election 2008

Congratulations, Senator President-Elect Barack Obama. You have won the Presidency. Good luck with that; you’re going to need it.

Truth is, despite the historical nature of having elected the first African-American President in this country’s history, not much in the US has changed. The economy is still reeling, there is still conflict in the Middle East, and the world still doesn’t care that much about us, even with “their boy” being elected. We’ve still got miles to go, and it’s not going to be easy. So, in the spirit of coming together, allow me to make a few suggestions as to what needs to be done going forward.

1. Social Justice - You’re probably think I’ve gone soft on this, but there’s more a potential for the Obama administration to screw up here than you think. If there is really going to be change made by the Democrats, it has to start with being truly just. This means actually administering according to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. Champion rights for gay people. Give immigrants a fair shot at becoming US citizens (but please, still require a working knowledge of the English language). Be truly pro-choice, and let women have children if they want to have them. Most importantly, don’t let the rich get away with crimes. Make up for the mistakes of the bailouts by holding people accountable for their actions. Doing such may hurt us in the short term, but in the long run, it will do us a world of good.
2. The Iraq Debacle - It’s not going to be as easy to fix this as one would think. We are too far in to just pull out in one shot. The best withdrawal plan I’ve heard of is a phased withdrawal; it might take a longer period of time than some people are comfortable with, but I believe it will be less harmful overall than if we just disappear in short order. The situation in Iraq [i]will[/i] destabilize if we just up and pull out.
3. Religious Freedom - This is somewhat of a subset of the first mention point, but it is a bit of a concern. We cannot allow the United States of America to be even further unbalanced by persecution from any fringe group, be they fundamentalist or radical atheist. If Obama is truly the intelligent man he appears to be, surely he must recognize that the fringe groups are not the rule in all religions but rather the exception. He must condemn the extremists as separate groups from Christianity, Islam, and atheism. He must recommend that the greater community find ways to co-exist.
4. Rebuild Independence -The only way the US can repair its relationships with other countries to become stronger within itself. This includes finding ways to develop its own energy and become less reliant on other nations. It also means that we must start producing and sending out as much or more than we take in. We’ve been falling behind in trade due to importing cheaper goods from China and other countries. Our own goods are taxed so as to make them too expensive to send out. This must change. Once the US is able to stand on its own two feet again, the world will take notice. We have not been able to do so for almost 60 years, since the second World War.

These are but a few of the things I would like to see happen in the next four years. Maybe some of them are pipe dreams, but I truly believe we’ve got a lot to do if the US is going to continue being a superpower, or even to regain that status. I’ll probably post up more in later days as I can think of them…and I’d like for all of us to write up, if only for ourselves, the causes we would be willing to fight for going forward. If nothing else, it’s an exercise that will hold a mirror up to ourselves, to see where we as individuals need to improve ourselves. After all, the rebuilding of America will start with us.

I feel so dirty…so filthy. I feel like I’ve enabled someone with a dangerous, potentially fatal habit. I feel like I’ve fed into the worst addiction of all…the addiction to power and money.

I didn’t vote for who I wanted to vote for. But in all fairness, I didn’t have much choice.

In the state of Oklahoma, the election laws state that you can only vote for Democrats or Republicans. You also cannot write in candidates. One could probably spin that as trying to stave off joke candidates, but honestly, if you can’t trust the voters to take voting seriously, why let them vote at all. These laws are a disguised way of suppressing choice, REAL choice. This makes me extremely angry, and I’d like to think that I’m not the only one. I don’t care what the reasons for these restrictions are; the restrictions themselves are an infringement upon our rights.

Maybe you’re out there in another state with similar laws. Maybe you’ve always accepted it as the status quo. I tell you, there is no reason to accept such an injustice. None at all. There is no reason to be forced to vote for someone you don’t believe in. The only reason I voted at all instead of storming out of the polling place was because I cared about the local races, but that doesn’t make me any less angry about being forced to vote for a Presidential candidate that I think is a dope. In fact, the fact that I voted means I have a right, nay, an obligation to point a finger at everything I think looks fishy.

