今年2月4日，美国20多个州进行大选前的预选，号称"超级星期二"。
当时，计算机工程师Shelley Powers写了一篇网志，谈了她对各个候选人的看法。
我读了以后很受震动，没有想到一个普通美国人，对待自己的政治权利居然这样严肃和认真。
我将她的这篇网志翻译了出来，大家可以从另一个侧面了解一下美国大选。不过说实话，我觉得她的政治观点有点感情用事。
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I spent the last week looking at differences between Clinton and Obama. I thought about what they've done in the past, what there was about each that I didn't like. I focused on their weaknesses in an attempt to determine which deserved my vote.
上个星期，我都在研究希拉里和奥巴马的区别。我研究了他们的过去，思考了我对他们各自的不满之处。为了决定到底支持谁，我对他们的缺点特别关注。
During that same time, I received call after call from the Republican party about Huckabee, McCain, and Romney. In the end, I couldn't "see" the differences between Obama and Clinton, because of the huge gaps between both of them and the Republican candidates.
与此同时，我还接到了共和党的拉票电话，支持对象包括哈克比、麦凯恩和罗姆尼。最后，我看不出奥巴马和希拉里之间的区别，因为与共和党的候选人相比，他们之间的差别几乎不存在了。
The Republican candidates all emphasize their 'strength', and determination to fight terrorism. I look around the country today and frankly, terrorism is the least of my long list of concerns. Clinton and Obama, on the other hand, emphasize the issues that do worry me. More importantly, they talk of the people, as a whole, while the Republicans talk about groups: the Christians, the pro-lifers, the terrorists, other governments.
共和党候选人总是强调自己的力量，以及同恐怖主义作战的决心。我环顾我们的国家，坦率地说，恐怖主义现在是我最不关心的事情。与此相反，奥巴马和希拉里总是强调那些让我担忧的事情。更重要的是，他们谈到了人民，作为一个整体的人民，而共和党总是谈论一小部分人：基督徒、反堕胎者、恐怖主义分子、其他国家的政府。
The Republican candidates promise change, but bring the same thing to this election that they brought to the last: keep the people focused on the differences between us, so that we're blind to what's happened in this country to all of us. All of the people. We the people.
共和党候选人承诺变革，但是他们带给这次选举的，其实同上一次选举没有不同：他们让人们更关注我们之间人与人的差别，因此忽视了正发生在所有人身上的事情。发生在所有的人、发生在我们所有人身上的事情。
We the people...words we've heard before. Words we don't hear enough, now. Regardless of religious beliefs, region, country of our birth and our ancestry, sex or sexual preference, even income, we have forgotten in these last eight years that we are a people united by the same concerns and worries. What impacts any one group of us, impacts all of us.
我们所有人......这个词我们早就听到了。可是现在，它却被提到得太少。在过去8年中，我们已经忘记了，无论宗教信仰、居住地、出生国、祖先。性别或者性取向、甚至收入，我们都是被同样的喜怒哀愁团结在一起的一群人。影响我们中任何一部分人的事情，都会影响到我们所有人。
One out of five of us doesn't have health insurance. Both Clinton and Obama have promised universal health care, and though there are differences in the implementation, in the long run, both have promised to take the steps necessary to make this happen. None of the Republicans have even made this attempt.
我们中每5个人就有1个没有医疗保险，希拉里和奥巴马都承诺全民医疗保障，虽然他们各自的实施方案有所不同，但是从长期来看，他们两个都承诺采取必要的步骤来达到这个目标。共和党候选人没有一个做过这种努力。
Both Obama and Clinton have promised an end to the current state in Iraq, and though their methods are different, at least they have promised to take the first steps necessary to make this happen. None of the Republicans have even made this attempt. The opposite in fact: there isn't a Republican candidate I trust not to do the same thing in Iran that we've done to Iraq. This thought terrifies me.
