My kind of candidate?
I have a knack for voting for the losing side. This is probably due in large part to the hard right turn this country has taken between my 18th birthday and now. It probably also has a lot to do with being generally concerned about things people don’t really care about (the environment and civil liberties, for example) while discounting the things that really get the masses worked up (NASCAR, Hummers, and Intelligent Design).
I think the only time I was in the majority was when Rick Santorum (NSFW?) lost to Bob Casey for the Pennsylvania Senate seat. Given Santorum’s tanking popularity by the time the 2006 elections rolled around (even his daughter didn’t want to to have anything to do with him), that was an easy call.
I look to be on course for another letdown come next November (or before, depending on how things go), as I become more enamored with the crazy guy of the Democratic field, Mike Gravel. Spurred on by a profile and interview that popped up in my feed reader, I started to look into him some more.
He’s a guy after my own heart. For example, he:
- Supports a carbon tax, and would use the money to support the development of worldwide energy alternatives;
- Would do nothing to offset the eventual rising cost of fossil fuels, especially oil, as he feels higher prices will help to make alternative fuels and lifestyles more feasible;
- Took public transportation to his campaign announcement;
- Wants to reinvent the national passenger rail system;
- Takes issue with America’s unending obsession with constant growth.
This last one is especially great, as I think it underlies so many (if not all) of the problems I think we are facing today. Our short-sightnedness is getting us into trouble:
Q: After climate and energy, what do you think is the most important environmental issue facing the nation?
A: Growth.
Q: Urban growth? Population growth?
A: It’s more complex than that. Our total economy is based upon growth, growth, growth. Well, there comes a time when you destroy so you can have growth.
I want to change our system of revenue from an income tax to a sales tax. That would change this country from a consuming nation to a savings nation. If we begin to look upon growth from a savings point of view, we could do more in the short run with respect to global warming. Our country right now spends more than we earn, and we’re on our way to bankruptcy.
He’s not perfect – I think he dismisses nuclear energy too readily, and he’s got some overly ambitious and/or misguided ideas about a liquid hydrogen infrastructure, but I can live with that.
And really, he’s probably a little nuts, but I can live with that too.
