Why Rudy Giuliani May Make a Liar Out of Me

Like many Americans you could say I've lost faith in our government. Continual infighting, backbiting, and political wrangling that bleeds the citizens they are supposed to represent have left a good many people cynical, and as such, do not "waste" their time going to the polls where it seems the only opinions that matters are those of the extreme. The vast majority have sat and watched us enter an ill concieved war, only to be told that the only way out by the opposition is to "bring the troops home" or, to put it in terms that people not in government service might understand, admit defeat.

Yet, despite it all, and despite my own decision to stay out of the election booth in 2008, there is to me a small glimmer of hope for those of us who would prefer practicality to politics. At this stage in any rate, the outsiders have the run on the Washingtonites. Now I know it's too much to hope for, but watching Obama and Giuliani maintain leads over the more extreme in their views, Clinton and McCain, is heartening. Those of us who do not believe that science is a threat to the bible, or that massive marches of people with slogans like "Impeach the President Already" sound like fun, it is nice to see the people who do not personify party politics getting their day in the sun.

I may yet have to recant my decision not to vote, and it may be because one of our countries toughest politicians, maybe just maybe, may get his chance to run for the White House. Rudy Giuliani has impressed me almost as long as I've known about him. Here is a man who ran as a Republican in New York, and won. He took on the mob in the Big Apple, and won. He stood amongst the dust and rubble of the Twin Towers and through his tears we all saw reflected a humanism, not often witnessed in our Washington "elite" who sound so much like each other that most of us couldn't distinguish one from their other, and those who can don't really care.

I like the idea of a no-pulled-punches type of president. He is unapologetically pro-choice, though he is anti-abortion. If this seems contradictory let me sum it up for you. No matter what he personally thinks about abortion, and he doesn't like it, he does not think it the government's job to regulate something that is between a person and their doctor. How about that? Someone who can actually dislike something and not try to cram it down someone else's throat? Of course this idea infuriates all types of people who, lest you forget, aren't at all concerned about the way they live their lives, they want to tell you how to live yours.

I have to say that at this moment I can't imagine the Republican political machine allowing a free thinker on the big ticket. However, it WILL be fun to watch. Do they dare deny him the chance? Across America he is highly respected, well spoken and exudes that toughness that has become symbolic of New Yorkers. If he can beat the odds again, a talent he seems to do with ease, it could cause quite a problem for Democratic hopefuls, then again a Guiliani presidency would be just as tough on hard line republicans as well. Perhaps he's just the man we need in, as the Irish Curse goes, "Interesting Times".

In any case, Rudy may make a liar out of me if he makes it onto the ticket, for as much as I have come to loathe the politcal establishment, I personally feel that I owe it to this man. The man who was there in our greatest moment of horror, who keeps on doggedly representing the middle ground of American politics. I owe him my vote, and I am quite sure I'm not the only one who feels that way.