Political Crap

I somehow ended up on a "grassroots conservative" web site that uses all the typical catch phrases about smaller, less intrusive government, etc. It's also highly insulting to liberals ("idiots from the left") which, to me, is the exact image I have of Republicans. If you don't agree with them, then fuck you. You're an idiot and you're trying to ruin the country.

I think the reason why the majority of the last 30 years was filled with Republican presidents has to do with the fact that people are afraid to make a choice that will make them seem like an idiot. When people are saying "democrats are idiots", it doesn't matter what the issues are anymore. There's rarely a substantive discussion of any issues - just grandiose claims about the threat liberal thought poses. Plus, if you jump on board, there are plenty of talking points that are being drilled every single day to help you back your new position and alienate democrats/idiots.

The whole notion is crazy. Republicans are seeking democracy but hate democrats. The most prosperous times I can remember since I've been able to vote were the 8 years when we had a democratic president. Maybe that's a coincidence. Maybe it had more to do with the congress at that time. Maybe that president was a student of history (as well as philanderer) and put together a good cabinet.

I know what's coming. There will be all kinds of advertising slinging all kinds of mud. Nobody will be spared and everyone will be made to look like baby-killing terrorists before it ends. Especially this time around, the democrats will be touting change - the republicans will be talking about how stupid and scary that is.

While we're spending unfathomable amounts and sending even more military presence to Iraq, we'll have to hear the same catch-phrases about less government (presumably they mean here, in the U.S.), lower taxes, etc. Meanwhile, democrats will be effectively arguing each other out of existence and leaving the door open once again.

The fact that Bush made it into a second term means that people would rather keep the status quo than have to bear a change - even if it's an esoteric change. Does the president really have that much of an affect on our daily lives? Only if he riles up the worst elements in the world, I suppose. I blame the terrorists for dropping the two towers, the chunk of pentagon, and the other plane. I blame our own government for bilking every U.S. citizen of money for a department of homeland security whose only function, it seems, is to make it more difficult to take a trip on an airplane by changing the threat level color.

In short, I know I'm oversimplifying the process and the players. I know that by categorizing democrats and republicans, I'm just as short-sighted as the web site I chided earlier. My point for this whole post is that I wish we, as a country, could just do the web-based match to your ideal candidate based on all of the pertinent issues, then log that as a vote. All of the conjecture would be moot because everyone would be voting on the issues, not the candidate or his haircut.