The 2008 presidential primary elections have given many political aficionados a plethora of partisan banter to dissect, exploit and ballyhoo over, but for the first time since maybe the Reagan Administration, people are paying attention and coming out to vote in record numbers. It’s history they want to be a part of, with a woman and black man leading the Democratic primary and a Republican party so divided among its conservative core that any one of a handful of candidates could get the GOP nod.

Now, more than ever, the people have a chance to dictate the way this country will proceed in the upcoming years, especially in this day of uncertainty where the paradigm to our future is at its utmost importance. In a time where there is a tentative feeling of fear due to ongoing troubles in Iraq and what looks to be an economic recession hitting us at home, this election is highly important.

Yes, there should be a rational fear brewing up in the mind of many Californians fomented by issues such as healthcare, global warming, the war in Iraq, immigration, job security and economic growth. These issues will be at the top of many U.S. citizens’ list come election time, but once the Democratic and Republican nominations are handed out the weight of the Independent voters will be felt and with them they will bear in mind the question, “another Republican administration?”

Of course this is not just a California issue but also a nationwide issue that will hover in the back of many people’s minds. Independents are the swing vote that will propel either party to victory and the Republicans are hoping that the malfeasant acts and strategic blunders of the current administration will be overlooked in the hope that these voters will see prosperous future of the Grand Old Party.

But such heartaches and arrogance bordering on ignorance are hard to dismiss and the failures of this current administration will become a focal point in the 2008 general election. Historically this current administration will become infamously known as the years of the neo-conservatives, where rigid partisan ship stood as the emblem of a horribly run government lead by the right-wing elite: Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfield and George W. Bush, to name a few.

This administration sold the American public and the world itself on a false war, in a country that didn’t harbor the nefarious Osama bin Laden and stumbled its way into another war. A war that has now focused on the rehabilitation of the country of Iraq after the invasion divided an already volatile nation that has seen a blood bath, mainly along different religious sects and still counties today, spanning over five years.

And what about those early dissenters who believed that the explanations and evidence were only misguided subtext used to manipulate the general public in supporting a war founded on false premises? People such as Joe Wilson, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, whose own findings suggested that what material used for the production of weapons of mass destruction were in fact a confabulation of mass lies. Upon releasing his findings, “Scooter” Libby, the former senior adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, leaked the name of a CIA undercover operative, Valerie Plame, who was also rebuking false finding found by the Bush Administration in Niger and happened to be the wife of Joe Wilson.

The media hammered this federal crime and justice was served when Libby was sentenced to over three years in prison. That decision was a brief showing of democracy at its best, that is until President Bush stepped in and pardoned Libby for his crime.

Should we just forget mastermind of the right, Karl Rove’s ideal pursuit of the utopia of a Republican super majority? How both he and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfied routinely relayed false information out to the public about the progress of the war or how President Bush flew onto the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003, emerging to the joyous naval troops with a large banner behind stating “mission accomplished.”

Be it the initial statements of the administration suggesting that this war would be over in a matter of weeks, former Chairman of The World Bank Paul Wolfowitz giving a highly paid job within the reserve to his girlfriend, Deputy Attorney of State Alberto Gonzalez firing of eight republican U.S. deputy attorneys for not abiding to the partisan credo, or the illegal wiretapping fiasco there is much to atone for and much more healing of the Republican name that cannot be fixed by a new Republican in office.

Our foreign policy has emboldened many terrorists that live in countries hostile to the U.S. An end to the war is nowhere in sight, the value in the dollar has significantly decreased and the price of oil has hit a record of $100 per barrel. Let us not forget about the troubles facing much of the middle and lower class people of America who are unsure about how to pay for healthcare and if they’ll have enough stability in their job to last through what looks like an impending economical recession.

Now if Independent, Democratic and even Republican voters carry the weight of all this in their mind and much, much more that was not stated, can they once again sign up for another one of the GOP’s finest? If these are the faults of just one Republican-lead administration, should we dare think about what a possible four to eight more years would bring? Come election time even if the Republican Party does the smart thing and selects a maverick (their only shot) as the GOP’s representative, can you blame the voters that will be stepping into the voting booths on November 4, for saying to themselves, “Not another Republican administration!”?

Victor Nieto can be reached at [email protected]