It’s too late to change the laws for this election, but it’s not too late to change the laws for future elections. We need to start now. We need change the laws in Oklahoma, and possibly in other states, starting now. Let’s get this going, America. We have a right to vote for whoever the hell we want, not whoever the hell your state or the media wants. There has to be a change. It has to start NOW.

Ugh. If there has ever been a longer election season than this one, both in relation to time and emotion, I’d like to know what it was. For somewhere around two years, The Chase for Power has been among the headlines all over the United States. And now, somewhat anti-climatically, two years of media frenzy will end in one night. Someone is going to be elected President of the United States. Personally, now more than ever, I am starting not to care who.

Don’t get me wrong. Should Obama win, I will be shuddering in anticipation over the inevitable gloating of the hyperliberals, proclaiming the beginning of a new age. If McCain somehow manages to win, I will also be shuddering over the prospects of four years of the Old and Beautiful (but hey, at least we’ll have Tina Fey). About the only prospect that would get me excited at this point would be for either Nader or Bob Barr to pop up out of nowhere and steal the election away in a stunning upset. But since the odds of that are becoming increasingly slim, when either one of the Big Two win, nothing is going to change. The only good thing about tomorrow, besides people getting out there to tell their Congresscritters whether or not they’re doing a good job, is that the campaigns will finally end.

After tomorrow, for at least the next two years, there will be no more hype, no more spin, no more bullshit. Lipstick will be something women use to make themselves more beautiful, not the spawning point of a media firestorm. No more pigs unless someone’s having a barbecue, no more pitbulls unless you’re talking about Michael Vick, and no more William Ayers references. The only battle for Washington that will matter is the Redskins’ race to get into the playoffs. Most importantly, the sun will still rise Wednesday morning, the sky will still be blue or grey, depending on cloud cover, and we will still be in an economic mess.

The world will not change much on November 5th. No matter who is elected, they won’t take office until January 20th, anyway. The only change that matters is that we, who have been held hostage by election coverage for around two years, will be freed from that bondage. This is not to say that political coverage will cease; it never does. There will still be scrutiny of Bush as he prepares to pass the dimly-lit torch to whomever comes next; Iraq will still be hell on Earth; the stock market will still so much like a roller-coaster that it might inspire Six Flags’ next epic thrill ride. But all the hype that had ever been accumulated over the election season will become meaningless. For the next two months and 15 days, we will be in a transitional stage. From hype to reality.

So tomorrow, go out there and vote your ass off. Hopefully, by now, you’ve found a candidate who aligns with you. It doesn’t matter who it is. I won’t say that this candidate will bring doom to us all or that candidate is the second coming of Christ, because honestly, I don’t believe that, and it wouldn’t matter anyway. Just go out there, exercise your right, and vote. And if you’re old enough to vote but haven’t registered to vote by now…shame on you. Your fate lies in the hands of the ones who have registered and will vote.

Whatever happens, happens. Whatever will be, will be. The important thing is that as of November 4th, 2008, the 2008 electoral season will finally end. Enjoy it while it lasts; the 2012 electoral season will probably begin in 2010. Good luck, y’all.

I know, I know, I’ve probably said this before…but it’s been a belief of mine that you should vote with your heart and your head, not with the identification on your voter registration card. That’s the major reason why I’m a registered independent voter in the state of Oklahoma. I believe that I have the right to vote for whoever the hell I want, regardless of political affiliation. Which is why, in this upcoming Presidential election, I plan on voting for someone other than the two main candidates.

You may ask, “Why bother? No third-party candidate is going to win, not this year, and not ever!” And I’ll be honest with you…for a time, I did believe that this year was ripe for a third-party candidate to break through and steal the election away from the Big Two. Well, maybe if Ron Paul was running, it would have happened, but unfortunately, we are left with a choice that is no choice. It is almost assured that one of the Big Two candidates will win this election, and current polls project that person to be the Democratic candidate Barack Obama. So with such an apparently hopeless situation, why would someone like me ever want to waste their vote on a third-party candidate?