奥巴马和希拉里都承诺结束伊拉克战争，虽然他们的方法不同，但是至少他们承诺采取必要的行动，走出第一步。共和党候选人没有一个做过这种努力。与此相反，所有共和党候选人都用对待伊拉克的方法，同样对待伊朗。这种想法真的吓坏我了。
The Republicans talk of building a 2 billion dollar fence between us and Mexico, and I think what has happened to us that our biggest concern is placing barbed wire between some poor soul and a job picking apples for 8 dollars an hour? This, while we condone torture, indiscriminate wiretapping, and a bloated, useless agency that can't even handle the natural disasters we do face every year?
共和党候选人号称要用20亿美元，在美国和墨西哥之间建起隔离墙。在我看来，这难道不等于在那些贫穷的墨西哥人与一份8美元/小时的捡苹果的工作之间，架起一道铁丝网吗？这种事，连同虐待战俘、大规模的窃听、庞大而无能的处理自然灾害的政府机构，我们真的每年都要面对吗？
Neither Obama nor Clinton have declared open war on corporations in this country, but each has said that the free ride corporations have had in the last eight years is over. On the other hand when the Republican candidates are asked about holding corporations responsible for their actions, they respond with assertions about how they are pro-life and have a belief in God, as well as promise to continue the fight against terrorism. The same fight against terrorism that led to companies like Blackwater thinking themselves above the law, both inside and outside our country. The same fight against terrorism that led us to invade a country, not because it was a threat but because it had oil. The same fight against terrorism that led to laws benefiting corporations at the expense of the environment, our privacy, and our rights under the constitution.
奥巴马和希拉里都没有公开对大公司宣战，但是他们都说在过去8年中，对大公司的自由放任将会结束。另一方面，当共和党候选人被要求让大公司对其行为负责时，他们却大谈反对堕胎、信仰上帝、以及承诺继续打击恐怖主义。正是这场打击恐怖主义的战争，使得像黑水公司（Blackwater）那样的公司自以为凌驾于法律之上。正是这场打击恐怖主义的战争，使得我们入侵了另一个国家，不是因为它威胁我们，而是因为它有石油。这场打击恐怖主义的战争，使得对大公司有利的法律被通过，代价是我们的环境、我们的隐私、我们受宪法保护的权利。
In eight years, the only "trickle down" I've seen of the economics practiced by the Republicans are the tears on the faces of those who have lost their jobs, their homes, and their hopes.
八年了，我看到的唯一来自共和党政府，"从小至下"流下来的是人们的眼泪，那些人丧失了他们的房屋，他们的家，他们的希望。
The Republican candidates point, with fear, to socialism. What about corporatalism? Why is it so much better to give to the corporations than to the people? How much more of our national soul will we give, so that corporations can reap obscene profits with little oversight?
共和党候选人恐惧地表示，照顾穷人就等于是社会主义。那么什么是资本主义呢？难道将利益都分给大公司，而不是普通人，就好得多吗？我们到底还要再出卖多少这个国家的灵魂，以便那些大公司在无人监管的情况，无耻地获取利润？
What an election the Presidential election of 2008 will be. For the first time in history, we go into this presidential election with a candidate who is not a symbol of the ruling elite. Regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination-Obama or Clinton-his or her fight for the presidency will be long and difficult. Too difficult to start it with being disappointed because the candidate we have is not the other.
2008年总统大选是一场怎样的选举啊！历史上第一次，执政党一方的标志性人物没有参加选举。不管谁赢得民主党总统候选人的提名----奥巴马或希拉里----他或她的竞选历程将是漫长和艰苦的。开始的时候，难免会给人失望，因为选择了一位候选人，就意味着失去另一位。
At the end of my considerations, I couldn't see the differences between Clinton and Obama. All I can see is the goodness in both. The hope each brings to this election. How desperately we need them, both of them. Whatever each has done in that past that I don't like is not as important as what I believe they will do for us in the future. I thought to myself last night, "Which of all of the presidential candidates will best represent me in the next four years?" I then got a call from a state representative hawking McCain, and found my answer.
最后，我还是看不出来希拉里和奥巴马的区别。我看到的只有他们两个身上的优点。他们每一个人都为这次选举带来希望。我们是多么需要他们啊，需要他们两个。我对他们过去行为的不满之处，相比我相信他们将来为我们所做的一切，是多么微不足道啊。
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