The presidential election of 2000 was plagued with all sorts of controversy regarding rigged ballots, robbed votes and the discrepancy between the candidate chosen by the popular vote and the Electoral College. We as citizens cannot single-handedly change any of these catastrophes from occurring again, nor can we abolish an existing voting system. However, we can assess the ideas and people that influence what we vote for. Familial influence on the shaping of an adolescent’s political views is undeniably more powerful than any other media. As children of parents who have grown up in a different time with different values, it is important to distance ourselves from the cultural baggage they carry as we develop our political views. As the child of Muslim immigrant parents, in the 2000 election I witnessed Imam’s lobbying for support of George Bush, during Friday prayer, out of fear that our next Vice President could be Sen. Joe Lieberman, a practicing Jew. In fact, the American Muslim Political Council Coordination was created that year to encourage Muslim support of the Republican ticket. Ironically enough, George Bush would fulfill the nightmares Muslims had about Lieberman by encouraging an aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East. What was alarming about this, was that a group of people, as insignificant as they were to the overall outcome of the election, thought it appropriate to vote for the president of the United States based on what they saw in the interest of their native countries. As naturalized American citizens, was it not their duty to attend fore mostly, to the interest of this country? After eight years of the sheer terror the Bush administration has subjected us to, there is a similar tendency recurring among various Americans, most notably Israel-supporting Jews. There is an incessant fear that if elected, Obama’s foreign policy will be less pro-Israeli than that of McCain’s. Even more outlandish are the fears that Obama is secretly a Muslim (despite his having denied such claims on multiple occasions). Are we willing to gamble the growth of global warming on Palestine and Israel? Is it worth jeopardizing our economy, health care, and the college educations of our children on Palestine and Israel? Most importantly, are we willing to gamble all these issues that hit so close to home for us, on an assumption that Obama may or may not deal with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in a certain way? Eight years ago, no Muslim could have foreseen the chaos President Bush ignited in the Middle East. There is no guarantee that McCain will prove equally ineffective at the very least, in protecting the state of Israel. The danger we, as American citizens, will face by voting based on myths and paranoia about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is completely familiar. If we allow ourselves to let our cultural baggage get the best of us, we will be doing a disservice to our country, regardless of party affiliation. For the sake of our country, I hope that when we all vote in November, it will be for the future of America.