The answer is simple: I believe that the Republicans and Democrats do not have the best interests of the American people at heart. I believe that there are no Donkeys or Elephants anymore, but there sure are a lot of jackasses. I believe in the innermost parts of my being that neither John McCain nor Barack Obama are the best men to lead this country. Most importantly, I believe that it won’t matter which one of the two wins, because we are still in quite the pickle.

But this is not purely a gut-instinct decision for me. I’ve battled this back and forth just over the last month, and what I have seen from both of the mainstream candidates has given my head cause to fall in line with my heart. McCain and Obama both supported the bailout, which I opposed if for no other reason than accountability, and both sides have in different ways shown a disdain for not only their opponent but for anyone who isn’t voting their way. McCain and Palin have been drifting more neo-con-ward, making themselves look stupid (especially with Palin getting busted for abuse of power in Troopergate), showing hypocrisy by swearing to take the high road while their ads blast Obama’s alleged terrorist ties. And then there are the hyperliberals, bowing down before Obama’s golden idol and denigrating anyone who doesn’t support their boy as sub-human. I cannot support either of these two sides because I know they are two sides of the same coin, and that coin is self-interest. I cannot truly believe that either the Republicans or Democrats really care about anything other than their own power and their own money.

The late Frank Herbert’s twist on a classic axiom reigns true now more than ever: “Power attracts the corruptible, and absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible.” The Republicans and Democrats both have been attracted to power, and all have proven themselves corruptible. They are running because they want control of the country for their party, not because they want to make the United States a better country than it was when they took office. The independent parties, however, have actual, solid stances and are wanting to really do things to shake this country up, and yet they are largely ignored by the media and the general populace. I bet you that you can’t name three of all the independent candidates and their parties; I myself can only name three parties and two candidates at most. Why? Because you never hear about them. The Big Two don’t want you to know about them, so they blitz the media with all their crap so the smaller voices don’t get heard. That’s not republican or democratic (not capitalized since I’m referencing the forms of government and not the parties), that’s oligarchical. It’s also beyond disgraceful.

If there is anyone out there still undecided, or maybe who have decided not to vote at all, I urge you to reconsider. This is the perfect opportunity to make a stand. So go out there and research Bob Barr, Ralph Nader, and all the other third-party candidates. Find one that aligns with your political ideals and vote for them on November 4th. Forget about McCain and Obama; we know enough about them already. So what if the indie candidates have an infinitesimal chance of winning? It is time to make a statement. Tell the Big Two to kiss off. Tell the government that there are still people in the country who care about the good of the nation as a whole. Tell our representatives in Washington that we will not stand for this suppression of our freedom of choice. It’s time to use your heart and your head. Vote smart, not stupid.

I’ve got a very important question for everyone out there who has said that anyone who doesn’t vote for Obama is an idiot.

What…the hell…are you doing?

Do you not realize that you are potentially hurting your boy’s chances instead of helping them? Are there not perfectly good reasons not to vote for someone that have nothing to do with race, political affiliation, or perceived religion? Perfectly good and, may I add, logical reasons, such as Obama’s political ideologies not aligning with one’s own?

Call me crazy, but I always thought you voted for the person you personally felt would be the best person to run the country for the next four years. In my world, using bullying tactics to try and convince people your way is not only the height of classlessness, it’s not likely to work, either. Then again, I was raised to trust my instincts as much as my head, and also (while I admittedly sometimes fail at this) to not let myself become arrogant and selfish. To me, it seems both arrogant and selfish to label someone as sub-human because they refuse to do any certain thing…and it is also outright hypocritical.

“Hypocritical?” you say. “Certainly not!” Certainly so, I say to you. The truth is, the people who claim themselves intellectually superior for supporting Barack Obama are the same people who condemn Christianity because of the bullying tactics used by some fundamentalists. These Obama supporters claim victimization from the evangelicals, then turn around and victimize anyone who dares to support McCain, Nader, Barr, or anyone whose initials are not BO. And believe me, I am not trying to defend fundamentalists here; I find them just as ridiculous as any thinking person. But yet at the same time, I fail to see how what these zealous supporters of Obama are doing is any different.

