It isn't. It would be nice if the candidates were so indistinguishable from one another that voting for either or neither would result in the preservation of the status quo, but this is simply not the case. The lack of distinguishing characteristics between the two main candidates is, quite simply, a ploy by the Republican Party to get a wolf in sheep's clothing elected president of the sheep. W. is nothing but a shallow cut-out, a carefully groomed candidate who has been instructed to say exactly what he needs to say to get elected. This is why he can play down his anti-abortion stand when talking to Republican centrists and yet still come across as God's chosen when talking to the Religious Right.
Our belief that the candidates are interchangeable rests on the fallacy that either one will simply continue, in a weaker vein, the policies of the current administration: maintain a strong economy, build up the IT sector, etc., etc., etc. Nothing could be farther from the truth. A Bush/Dick Presidency will mean a return to the days of robbing the infrastructure of the country to make a profit for the already filthy rich, a return to privatization for profit, not because it's good for the economy or the country, and a return to the trickle-down theory of economics (more accurately labelled the pissed-on theory).
When the similarities of the main candidates truly become more than skin-deep, _that_ will sound the death knell for politics. Until then, THINK and VOTE.
Slashdot Mirror
It isn't. It would be nice if the candidates were so indistinguishable from one another that voting for either or neither would result in the preservation of the status quo, but this is simply not the case. The lack of distinguishing characteristics between the two main candidates is, quite simply, a ploy by the Republican Party to get a wolf in sheep's clothing elected president of the sheep. W. is nothing but a shallow cut-out, a carefully groomed candidate who has been instructed to say exactly what he needs to say to get elected. This is why he can play down his anti-abortion stand when talking to Republican centrists and yet still come across as God's chosen when talking to the Religious Right.
Our belief that the candidates are interchangeable rests on the fallacy that either one will simply continue, in a weaker vein, the policies of the current administration: maintain a strong economy, build up the IT sector, etc., etc., etc. Nothing could be farther from the truth. A Bush/Dick Presidency will mean a return to the days of robbing the infrastructure of the country to make a profit for the already filthy rich, a return to privatization for profit, not because it's good for the economy or the country, and a return to the trickle-down theory of economics (more accurately labelled the pissed-on theory).
When the similarities of the main candidates truly become more than skin-deep, _that_ will sound the death knell for politics. Until then, THINK and VOTE.