DISCLAIMER: this blog is mine & mine alone. Thou shalt not blame family nor friends nor employer for what you may read here.
I'm giving you fair warning, this blog entry is starting out as a political rant. So if, as at a family dinner, this is a subject you'd rather avoid, please come back later.
I'm listening to NPR on my way to work this morning when they launch into a story about Obama & McCain on the campaign trail, focusing on the candidates' respective approaches to the economy in particular. McCain was stumping somewhere, and a member of the audience asked him "how many houses do you & Mrs. McCain own?". His response (almost verbatim) "I'm not sure. I'll have my staff get to you." Later in the day, word came out that the McCain's claim to own four houses. In reality, they own a total of seven. Apparently three of these are "investment properties", but that little tidbit wasn't readily admitted, at least not as readily admitted as the proceeds into his bank account. Typical Republican: likes money more than truth.
So, someone that owns seven houses is someone that I'm gonna trust to understand the condition of the middle class, and work in my/our best interest? You gotta be fucking kidding me. Now, to be fair, NPR disclosed that Obama made $4MM last year, and just bought a big ol' place in Chicago-land. So neither McCain nor Obama are living like paupers. But the fact that McCain had the blatant gall to try & act like he doesn't know how many pieces of property he owns?! For fuck's sake. He's either too much of a liar & a deceitful fuck, or too goddam senile, to be my president.
But back to the original rant. So the McCain's own seven houses, and have oodles of income. Yet, we the public, large numbers of whom are either lower or middle class, are gonna vote for this douche bag w/confidence that he'll do what's best for the largest number of people?
Personal aside: I wish I had paid more attention to my philosophy classes in college, cuz I remember general tenets of the classes & philosophers, but cannot remember who said what, or who should get due credit.
One of the philosophers I read about held fast the tenet that civilizations should serve the greatest good of the greatest number. Do you honestly think a Republican will do that? Name the last elephantine leader that cared about the environment (something shared by everyone on Earth), or cared more about the welfare of masses instead of the mega-wealthy, and the corporations. Bush II? Bush I? Reagan? Nope, nope, and uh, nope again. What's the figure: 10% of the population holds 90% of the wealth, some skew ratio like that? Remember, the philosophy is that you serve the greatest good of the greatest number, not the greatest pile of wealth.
So here we are: stock market up & down more than a Duncan yo-yo, gas prices through the fucking roof, housing market in worse shape than Amy Winehouse, in the midst of two wars that have no end in sight (don't kid yourselves), no honest pursuit of alternate energy sources, no closer to a universal healthcare system than we are to building a snowman on Mercury...but yet, we have a Republican that very well may get elected. It's my personal opinion that due to the handjobs being traded in D.C. every minute of every day, the money trading hands from PAC's & lobbyists to the supposed "representatives of the people", it'll be very hard for anything to get changed in short order. But as much as I believe that, I also believe that Barack Obama will get us closer to the goals & end results that we all want & need than McCain will. We (er, Katherine Harris & Jeb Bush actually) gave the Republicans the past eight years of running the country (into the ground), and they've fucked things up royally. George W. Bush & the Republicans have governed like old people fuck: slow & sloppy, generally making a mess of everything while accomplishing nothing. Me thinks it time to give someone else a chance.
This election kinda scares me, in that it reminds me of '04. Bush was a ginormous fuck-up, the nation was rife w/discontent, and he should've been soundly trounced. But somehow, he won a second term. I wholly attribute that to John Kerry being a weaker candidate. IMNSHO (In My Not So Humble Opinion), George Costanza & Kramer would be a better tandem, more capable of sound, sane decision making (not to mention way more honest) than Dubya & Shotgun Dick, but I digress...
Kerry just didn't have it together enough on all fronts to win the White House. Dem's won more of the Senate, got a majority, but not the POTUS. I think that Obama has much more charisma, much more appeal than Kerry ever did. And of course (big shocker here) - we're in worse shape than we were four years ago. So I'm hoping the winds of change blow strongly enough, and people unfuck themselves long enough to vote for Obama, and give us all a chance for recovery. Yes, even the ones that own seven homes (but don't know it) might benefit from a change at the top...
Alright, I'm done for now. As the election season draws nearer I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject. But w/respect to anyone who reads this, I'll try to draw the line early enough so that if you don't wanna read what is an unabashedly left-wing, vehemently liberal position, you don't have to.
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