by Tai Ching - contributing writer

My name is Tai Ching and it is important to me that people exercise their right to vote. I've gathered educated information from the radio, books and the Internet (you can't rely much on TV anymore to tell you the real news) to form my own opinions about President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry. I think it's important for people to know the real facts instead of the political propaganda they usually hear in the American media. But sadly, my view of the election this year doesn't matter, because I am only 16 years old. But if I were old enough to vote I'd send my vote to re-elect President Bush for four more years.

President Bush has shown himself to be an aggressive war-time leader after the attack of September 11, 2001. The president has taken the war to the enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq. The fact that America has not sustained another terrorist attack for the past three years is a testament to the correctness of this strategy.

President Bush understands the history and gravity of the Islamic threat. Islam has set an historical precedent of desire for cultural domination. Most recently leading up to World War I, when the Ottoman Empire Islamisized much of Europe and Russia. Bush has set American priorities to seek out and destroy terrorists and the nations that support them. Some critics have said Iran and Syria are also terrorist nations, which is true, and imply that the president should be invading them also. They overlook the fact that a victory in the WORST terrorist harboring nation, Iraq, and a free, democratic Iraqi nation will send a powerful message to its neighbors. Libya has already seen the light and unilaterally decided to turn its nuclear weapons over to the U.S.A.

In order to distract Americans from the very real threat of Islamo-facism to Western civilization, the president's opponents have tried to say that the American economy is terrible, American people are without jobs, starving, going without health care, and generally living in poverty not seen since the Great Depression. But the truth is, there has been continued job growth in good paying fields, according to a U.S. Department of Labor press release, with 1.5 million Americans finding new jobs from August 2003 to June 2004.The president can take much of the credit for this growth. His aggressive leadership to lower taxes and interest rates has created the ability for business to rally and reinvest in the economy. America's economy is the powerhouse of the world and is growing steadily. No other country is even close in terms of prosperity.

I was born in England, lived in Germany, traveled Europe, and lived in Japan. I can say from first-hand experience, no other country's normal, working class people live nearly as well as Americans.

If I were old enough, I would vote for President Bush because he is a man of conviction and proven leadership. President Bush is a businessman, he's made his military record available for evaluation and he acts independently. Kerry, on the other hand, was born to wealth and married into more. He is a self-proclaimed "war hero" who spent less than four months in a combat zone and will not release his military record. Furthermore, Kerry says he'll look to other nations for permission to take action to protect our country.

I have a close personal friend fighting as a Marine in Iraq. I have two brothers in the military. They believe the war in Iraq is the right war at the right time and in the right way. They also believe the US is winning the war, except in the American media. They believe what they are doing is a noble thing that will have historical impact. I agree with them.