As a centrist myself, I was already planning not to support Obama. His policies don’t align with my ideals. It’s that simple. These tactics by the most vocal of Obama’s supporters have only pushed me even further away, especially when coupled by his support for the recent bailout that passed. There is no way in heaven or hell or on Earth that I can ever vote for him, because I refuse to be bullied. I was bullied enough when I was younger, and I will not be pushed around now. And I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, because I know of at least two other people who cannot stand this hypocrisy. How many more people on the edge could be pushed away because of these scare tactics?

There’s also something else. I have heard it said that if Obama does not win, there will be, for lack of a better phrase, hell to pay. I have heard it said that there will be riots and bloodshed. Is that really what this country needs? Are you, supporters of Obama, really willing to destroy this country even more that it is already being destroyed, all because your boy didn’t win? Are you really willing to let this country devolve into anarchy and destruction, all over an election? Then you are more petty than I thought. But I tend to consider this an idle threat. An empty promise, given by people just as hypocritical as those they claim to oppose. Little do they know that by trying to support Obama in this way, they have made themselves his worst enemies.

Whether or not Obama supporters on the individual level believe it personally, there is a perception that Obama is going to save us all. I’ve heard it on talk radio and I’ve seen it on the internet; people are bowing down before the Altar of Obama, praying that their knight in shining armor will come and save them.

Pardon my skepticism here, but perception can be a dangerous thing. Especially when it’s a flawed perception.

I am personally no more ready to accept Obama as my personal President and savior than I am to hand over the keys to a senior citizen. It seems a little outrageous to assume that one man will turn the world upside-down in one night and wipe away everything that is wrong in this country. Heck, it took Jesus three days, plus another 50 before his disciples even decided to go spread his teachings. And that’s even if you believe he was no more than a good teacher.

The thing is, the cult-like aura around Obama surpasses even Ron Paul’s following in scope and fervor, and Ron Paul was considered the candidate for our future when he was running. Just as I couldn’t escape Ron Paul back a year ago, today, you can’t escape the Obama love.

The Obama crowd even has its radicals, hyperliberals with enough fervor to make the most hardcore Christian fundamentalists blink. These people, while not speaking for the majority of Obama supporters, are the most vocal, even going so far as to curse out and condemn those who deny their beloved candidate his rightful place as President. If you think I’m exaggerating, go look around the Internet. You’ll find them.

The thing is, these blowhards are only denying the truth: it doesn’t matter who wins this election. The problems that this country is facing, economically, socially, and environmentally, are complex problems that demand complex solutions. No one is willing to admit that, say, the economic system has gotten so messed up that we can predict the weather more easily than we can predict what’s going to happen on Wall Street. And I say this coming from a state in the Union where thunderstorms can and do pop up with little or no warning, and the best meteorologists in the country can’t see it coming. Our complex problems are going to require solutions that take a while. Anyone who claims to be able to fix things in less than five or ten years is lying to you.

It is this very Messianic perception of Obama that makes me not want to vote for him. The thing is, as Ozzy Osbourne says, “I don’t need another savior.” We can’t afford to wait around for a knight in shining armor to come and save us, because it’s never going to happen. Obama can win, and nothing will change. We will still have to face the problems we are facing unless we start to do something about it now. I don’t know about you, but I would rather do something and have a infinitesimal chance at survival than die waiting for the savior that will never come. By God and the Founding Fathers, if this country’s heading headlong towards the end, I want to go down fighting. That is where my hope lies, not in some idealized figure whom, whether you like it or not, is just as much a politician as the other guy.

Ladies and gentlemen, greed, for lack of a better phrase, is killing our country. Greed isn’t working.

Pardon the movie paraphrase, but I’ve got a good reason to pull out the “Wall Street” routine here. Namely, the fact that Wall Street has recently been more up-and-down than an average New Orleans Saints season. Financial institutions are collapsing left and right thanks to questionable business practices and sketchy mortgages. The dollar is falling faster than Wile E. Coyote off of his 37th cliff. And yet, our government wants to take anywhere from 700 billion to one freakin’ trillion dollars and spread it around to big financial companies that are, to quote a Creed song, “six feet from the edge.”

Obama and McCain want to see the bailout happen. Congress is arguing over it, with some people even claiming it a necessary evil. It’s moving forward, and it’s likely going to happen. There’s just a few slight problems with this picture.

