Who's your candidate?

I don't know how much you care about politics, but I work with, and carpool with, a bunch of liberal Bush-hating fanatics. They blame the war on him. They blame the housing crisis on him. And they even blame the stock market on him. I guess it makes people feel better to have someone to blame... So now all they talk about (other than their pensions) is the upcoming elections and how desperately they want a Democrat as president to "balance out the power" (even though Congress is already controlled by Democrats). Anyway, they're quite a passionate bunch to say the least. I usually try to zone them out by pumping the music louder on my iPod or pretending to sleep. They probably think I'm ignorant and sheltered because I don't share their passions.

The African-American guy in my carpool likes Hillary. The white guy likes Obama. Go figure... With all the attacks, the posturing, the promises... it's really hard to tell them apart on the issues. One has "vision" while the other has "experience," but in the end, they all promise the same thing, "change." Yeah, like change the subject!

Glassbooth.org
This week a friend introduced me to GlassBooth.org. This is a great website where you can determine for yourself which candidate best represents your values. You rate the issues most important to you and then take a brief survey related to those issues. Based on your answers, it will list the top three candidates that best identify with your beliefs. If you're curious as to why a certain candidate does or does not coincided with your morals, you can click on their name for a list of their views on a given topic, including a list of quotes and how they voted on certain issues in the past.

It only takes a few minutes. But it's worthwhile to find out who you should be voting for regardless of what you hear in the media. If you're a true Democrat or Republican, chances are your candidates will all fall along party lines. But it is still important to see where they stand on specific issues (immigration, Iraq, gay rights, etc.). And who knows, you may be surprised that you're a bit more liberal/conservative than you originally thought!