president

My politics are what I'd call left of liberal. I've had people actually tell me that. And, while I'm disappointed with the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, I'm not devastated. You see, it's because I'm also a vegan.

Vegans are probably one of the most despised group in the world today, right behind ISIS and Al-Qaeda,  ridiculed equally by conservatives and progressives. Our crime? To show compassion for all living animals. Why does being vegan not make me want to take to the streets protesting Trump's election, you ask? Let me explain.

I decided to write a letter to President Obama regarding my feelings of how animal agriculture is (negatively) affecting climate change and healthcare and suggested that he use his position and influence to move towards a more sustainable and healthy system of food production.

Since I've heard that politicians like handwritten letters, I wrote it by hand. Below is a scanned excerpt of the letter. The full handwritten letter can be found here: Page 1, Page 2 and Page 3. My address and phone number have been blurred out on Page 3. (The text version of the letter and President Obama's response is located after the break.)

UPDATE 3: I guess I was wrong. Hopefully, Obama will be a better president the second time around.

UPDATE 2: Americans Elect did not reach the support they hoped to gain, so will not have a candidate in the 2012 Presidential Election. Therefore, if you call yourself a liberal or progressive, consider voting for Jill Stein or Rocky Anderson, whoever has the higher media presence. I say higher media presence because their political views are similarly aligned and voting for the one without the media presence will split the true liberal votes. Whatever you do, stay away from the two dominant dumber and dumber candidates.

UPDATE: Soon after I wrote this post, I was made aware of Americans Elect, a organization that is creating the first nonpartisan presidential nomination in U.S. history where citizens choose candidates based on issues that matter to them. Check it out at http://www.americanselect.org/.

To all the Obama apologists out there, answer me this question, is the country better off now than when Obama was sworn in as president?

Don't give me BS answers like, how much worse it would be under the alternative because that is not what happened. In 2008, he was the right choice, but is he still the right choice for 2012? Do you support the war on Libya (and the reasons why we aren't in Bahrain and Syria)? Do you approve of the extension of the Bush tax cuts that he signed into law? Are you OK with Obama saying he will close Guantanamo but hasn't? Are you OK with the drone strikes in Pakistan that kills more innocents than terrorists? Are you OK with Obama administrations treatment of Bradley Manning who exposed the war atrocities of the U.S. military? Are you OK with asking immigrants to support Obama, whose administration oversees ICE and is responsible for rounding up and deporting more "illegals" than Bush?