"I wanna be an American Idiot"

Today is election day, which is something of a relief. Not necessarily because we're electing a new president, but more importantly because we will be ending the non-stop campaign coverage which has decimated our lives over the past three, no wait six, no wait twelve, no weight eighteen months, like a series of prolonged carpet bombings. After an hour with any news channel, I find myself wandering, disheveled and emotionally battered, not to mention hoarding canned goods and bottled water.

It's pretty disheartening to see what American Elections have become, and the massive amount of money poured into the campaign machines. It's possibly even more disheartening to watch the news media's coverage of it all, with the not-so-subtle leanings of the different channels to the blatant fear-mongering to the anything-for-ratings style presentations of "facts".

The funny thing is I don't even watch TV on a regular basis (other than football). Everything I just complained about basically comes from the last many months of me walking back and forth past our waiting room at work, which features a large TV often tuned to said coverage. I'll catch a minute here or a minute there, shake my head, and go on about my day.

(The only upside to all this election madness is the wonderful, wonderful Daily Show with the funniest man alive today in my opinion, Jon Stewart. He has succeeded in making a mockery of the news (and especially the election news) on every level, and I for one love him for it.)

Frankly, I get pretty tired of talking about politics, so I don't do it that much other than cracking jokes with people who I know think like me. In terms of the spectrum, I'm pretty liberal, but actually right on the border between liberal and libertarian. Which means that socially I'm almost a pure liberal, but economically I can go either way depending on the day of the week or my mood, but I usually end up somewhere in the middle.






In many ways, I'm still in disbelief over the past eight years of American "leadership". For one, the 2000 election of Bush over Gore was one of the shadiest things I've ever seen in national politics; honestly I think it was worse than Watergate, because at least we know what happened with Watergate. In the case of the 2000 election and the Florida debacle, we don't even know what really happened. Counts, recounts, Jeb Bush. All I do know is that the whole thing seemed ridiculously shady and yet no one talks about it or has forgotten about it. I still don't think Bush was actually elected then, but here we are. No use crying over spilled milk I guess.

What's worse though is the fact that the US actually reelected Bush in 2004. I'm going to type that again. The US actually reelected George W. Bush in 2004. This is about as baffling as it gets for me. About 50% of people said "Hey, this guy ain't bad - I'm voting for him!" I'm still completely stunned by this when I really stop to think about it. To be honest, though, I don't stop and think about it too much, because when I do, I get upset and bitter. (See next paragraph.)

As far I'm concerned, any country where 50% of the people reelected "W" probably deserve whatever is coming to them. A horrible war or two, massive debt, a housing collapse, the ire of the rest of the world, repealed civil rights, economic disaster - nothing is too horrible to wish on them. Oh wait, it's all already here. Strong work America! Eight years in the toilet. At least we have a lot of empty platitudes involving the word "Freedom" and how much we love it. It sure has been fun!

(Whoops, I stopped and thought about it. See? Bitter.)

Anyway, about two weeks ago I cast my absentee Texas ballot (for Obama, shock), and so I guess did my job as a citizen. (Though there is almost no point to someone with my views voting in a state like Texas.) As of right now the polls say Obama will win, so that's good for me.

Either way, everyone's somewhat of a winner when a certain somebody steps down from office in January. I think we can all agree on that.