Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Vote for John Obama

I am so done with this election.

I am done with debates, and commercials, and office discussions, and editorials, and t-shirts, and bumper stickers, and phone calls, and junk mail. I'm going to donkey-punch the next person I hear talking about how decisions will change the face of Main Street. We all know the truth: Obama is a terrorist just waiting for his chance to suicide bomb the Whitehouse from inside and McCain is actually George Bush hiding in a Mr. Melanoma Halloween costume.

The other day I actually heard someone say that we're really voting for who we want to be vice president. The logic being that if Obama is elected, some backwoods hillbilly fuck will take him out on behalf of his fellow god-fearing Klansmen and if McCain scores the big house he's going to kick the bucket in a year on his own. God help us on both counts.

Lots of people will say that politicians are all criminals and that it really doesn't matter if you vote or not. This always seemed lazy to me. It's an admission of defeat getting you off the hook for all the research you should be doing and all the bad debates you should be watching. To participate in an active democracy, you should be punishing yourself by reading everything you can get your hands on. You should study. You should take each "fact" and research it to find the truth. This used to be what I thought.

Now, when it comes to the political realm, I have to admit I believe the truth is an invention. Almost everyone selects a news source that is pandering to ideas and beliefs they have already. People get told what they want to hear, and get angry if a new idea is introduced to their picture of the way things are. A candidate's past character flaws are revealed by one camp and then explained away by the other. Voting records are trivialized with deft recanting reminiscent of the Jedi Mind Trick. Opinions are manufactured by people who have made an art of making people think what they want them to think.

A fact will come out about one of the candidates that seems potentially damning, but then three perfectly plausible explanations for that fact are brought out in the light and you are back to not knowing what to think. So, you go back to your media outlet of choice to soak in the comfort of being told you were right all along.

And I realize there are some of you who actually enjoy this process. You enjoy the research, the debates, the issues, the lies and the truths of it all. You'll stay up to watch the DVR'd debate just one more time so you can be certain you missed nothing. It's entertainment. A twisted filthy form akin to midget porn if you ask me, but entertainment none the less.

Millions of people love watching baseball on TV. I don't get that shit either.

But yes, I will vote. Last election I waited over two hours to cast my ballot and I was happy (sort of) to do so. When I cast my vote this year though it will not be with the thought that I am voting for the party that is going to actually make all the right decisions. It will not be a punishment leveled at someone because I blame them for the current economic situation we're in. And, it will not be because I think I am truly going to be represented.

It will be because there's part of me that still has hope. Maybe, even though someone might not seem like the right person, maybe they'll be the right person in the right place at the right time. I think the responsibility is to try to position the candidate you believe really has the best chance of achieving greatness, and then just sit back and hope for the best.

I know there are some who have a million arguments to make against this posting. Your ideas will be well thought out, reasoned, and quite possibly correct while my clumsy opinions of all things political most likely wouldn't stand up to any real debate. I never claimed to be a political thinker, I just know how I feel about it all. So don't email me telling me I'm wrong. I don't care. I just can't wait until this is all over so everyone can go back to talking about Monday Night Football or whatever the hell you people talk about during non-election years. Go team.

2 comments:

God said...

Oh just write your book, would you? This'll all be over soon.

Anonymous said...

Amen brother

Cox