 Educated vote
Bush is not as bad as they say
Slater Bakhtavar
July 13, 2004
iranian.com
Judging from the recent wave of politically
charged articles on various discussion boards the 2004 President
Elections are rapidly
emerging. According to various acclaimed political columns, the
Iranian-American vote is positively charged and sure to make a
dent in the elections. Furthermore, according to the wave of emotionally
charged propaganda the well-established Persian community in the
US should support the Democratic candidate John Kerry for president.
Course, the political elite have shown little lee-way
and a horrendous record for their agenda. The neo-Liberal Iranians
often cite three
or four reasons for supporting Presidential hopeful John Kerry.
Those reasons typically include a) The Iraq war which they portray
as a miserable failure resulting in a failed democratic system,
b) President Bush's tax cuts which they claim have resulted
in unfair compensation to wealthy Americans and have severely
damaged the economy, c) the Patriot Act which they claim has unfairly
targeted
Middle-Eastern, and finally, d) Farenheit 9/11 -which portrays
President Bush as a die-hard lunatic in bed with the Saudi Terrorists.
However, I'd like to remind those unsure of their
ideology that while the war in Iraq has resulted in hundreds, if
not thousands
of deaths, freedom is not free and democracy has to be earned.
Recent polls shows that 70% of Iraqis support the Interim President
Allawi and his administration and the majority of Iraqis have a
positive view of their future. Further, according to recent economic
assessments the US economy is on a massive upsurge, with consumer
confidence at a three year high and the jobless rate taking a near
one percent drop.
Also, while it's true that the Bush Administration
encouraged and established the Patriot Act after 9/11, by all indications
former President Clinton would have done the same thing to safe
guard the United States. [In fact, in 1993 former President Clinton
signed papers to ready the United States for a war against Iraq,
and to encourage Acts similar to the Patriot Act in case of a domestic
backlash]. Finally, those identifying themselves as Democrats should
reminded that Mr.Moore recently slammed the Democratic party as
a "miserable, pathetic party that can't win an election
even when they win an election".
To further solidify my own understanding of the
current political climate within the community. I recently interviewed
ten Iranian-Americans
on their political affiliation and ideology. First, I wanted
to research political identification within our ethnicity. According
to the statistics five identified themselves as Democrats, two
as Republican and two as Independent.
I then inquired about their
political positions on ten pressing issues; those issues were
taxes,
gay marriage, social welfare, abortion, relations with various
governments, business, environment, foreign policy, education,
and civil rights. After surveying the results and comparing
the answer with each parties political ideology, I concluded that
nine out of ten people surveyed were far more consistent with
the
Republican
Parties platform. It's interesting to note that the Iranians
I surveyed overwhelmingly supported strong family, hard-work, lower
taxes, business, support
for a democratic Middle East, vouchers, and are were largely against
gay marriage, abortion, and abundant social welfare - virtually
every single question they identified with the Republican Party,
but yet claimed themselves Democrats.
 This November, I'm not
asking you to switch political parties, I'm just asking you
to make an educated vote and not base things on sheer ignorance
and absolute pettiness. Please vote,
but please make an educated vote.
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