Cast an educated Vote
Slater Bakhtavar

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 ME, 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. Please vote, but please make an educated vote.