One More Day ‘Till It’s Over

Am I the only one who is tired of the endless election cycle this country seems to be caught in? I remember when there used to be actual news reported on “the news” – you know, stories about people, places and events that are in no way connected to voting. Ah, those were the Good Ol’ Days! Now we’ll get a few weeks to recover and then the airwaves will be filled with who is or isn’t running for president. It’s maddening and I can’t help but wonder what we aren’t hearing about thanks to all this election coverage, speculation, pontificating, and general crappola. What are we missing? A lot, I’ll bet, but honestly, would you rather be knowledgable about the world or the Tea Party candidates chances of “taking the country back”. I’m not sure where they plan to take us to, by the way, but they’d like to take us somewhere.

My own predictions? Yes, the Democrats looks like they are about to get monumentally spanked. Yes, they will most likely lose the House of Representatives and the presumptive new Speaker of the House is John Boehner – the Man with the Tan. If they don’t take the Senate it will be very close. Angle will beat Reid in Nevada and O’Donnell will get pwned by Coons in Delaware and prove that just saying you hate DC and liberals and Obama and masturbation isn’t enough to get you elected – you still need at least an ounce of qualification. As for my state, I think Blumenthal will pull out a win, but I doubt that we’ll give up our 20 year love affair with Republican governors – a love affair that I don’t think has been good for us, but hey, what do I know?

I would be lying if I said that I was anxious to vote, or that I thought I would make a difference or anything else like that. I’m apathetic at best and totally unmoved by my choices. There isn’t even a candidate running that I am all that pleased to be voting against. I’m voting because about a month ago I wrote a post about how people shouldn’t complain about the outcome of elections they don’t bother voting in and I know that it will be impossible

for me to not fuss if we end up with two Republican senators misrepresenting my interests. In my opinion, if you campaign for a Republican, you are one. Someone just hasn’t told Joe Lieberman that yet. So I have to vote because otherwise I will be a hypocrite, which would be bad enough, but I know people who read this blog and when I see them they will call me out on not voting. So I will leave my home and go and vote – I’ll even vote for one of those two fools running for governor – in an effort to avoid hypocrisy.

I think that this election will be blown out of proportion by everyone. Democrats will ring their hands and cry “Woe are we” when everyone knows we work best under a bit of pressure. Plus when legislation eventually gets bogged down and fails, the Republicans will have some failures to deal with instead of just a list of things they don’t like. They will now have a stake in the outcome of things and that is a good thing. While the Democrats are “woe”ing, the Republicans will be crowing about how fabulous they are and how they are the voice of everything patriotic and they will ratchet up the anti-Democrat/Obama rhetoric. I won’t be surprised if we hear rumblings about finding a reason to impeach the President and everyone in his cabinet before Christmas. They will have forgotten that the only thing the public at large usually dislikes more than a sore loser in a sore winner.

And then there will be the Tea Party-ers and the pundits who love them. They will decree that this one election proves that the nation as a whole a ready to be “Tea Party-ized” back to simpler times. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there were never “simpler times”. As much as we love to romanticize our history, people have always been the same. Their motives have not always been admirable. Their actions have sometimes been less than noble. Sometimes we were right as a nation and sometimes we weren’t. Also, most if not all of the issues we view as “modern-day”  have always been there in one form or another and have always been contentious. They won’t be disappearing any time soon and they aren’t as easily solved as some might think. Not everyone desires a return to the financial and social climate of the 1890’s or the 1950’s and even if everyone did, you can’t go backwards. The past can always be learned from, but never recreated. So, while I do think the tea party people will have gotten a few of their own into positions of power, I think they are in for a rude awakening as far as how much of their platforms they will actually be able to implement which doesn’t break my heart.

I could be wrong about all of this. Hate my predictions? Well, go vote and maybe something else will happen. Even if you are as apathetic as I am, go out and vote so you can complain about it later.

Why Vote?

Last night, for the second night in a row, in the name of being an informed citizen, I subjected myself to the debates for our state election. The night before it was the senatorial debate which was conducted mostly in that great New England style of intense hatred concealed by well-mannered smiles. Fangs were bared occasionally and then the gentility returned. Last night’s gubernatorial debate was a grudge match, a slug-fest with mics and three-piece suits and without the chair-throwing. I lost count of how many times the two called each other liars without actually saying the word “liar”. It was an annoying, tedious display which makes me wish there were another option out there. I was left with one question bouncing around my mind – with two candidates who I doubt could successfully figure out the way to the restroom, let alone how to sort out the state’s economy, why bother voting? I figured others might be faced with the same thought, so here’s my two cents.

