I was born and raised a fundamentalist Christian Republican. I voted for Bush both times — not because I liked him, but because he was the Republican candidate, I didn’t really care, and the Democratic candidates seemed like a worse choice.
But over the past few years, I’ve really been digging into the details of legislation that affects me most as a technologist — DMCA, Net Neutrality, Internet Radio Royalties, NSA spying via telecoms, and the outright suspension of my digital 4th amendment rights (e.g., search and seizure of digital property).
I’m sick of the partisan mentality in government. I’m sick of the RIAA/MPAA getting away with passing bogus laws in the name of “copyright protection” against “pirates”, making it near impossible for an interested party to come up with a newer, better business model for the digital age. I’m sick of candidates who don’t know the first thing about what I’m most passionate about — technology.
Watching the recent Republican debates, I cringe at how awful they all are. Except Ron Paul. I like Ron Paul, but he doesn’t strike me as a good leader, and he’s certainly unaware of technological issues — which are the issues that matter to me most, and affect me on far more of a daily basis than whether abortion is legal or not.
After spending the last several weeks really digging into the candidates and the issues, and watching the debates on TV and YouTube, I’ve officially decided to stand behind Barack Obama. And not just stand behind him, but rally others to do the same. Obama is the first candidate I’ve cared about because I believe he’s the first candidate to care about people like me.
I might not agree with all of his stances, but I do think that Obama is the right leader for this moment in time.
