Travellers’ Blog Entry No. 7

Do we have an alternative?

We are in Eureka now. The North of California has nothing to do with the sunny Los Angeles, with its hot, dry heat and the poshy people, driving expensive cars.
Eureka is much more down-to-earth. The car sellers do not present the newest Mercedes and the exclusive Lamborginis – the top car in Eureka is the Truck. Trucks as far as the eyes can reach. Black, silver and white are the favourite colors. No experiences.
But what about their poitical attitude? Conservative like their cars?

On our way up in the North, we met a woman. She was sitting next to us in a fastfood restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It was early in the morning. When she heard us talking in German, she came over and started a conversation with us – in German.
Martina, 48 years old, came from Germany in the early 80s to stay in America. She married a man from San Diego. She’d almost forgotten how to speak German, but it worked and Martina was happy to hear her mother tongue again.

We asked her about her point-of-view to the political circumstances in America. She had a pretty other view onto the thing, that every other person, we had spoke to.
Martina, in her youth a strong supporter of the socialism, is tired of the politics in America. She watches TV a lot, listens to the speeches of the candidates – she emphazises of “every candidate” – but she will not vote for anyone. “I won’t go to the elections and vote for any candidate.” But why? “It doesn’t matter, if I go to the elections or not.”
My objection, that this isn’t the right attitude at all, because a democarcy can only be kept alive, if every citizen exercise his right to vote.
“Do you see any differences between Mr Obama and Mr McCain?”, she asked. “The candidates are all just puppets of the strong lobbyists. The do not stand for any values, they are functionaries. Nothing more. And there are no alternatives, no chances for other candidates to win against McCain or Obama.”

Where does this dolefulness and frustration came from? Is Martina one of a few people, who do not take part on the election?

We spoke to some students in a café in Eureka. They were talking about the Green Party’s candidate Cynthia McKinney. I asked them if they will go to vote for her or not.
“Why shouldn’t we try it?”, was the answer. “There are alternatives to the bog parties and the popular candidates – and we have the chance to show the people, that they have supporters with a voice, too!”

Who is Cynthia McKinney? What are her political contents? Stay tuned for the next entry.