In the past two weeks, the global financial system has seen such chaotic and devastating activity that, as voters, we find ourselves in a critical position to elect a president who will maneuver us far from the destitution of the Bush administration's policies.
Before, one could make a reasonable argument that a vote for Sen. John McCain was at least in the best interest of those with large bank accounts. It was assumed the rich should vote Republican.
Now, with the investments of the entire world on thin ice, such an assumption cannot be made.
Given the emerging and established evidence of the negligent and failing Bush administration policies, Americans must understand the enormous impact that the state of the global financial system has on them.
By no standard is the economic foundation of our nation stable; it is in a state of utter chaos.
In case you've been sleeping for the past two weeks, several historic events have taken place in the financial world that will impact the lives of most of the people on this planet.
Last week, the government made unprecedented seizures of financial mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Plans were announced Sunday for Merrill Lynch to be sold to avoid bankruptcy. On Monday, investment-banking titan Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. Both events caused a flurry of fearful activity on the stock market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average responded by dropping more than 504 points on Monday, which was the greatest one-day drop since the first day of trading after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
On Wednesday, the government gained ownership of 80 percent of the massive insurance company AIG in exchange for an $85 billion loan. Amid ballooning fears encapsulating the global financial system, the Dow Jones plummeted again nearly 450 points.
What does this mean? In historical context, it serves as a potential beckoning to a great financial depression.
This decline could rob the value of all our assets through the degradation of the American dollar. We must avoid this downturn at all costs by using the 2008 presidential election to re-chart our nation's economic course.
Our continued dependence on fossil fuels serves to threaten our national security while simultaneously perpetuating expensive preemptive wars and permanently scarring our environment.
The ecological and financial costs of worsening the effects of global warming via continued investment in the oil industry will serve to economically paralyze our nation in the pursuit of sustaining a modernized industrial economy.
This election, when deciding between a candidate funded by the lobbyists responsible for Bush administration policies and a candidate funded by 2.5 million outraged American citizens demanding change in these policies, please choose wisely.
Know that McCain's dialogue of change in Washington is laughable compared to his record of voting with Bush policies.
Independently research energy, health care, war, the environment and the economy before you go to the polls. Each of these issues is critical to this election.
Elect a leader we can count on to guide us in these turbulent times, as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt did in theirs.
Elect Barack Obama.
Lance Legel is president of the Dynamo for Environment and Humanity Inc. and a UF physics and astronomy junior.
