Some Politics Stuff

Why do people appear to care so much? I mean, no one is even arguing about specific issues anymore. If you aren't arguing about issues, then what are you arguing about? Experience? Intelligence? Money? The closer this election gets, the more abstract the arguments are becoming. And for some reason, the more abstract the arguments get, the more people get emotionally vested.

And what's with all of the assumptions? OK fine, maybe they aren't assumptions. Just know that when you forward a politically biased email out to 50 of your friends, this will be interpreted as an act of unsolicited propaganda. If you don't mind being perceived as "that person", then by all means, continue to forward those emails. The same goes for unsolicited political jokes, unsolicited political "rants", and [fill in the blank with other social faux pas' that have nothing to do with politics].

My own assumption (perhaps incorrect) was that these people were too stupid to realize that not everyone around them was hit with collateral damage from the brainwashing they experienced. After all it has to be brainwashing right? Why else would you blindly assume that everyone you know has the EXACT same opinions as you on EVERYTHING? The answer is, you would not make that assumption if you had actually come up with any of these opinions on your own. Why? Because after putting legitimate thought and research into a particular issue you would realize that there are so many variables as play, and so many unique and valid points to consider, that there is no possible way you could predict another person's opinion on an issue... much less an entire group of friends and acquaintances.

Which brings me to my next point. How can people align themselves blindly to one particular party and then preach to the world how spectacular their candidate is, and how rotten the other candidate is? I was cautiously surprised to find out that there are more independents than usual this year. I strongly hope that these people evaluate each issue that they deem worthy of consideration and choose a candidate who most strongly agrees with their opinion on each issue. Pretty basic right?

Instead it seems that the vast majority of the voting population is swayed by one-liners.

"McCain is a war monger"
"Democrats are communists"
"Palin has no experience"
"Obama is un-American"
"McCain is more Bush politics"
etc

I'm so sick of hearing these (and other) lines over and over again. Those things don't even mean anything. The entire political environment has turned into a giant pep rally. Literally, its like walking through campus on a Saturday during football season and trying to guess the winner of the game based on who has the best spirit banners and cheer leaders. Never mind who has the more skilled athletes, the better coaching staff and a better game plan.

I'm going to touch on a few of these non-issues...

The War

McCain doesn't want to go to war just for the sake of going to war. The man didn't get to where he is by being a dumb ass. Bush has us in the middle of a war with the worst approval rating in history and McCain might inherit it. The last thing he, or any rational human being, wants is to continue the war any longer than he has to. Would Obama end the war faster than McCain? Maybe, but we don't know if he would be successful. If it was that easy wouldn't McCain do the same thing? Do we want the war ended immediately if it meant hundreds or thousands of innocent Iraqi people (including children) would die? No, obviously.

Would McCain be more likely to get us involved in another war chasing down Bin Laden? Perhaps. Will this put us in another Iraq type scenario? Possibly. No one knows. Could it possibly prevent future terrorist attacks? Possibly. No one knows. Would Bin Ladin ever strike again if we just ignored him, or beefed up intelligence instead of pursuing with force? Possibly. We don't know.

If you don't know the answer to any of the above questions (and you don't), then how can you be so certain the one candidate's war/diplomacy policies will be better than another?

Communism

Seriously, are we all 8 yrs old again? Grow up and read a book or two. Anytime I hear someone mention communism in the same sentence with democrats or Obama, I immediately subtract 75 points from that persons probable IQ. These are the same people that hold Sarah Palin's convention speech in higher regard than Nelson Mandela's 1964 speech.

Anyway, the tax code is flawed to the point of being nearly broken. I'd guess that over 90% of Americans agree with that statement. Each candidate has a preliminary tax plan that calls for adjusting the tax code in some way, shape or form. A tax is a tax, ok. Don't read between the lines. The government takes money from you so that they can use it pay for things that we the people) want as a society.

There are always going to be differing opinions on how much money is needed by the government, who they take it from, and how they spend it. This is a very dynamic system. It is also a system that involves enormous amounts of money and enormous numbers of people. This means that inevitably some corruption is involved (not matter who is in office). By corruption all I mean is the wrong people getting the money or people not paying their fair share. This doesn't make it ok, nor does it make it a system that can not work. What it means is that we should demand that the system be fixed so that corruption is as least likely as possible. Once the money is being collected and handled without corruption, we can move on to debating how much to collect and what to spend it on.

So yea, as far as how "much" to tax and "where" to spend the money... well those are examples of some of the real issues people should be evaluating and using to help themselves decide on a candidate. After all, these are the types of things that a president really will have an effect on and they will affect your life (admittedly a lot less than people would like you to think).

Experience

I think this experience thing is extremely overrated. It started with Obama being called out for lack of experience and now it has shifted to Palin. Obviously, none of the candidates have experience running the country. Hell, George W. bush had the most experience (indirectly) of any president in recent history (since his dad was the president and all...), yet managed to suffer some of the worst approval ratings in history.

Where do people get this concept of comparing other jobs to running the united states of America? If someone is the CEO of a giant corporation, this means that they will know how to structure an equitable tax plan, excel at diplomacy, or restructure an entire healthcare system? I don't get it. I personally am looking for someone who is an effective leader with a vision that matches mine as closely as possible. That's it.

Lets go back to the football analogy. Who would you rather have as your running back last year, the experienced Warrick Dunn, or the inexperienced rookie Adrian Peterson? Pretty easy answer. The difference is that Adrian Peterson is obviously bigger, faster and more skilled than Warrick Dunn. In fact, his lack of "experience" made him even more productive because he wasn't "pre programmed" to react certain ways in certain situations thus allowing him to take advantage of unique opportunities as they presented themselves.

Un-American

I have to be quite honest - I don't know what this word means in relation to Obama. I mean, he is American according to the records I have been made aware of. I can only assume that when people use this word, what they really mean to be saying is unpatriotic. After all, if un-American means that your ancestors were born in a different country - then I guess we are all un-American.

Anyway, each person has their own level of patriotism. Some people apparently feel that there is some sort of "patriotism threshold" qualifier that has to be met in order for a candidate to receive their vote. While I respect that opinion, I only share it to a certain extent. Obviously, it would be a bad idea to vote for someone who wanted to see the demise of America. In some limited capacity they could actually do some things that could set us back a tad before getting impeached. However, to somehow try to extrapolate this concept to Barack Obama really makes you look like a moron. Of course, these days I honestly think that people don't care that they are perceived as morons, as long as their peers are also perceived as morons with them. Each to their own.


This is getting long, so I will wrap it up. I like a lot of Obama's characteristics and I like some of the concepts on his platform. I also like McCain's personality when he is being himself and not trying to rally the troops. I really don't give a rats ass about the VP because that's not what we are voting for. You don't bet on a football team because you think the backup QB has charisma. You pick the person who has the best chance to win the game.

I know things aren't going to get any better. The debates will start soon and we will have to bear an increase the blind hypocrisy, the distorted statistics, the name calling, the pep rally antics, and all the other shenanigans that apparently goes along with it. And no media is unbiased. My 7 yr old could tell you which party each media outlet supports within 10 seconds of watching, or reading any publication from any of them. We all know how blatantly obvious it is, so quit pretending that your party is not favored in the media. All media outlets have their favorite, but again, who cares anyway? Republicans watch Fox and listen to Rush and Democrats watch Letterman and read the NY Times...etc. There's enough to go around. If you are offended by the bias, then change the channel. I personally like the bias becuase it gives me something to talk about. Its too bad these are the only sources of information for some people.

Enough for today. I'm sure I'll have more of these rants as we move toward election day.