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Deciding the vote in 2008 is difficult with so many issues that need to be addressed with some sense of urgency. The energy needs, economy, global warming and the ongoing war with Iraq loom ahead with other areas of instability and unrest in the world, affect our choice.

Add to that, the falling value of the US Dollar, Social Security issues, and we have a huge job of electing the right President. How much does our vote really count? In the final analysis we can only select from whomever the Democrat and Republican Party nominate.

Super Tuesday comes on February 5, 2008. On that date, twenty states will cast primary votes. With the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary already settled, we'll know by then, who the Democrat and Republican nominees will be.

If our vote is to have any significant weight in the Presidential race, it will go to either the Democrat or Republican party nominee. They are the main players in the race and essentially, our choices are reduced to one or the other.

Between the two major candidates and a third Green Party candidate, most of us will make our choice of who will do the best job for the United States of America. The money is behind the two Democrat and Republican candidates. The Green Party can't compete on a national scale.

Ideology plays a big role in our vote when it comes down to the selected Presidential candidates. If we don't know what we believe and where we place our values, we'll be like leaves blowing in the wind, or we'll let celebrities influence our vote.

We tend to see the candidates as one thing or the other, but the issues today demand that we take a closer look at them and their ability before we decide. There are enormous issues in our world today. Energy and economy are just two major issues, but the economy is involved and intertwines with all solutions.

Energy legislation enactment will cost the tax payer and impact the economy, even though it's necessary to achieve energy independence. Global warming legislation will also cost. Tax breaks will probably disappear in the near future and tax shelters will come under scrutiny.

Legislation to place a cap on carbon emissions and enact renewable energy programs intersect both goals. Be aware that they will both cost the taxpayer.

The declining population of the younger generation will also impact the economy placing the burden of government spending on the wage earners. In twenty short years the population will be made of the older boomer generation with more health care costs and no money to pay for social security.

Not one issue is isolated from the other.

All issues are entwined with cost, burden of payment and the ever present millions of dollars through pork barreling that congress will not eliminate from their practices. When you hear candidates speak on these issues, they rarely, if ever, connect the dots.

Voting demands some knowledge of the issues and how they will play out given the complexity of the back drop of economics and preservation. Go into it with your eyes open and make your choice. Make your own choice.

Celebrities are not (generally) political experts.

Learn more about this author, Mona Gallagher.
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