Let's get political

11.02.06

So my editor said he wanted us to write about politics, this being election week and all, and I said, “Guh?  You’ve got to be kidding!”

 

You have to understand… I don’t watch television because it all seems more or less pointless.  And I don’t read any newspaper regularly (except the Reader Weekly, of course) because there’s hardly any good news to be found there.  So pretty much the only news I’m subjected to is that provided by the AOL welcome screen.  How scary is that?

 

So I’m sitting here eating Cheetoh’s puffs in a fancy hotel that’s way out of my league, trying to think politics.  Haha.  Yeah, I’m a bit off balance tonight.  Ah well.  We’ll figure something out. But it’s going to have to be quick because I have in-room coffee and I need to go find a gas station for some creamer.  What?  You think I’m going to ask the snobs at the desk for milk?  Ha!  You should have seen the looks on their faces when I wanted to pay cash for the room but didn’t have an extra $200 for a deposit.  They’d probably charge me $8 for a lunchbox size carton of milk.  And $3 service/inconvenience fee on top of it.  No thanks.

 

Anyway.

 

Politics.  Elections next week.

 

Get out there and VOTE.

 

The end.

 

PS:  Think about the cost of war and the cost of fuel (heating your house will surely bankrupt you this winter – well, it will me, anyway) and the supercilious smirk of our President that basically seems to say, “Wow, I’m the leader of a bunch of dimwits,” or “I don’t care what you think, I’m right.”  And don’t vote Republican.

 

I guess you can if you really want to, but I wouldn’t.

 

Here’s my plan:  I’m going to research the Democratic and Independent candidates for my local district and then I’m going to vote as hard Left as I can.

 

I would have never believed this country could go to hell in just two Presidential terms, but now I know better.  And this is what I know… Americans have opinions, and values, and believe in fairness and justice and the (old) American Way.  Liberty and Justice for All.  Damn straight.  We believe in a government held accountable by a system of checks and balances.  We believe in Habeas Corpus.  We believe in our Constitutional right to free speech, and that right absolutely includes the right to speak out against our Government.  It includes the right to criticize our President and his decisions.  It includes our right to question the cost of war, and to question the strategy and goals of that war.  It includes our RIGHT to wear a t-shirt depicting the current American death toll in Iraq.  Come on, folks, can a t-shirt possibly be a threat to Homeland Security?   Sure, it can be offensive, insulting, or even supercilious.  Might even embarrass someone.  But can it possibly be a crime?

 

Think before you vote.  Think about the things you believe in.  Take a couple hours to research the candidates of your district so you know not only who you’re voting for, but what they stand for.  And then VOTE.

 

The problem I see is that we’re working hard to survive from day to day in America.  It takes two incomes to support a family, and between working, carting our kids from place to place, and trying to keep our house in order, nobody has energy for activism anymore.  Do you think that’s an accident on the part of our government?  Do you really? 

 

But you can vote.  Even when you hate everyone and everything you can still vote for the candidate you think is the least bad.  So get out there and do it.