack of power and the entire political system in general.
The Democrats lack a strong figure to lead it back into either a majority or into the White House. That Hart is merely "considering" being one of 12 Democratic presidential candidates is telling. The Democratic Party is splintered, lost in divisiveness and failure to take strong stances.
However, the fact of the matter is that this country's political system discourages third parties and hardly any of these third parties have ever gained any sort of popularity and that's depressing. The Republican and Democratic Parties do not have as deep a divide as their members would like the public to think.
Major members of the Democratic Party have aligned themselves with President Bush and his administration, letting bills such as the Patriot Act pass through the Senate and House without so much as a raised eyebrow. Are all the Democrats cowering in fear of speaking up and letting our civil liberties slip away? Hardly. Their agendas merely don't differ much from the Republicans.
Our own Democratic governor shows how thin that line between the Democrats and Republicans truly is. New Mexico Republicans played a large part in helping Gov. Bill Richardson be elected. It's lovely to see people working together despite their "differences."
I come from a generation that if we do go to the polls, we stand there and ask ourselves: "Which candidate will do the least damage?" What kind of choice is that? We don't trust our politicians - not a single one. But most of us don't vote and we end up with the worst possible political leaders.
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When all the over-40 people in this country finally kick the bucket, who exactly is going to vote? Most of us are too busy playing video games and could care less that because of these voting trends, politicians don't give a damn about issues that are going to effect us when we become the "over-40" crowd.
Newsflash Generation X and the MTV Generation: We won't be getting any social security, but we'll be paying for our grandparents' prescription medicines our entire lives.
Since I do vote, I'm standing in the voting booth asking myself who disgusts me the least and somehow I end up pushing a button with a Democratic candidate's name on it.
That doesn't make me feel good inside. And we all know that being "American" is about feeling good inside.
Maybe one day the emptiness of this country will force people to wake up, but something tells me that it'll never happen.
Angela Williams
Editor in Chief
