"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

A little political rant
January 06, 2008 - 11:42 am

Who do I think will win? More than likely a Democrat unless they implode again. After all, there was no way in hell Bush was going to win again.. but they put up Kerry and ran a disturbingly unorganized campaign.

Sadly, this time around the focus on them seems to be quite a bit about 'firsts' that really shouldn't matter. Why do we care so much a two top prospects are black and female?

I hope one of them wins just.. so put an end to that part of the story. Sure, their presidency will be dogged by their irrelevant physicality, but.. given the nature of our society, we need to get that over with.

Practically speaking, Clinton is the one I don't like. She strikes me as a 'true' politician in that she'll say or do anything to get elected. From the fake accents she'll adopt in various areas.. to her staff planting questions... to trying to leverage 'experience' she had whilst the first lady. She's a very smart person who's looking at this... like a, if you'll forgive the comparison, a conlady. What's the angle I take to get me what I want? Doesn't matter if I deserve it or not, it's what I want and getting it is what matters, not so much how.

Obama, while I admittedly know much less about him, strikes as much more grounded... as more honest. As a person who believes what he says and isn't just paying an angle. I don't agree with everything he says, but that's ok. I recognize that there's more than one 'right' view to the world and I'll respect a person who's going to stand true to his or her view of it.

In other words, Clinton reminds me of Kerry and his waffling... that she'd say anything to get elected, that you can't really know what she truly believes because she's pandering to the moment. I don't doubt that politicians have done this forever, but with today's media... you can't 'hide' that you said X here and Y there.

As for Edwards... his exploits as an attorney tend to turn me off. I have trouble separating that from what he's done as politician... reading up on what he did as senator isn't too inspiring.

Sadly, for me, no candidate really stands for what makes sense to me. I'm a fiscal conservative and a social liberal... which, to my way of thinking, best fits something like the Libertarian party.

Simply put, it's not the government's job to regulate and mandate every nuance of society. They are to provide a framework in which people can pursue life/happiness as they see fit. Pretty much by definition this means there's going to be conflicting points of view (homosexual marriage for instance), but while the views my contradict, as long as neither part is 'hurt' it shouldn't matter. Let whoever wants to marry whoever get married.

Sending of money should be tightly focused. People work hard for what they earn and to see the government squander well past unacceptable.

Of course.. one needs to keep the realities of human nature in mind. As a person gets power.. he/she wants to keep it. So porkbarrel spending is quite popular as is the seemingly unending efforts to make a law about everything -- laws that fit one group of people's point of view, which is really what the problem is. People want to legislate the world to confirm their view...