Plenty of people can give good, solid reasons for voting. Some will talk about your patriotic duty as a freedom-loving American. Some can really get going, invoking the images of the service men and women currently deployed in harm’s way, the founding fathers, Abraham Lincoln, God, your mother, apple pie, Uncle Sam, and “Old Glory” to a point where you start looking for a large, robed choir to stand in rows, sway gently from side to side, and start humming the Battle Hymn of the Republic while a bald eagle flies overhead. Others will carry on about getting your message heard, taking a stand, and making DC hear your voice raised loud and proud about <insert volatile issue here>. After a good dose of that, you’re starting to think about marching around outside your town hall carrying a sign with your particular grievance aired on one side and “Fight the Power” emblazoned on the other. Well, while all of that stuff is important, I’m just not that intense. Perhaps I’m suffering from a deficit of patriotism or an overabundance of apathy, but the reason that’s drving me to haul my sorry carcass down to my local polling place, get in the little cubicle thing, and fill out a ballot is a little more pragmatic and a little less theatrical.

It is my personal belief that, if you choose not to vote, you have automatically forfeited your right to bitch about the outcome of that election. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people going on and on about what a terrible person Senator “X” or Representative “Y” is – they’re lairs, they’re criminals, they’re the child of Satan – and then, when somebody asks them who they voted for since their so upset, it turns out they didn’t vote at all. Usually there’s no good reason why they didn’t – just pure, unadulterated laziness. I hate that. I’m left wondering where all their passion was on election day and, even if their arguments for why the political figure in question should be incarcerated are perfectly valid – this is Connecticut after all – it all turns to noise pollution as far as I’m concerned when the complainer admits they never bothered to vote against their current nemesis. It’s hypocritical bull funky, I tell you! So, if you want the ability to firmly plant your forehead against your palm and bemoan the sheer idiocy of your elected officials, get thee to a polling place come November 2nd.

America, please, either get out and vote, or shut the hell up!

Thank you.

My Idea for Israeli/Palestinian Peace Process – Uhhh, How ’bout Saying What You Really Mean?

Let’s start off by clarifying a few things before you get all upset.

1. Am I “Anti-Israel”?
No. I don’t want to see Israel destroyed, but I also don’t believe that the Palestinian people have no right to exist.

2. Am I some dumb fool who believes that peace can happen overnight?
No. Peace takes a long time, so the sooner we get started, the better.

3. Since I’m not jewish or muslim, I obviously can’t care strongly enough about the issue and therefore have no right to an opinion, particularly one which I’ve made public.
This is the one that bothers me the most because I’ve had people – friends – say this to me in all seriousness and think that doing so is quite alright.

I'm not Hillary Clinton either, but I would strike the same pose at this point.

No, I’m not jewish. I’m not a muslim either, I’m agnostic. I don’t practice anything. I don’t have a problem with any individual who does until they start telling me what I do and do not have the right to think about and discuss. At that point, whether they know it or not, that individual and I have a big problem, and it has nothing to do with their religion and everything to do with their arrogance and pretension masked as piety.

Still not the Secretary of State. Just needed the pose again.

I hate to break this to them, but any sort of armed conflict in that region effects everyone and it doesn’t stop to make sure I have a personal stake in the matter before it messes with me. The way I see it, if the problems caused belong to everyone, the solution should too. Everyone should have a seat at the negotiating table whatever their religion or lack thereof.

So now that I’ve stated where I stand, what’s my idea?

HONESTY!

I don’t believe any of the public statements put out there by anyone – not the Israelis, not the Palestinians, not the US, not the UN, not anybody – and haven’t for quite a while. I would love for the Israelis, Palestinians, US, UN, League of Arab Nations, and any other groups involved in the peace process to meet somewhere and speak their minds. It wouldn’t be pretty, but we’d have a far better idea of how big a task the peace process actually is and who really wants it. For example, I don’t believe for one minute that Israel – the government, the people, all of it – wants a two-state solution. From a practical standpoint, they have no reason to want it. All they do is loose land. Many say they would gain an enemy, but I don’t see how. They’re already fighting the Palestinians, so the enemy would not be a new one. Speaking of the Palestinians, I think that they would like a two-state very much – it beats being a refugee in what was, at one time, your country – but they don’t want to appear weak by just talking over an agreement and then signing it. No, they want to fight tooth and nail for their peace. Unfortunately, no one has informed them that, to paraphrase an old expression, violence for the sake of peace is like promiscuity for the sake of virginity. It doesn’t work very well. The US and the League of Arab Nations are two sides of the same coin. Both have voices calling for peace within them, but there are strong loyalties within them linking the whole group to one side or the other. The Arab League of Nations will always back Palestine over peace and the US will never push for peace as hard as it pushes for Israel for a number of reasons, all political. The UN, if we’re honest, has lost much of its power. I wish it weren’t the case and I wish someone were able to put them on the path to becoming what they once were, but for now they serve one very important purpose – they condense, into one voice, world opinion and make that voice heard. While, traditionally, the world at large has had its issues with jewish people – that’s one reason why Israel was created in the first place – currently, the world voice is still calling for peace and a homeland for both peoples.

If everyone involved would say what was unpopular but true, maybe we’d get somewhere before the two sides start lobbing missiles at each other again. I’m glad we are still working on peace even though I complain about the process. We can work on disagreements, nihilism gets us nowhere.

If it’s news you’re after as opposed to my thoughts and opinions, this site follows the process very closely and does so fairly and honestly, I feel.