We can’t afford it, and most Americans don’t want Wall Street bailed out anyway. And I can tell you why.

This extravagant amount of money isn’t going to come out of nowhere. This green paper doesn’t grow on trees; it’s technically more of a fabric, anyway. There is no vast ocean out there of untapped money like there is with, say, oil. The money for the bailout has got to come from somewhere, and any thinking person knows where the money’s going to come from. The wallets of taxpayers.

Every single one of us who buy things, run to the Post Office every April 15th, fuel up our cars and update our vehicle tags pay some sort of tax. Heck, most of us have taxes taken directly out of our paychecks; I myself have the maximum taken out of each paycheck. That money goes into the government coffers. So when the government needs money to do something like fight a war or buy out Wall Street, the first place they go is to that taxed revenue. If that’s not enough, then they take out loans from other countries (and hike up our National Debt), but mostly it’s our money that funds whatever Washington wants to do.

The thing is that the whole reason for the bailout is because the institutions involved are mostly credit companies and mortgage dealers. So everyone who has a credit card or a mortgage backed by Lehman Bros., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and all the other companies that have recently been in financial trouble will essentially end up paying twice over for their credit cards or mortgages. Those of us who have neither (the only credit debt to my name is student loans, and they get paid on time) are having to pay for services we never use. Hardly fair, isn’t it?

The majority of American people are beginning to see this, and they don’t like it one bit. But aside from the money flow issue, there’s another problem with the bailout, one of bigger importance. The fact is that none of the companies being bailed out are being held to any standard of accountability for their actions. They messed up, and somehow, they’re getting rewarded for hornswoggling people all across American with their sketchy mortgages and easy credit. The CEOs of these companies are getting paid x millions of dollars because their companies are failing. Call me crazy, but the way I was brought up, you take responsibility for your actions, or you get in double trouble for lying about it.

AIG, Lehman Bros, Merrill Lynch, etc….these companies made bad decisions that lead their companies to the precipice. It is not our place to say “we’ll help you to get back on solid ground” when they put themselves there in the first place. If these companies cannot fix their own danged mess, then maybe they should fall. Maybe other companies can learn from their mistakes. But instead, by throwing money at them, we are essentially letting the financial institutions get away with murdering our economy.

Make no mistake: this bailout WILL NOT HELP THE ECONOMY. In fact, it may only make the economy worse, and I will honestly be surprised if when it passes (which seems inevitable at this point), there is not a riot. Whether you live off of credit or whether you don’t, there is no justification for throwing away money like this. In fact, it’s honestly shameful that we ever came to this point, because this could have all be easily prevented. And I’m going to tell you how.

I honestly believe that this will work and will help teach people enough financial responsibility, especially consider how close to a second Depression we are. as soon as you leave the parents’ house, do not get any credit cards of your own. Don’t go and mortgage a house; rent an apartment. Go out and get a job that starts out at minimum wage. Pay all your bills, and try to save a little in a savings account. If you can manage to make ends meet or even live comfortably of of the money you have after, say, two or three years, then you are ready to manage money you don’t have…which is essentially what credit is. Don’t bemoan the fact that your credit may disappear; LEARN TO LIVE WITHOUT IT. It’s doable; I should know, because I’ve been doing it ever since I started working and living on my own when I finished schooling.

I make $7 an hour, and that’s before taxes. I’m buying a house, mortgage free, by making payments I can afford to make to a very understanding seller: my brother-in-law. I live 16 miles from where I work, and thanks to a 20 mile per gallon truck with a 15 gallon tank, I can fill up my truck once a week and still be able to pay all my bills, buy food, and put a little in a savings account each paycheck. Sometimes my debit card gets me in trouble, but I have no credit cards, and I’m able to rebound easily. All-in-all, I live comfortably, although granted, I only take care of one person and no pets. Living without credit is doable. We don’t need this bailout. It’s a waste of our money. It’s a trillion-dollar screwjob.

(Update 9/29/08 5:00pm CDT: The House voted it down, 205-228. No re-vote today. Miracles do happen.)