Seriously, I Don't F*&$ing Care!

As GF defined below, he is the political hack of the group. He actually cares enough to get involved. I keep up with the issues, I generally can delineate between good ideas and bad (Iraq = Bad; Repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax = Good). When I was in high school, I was all about politics...I even thought one day I might run for office. The fact that a political operative would have to spend about 1.7 seconds to find some dirt on me aside, you would have to be absolutely bat shit to get involved in politics today -- especially on a national level.

Look at the lovely Governor of Alaska. She is a very well-spoken, down to earth, good looking family woman. Within two weeks of her arrival on the national scene we know her daughter is pregnant, think she might be Pentecostal, does / did drugs, and whatever other daily nonsense fills the headlines and sells air time and clicks (like anyone buys a newspaper anymore).

The national political scene is so screwed right now that if a Republican walked out of the Capitol and declared that after much deliberation by a Blue Ribbon Panel (what they fuck are those?) it has been determined that dinosaurs are, in fact, extinct; the Democrats would be bucking for equal air time right after it to declare that they aren't really...they just haven't been seen for like a hundred million years or whatever. I think they might provide evidence that Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are actually dinosaurs, but that's beside the point. The fact is, the disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing is utter horseshit and I am tired of it.

Look, I am the guy who will tell you that I thin the ACLU gets carried away sometimes but it's a good thing for a country because they keep people in check. The same goes for whackos like Jerry Falwell. I don't like the guy or his views (and of course, unless you believe his spirit is walking the streets of gold and still delivering messages to his flock, he is dead now) but again, I don't mind their existence on the far ends of political spectrum in terms of a balancing act. But somewhere along the line, this whole party system and lobbyists and special interests and PACs and whatever the hell else we are calling them these days really fucked things up.

Lobbyists now outnumber the lawmakers in capitols across the country by like 7 to 1. Who does that serve? It just continues to perpetuate the notion that if you have money you can buy influence. If you have influence, it doesn't matter how bad it is (especially while Dubya runs the show), we have a place for you. Thank you Big Oil for posting record profits while every time I fill up the tank I wonder if I should walk my ass into the door labeled Lube Job. Thank you everyone for the war. It's working out well. Oh, and the national debt...that's okay, we're Americans that's just the way we roll. Can't afford the house, go sub-prime. Wait, Oh NO! Can't afford the car, lease it. Can't afford the new shoes and expensive bag, charge it. Like I said, fuck it we're Americans. We are entitled because we are better than everyone else in the world. We shouldn't earn anything and for sure we aren't going to work for the wages in menial jobs like Mexicans will. Nope, we'll just sit around and bitch about them being here and talk about how with my GED and no experience I am worth far more than $5.75 an hour and working at McDonald's is beneath me. Again, it's the American way.

The funny thing is, I love this country. In the purest sense, it's the freedom we have that allows us to let things get so shitty. In the end, it's still better than living most anywhere else...anywhere that's not an island fantasy anyway. But back to the subject line to tie this whole thing together. I am staring at 50 something days before election day. In the process I will be bombarded with character smears, personal attacks, tactical oppostion and philosophy differences. And you know what, in the end, it doesn't matter who gets elected because not enough people care to affect change in the areas it is most desperately needed and when all is said and done, neither of them will make a difference. And therefore, seriously, I don't fucking care. Just get it over with so I don't have to hear about it anymore.