Barack or Hillary... or McCain....

I've been enjoying the tremendous e-traffic on whether to vote for Barack or Hillary... or McCain. I feel very lucky that I don't get to decide; I'm registered Green. As my father likes to say, "I'm not interested in what I believe." It's a great privilege for a person who usually has trouble deciding what to eat for breakfast (or whether to skip the meal all together).

My friends and family each believe strongly that the issue is:
the war
healthcare
experience
background (NPO -- you know who I mean!)
charisma/personality/electability (different or the same?)
the economy
reproductive freedom

For each of these, there's often a counter-argument. For example, the people who say that Barack could bring new blood to the White House hear back that that was the argument that brought us our current Bush. When a person says: "The war is the issue" or "It's the economy, stupid" (no one actually calls anyone stupid, it just sounds good), I am overwhelmed with the arbitrariness of these values. It's Democracy; so, YOU get to decide what's most important to YOU (and you only).

Most of us found our last 2 presidential elections profoundly depressing. I, for one, vowed to discuss these matters with people who value different things than I. And yet, so far anyway, I don't even need to have my own opinion bc I don't get to vote in the real primaries. (Green Party primaries don't count in America bc their candidates won't become president.) Talk about undermining the progressive movement (maybe).

My liberal media (KQED radio) yesterday took calls from several conservative Republicans who said that if McCain is the candidate, they'll vote for Hillary... and such like things. I wonder if Hillary really is more fiscally conservative. I wonder what motivates people to label themselves and how we can cut through that to find out what people MEAN when they call themselves conservative Republicans. I assume it means they wish the government would stop collecting taxes and go away, but I'm not sure.

So: VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE
...And to those of you who are allowed to cast an opinion on the candidates, I wish you all the clarity and wisdom in the world.