Date: 2008-07-13 10:51 Subject: The Dark Side of American Politics. Security: Public Mood: chipper Tags: politics

Years ago, I exhorted not just my friends and ideological mates to vote, but also every American who was eligible. The right to vote is not an inconsiderable one, but it's a right we don't (myself included) exercise enough. It is, after all, one thing to vote for President, and another thing - similar only in that you mark a candidate - to vote for your cities sanitation director, your sheriff, your alderman. But if consistent knowledge of politics, local and national, is approaching the height of civil responsibility then perhaps I have fallen to the bottom. For the last four years, I am afraid that I've mostly just tuned out the entire process as depicted on American media outlets. Where I used to watch CNN and C-SPAN for more news of the Senate and Presidents actions, after a plethora of vile national antics, I couldn't really handle it anymore.

I knew that I was disgusted, and I knew that if my outcries and letters hadn't been answered yet, they would likely never be remedied at all. Our president, who has demonstrated perhaps the least wit and capability since  the June Harrison administration. Personally, I think I'd take William Harrison over what we ended up with. Maybe he's a little stiff, but he probably won't declare war on Iran.

I've never been totally sure what allowed us to fall so far. A cursory glance at the news told me that our administration was doing awful things, allowing for awful things, with a total pass from the top in the name of stopping terrorism. Pundits threw around words like 'traitor' and suggested liberals be hung as criminals. I think I can tell you that it's a little uncomfortable to be around people echoing these sentiments in a professional setting, where I had never personally allowed my own, admittedly radical, political views to shine through. These were business owners talking about dragging me behind a pickup to teach me a lesson in civics.

Of course, that's the dark side of politics or, at some point, ideology. It's easy to go on television and talk about people and to echo those sentiments later in a move that proves to be among the greatest of propaganda movements of recent history. The tendency to remove the faces of people we know and replace them with our constructed ideological enemies is a simple and powerful one. It is the root of fascism and the kind of extremism that births militants - not freedom fighters - but terrorists. If we must use the 't' word, then apply it equally. It belongs not just to Arab men possessing of box-cutters on our airways, but also to those who echo the violent refrains of those in power in order to silence their political enemies with the threat, implicit or overt, of violence and harm.

We have allowed this to happen as a nation. It is to our shame, and to our detriment, but it is not new.

There is a new election on the horizon, and I'll be voting for Obama, whose platform is change though I remain cynically skeptical. My vote would not be unconditional except that McCain is clearly, clearly a worse choice; a choice that will continue (perhaps rapidly) down the doomed path of our last president. However, let's not forget that even though the country seems fed up with our current leader, he was elected not once (shame on him) but twice (shame on us). The dialog in our country has been toxic, and we've allowed too many atrocities to be done in our name.

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Date: 2008-07-04 18:33 Subject: Happy 4th Security: Public Mood: amused Tags: politics

Man. I'm glad Jesse Helms died on the 4th.

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Date: 2008-06-18 01:49 Subject: Worn out. Security: Public Mood: exhausted Tags: camarilla, moods, politics

Anxiety has been keeping me awake lately. I try to go to bed, and I really just can't. I'm ok as long as I'm supposed to be awake, but I can't seem to get any rest. I think I'm just really stressed with all that's going on in my life. I'm really glad I'm not working so I can readjust and take this time for myself, because going through this after I leave or while I'm working would be a nightmare.

Despite my exhaustion, and that's what it is, my schedule is much saner then before. I've been going to bed far, far, too late, but I've been getting about 6 hours, taking naps to deal with my situation, and getting up at noon isn't too bad, though about 10 AM is my target these days. But to feel relaxed, I might have to resort to falling asleep in my chair or something. >_>

Today was kind of neat. I'm trying to give stressed friends space to breathe, but I got a call from my friend Paul and we went out for coffee and Thai. Turns out that they showed up late, so only I got coffee, and we just chatted for about an hour. He was really interested in how I felt about work, which I didn't really want to rehash anymore, but he wanted to know how things had been so I went ahead. They ended up going strawberry picking, and I didn't get invited, so I went home and took a brief nap. Later on, it was dinner and then out to chat with Matt, Anthony and Brian C. about politics and light rail systems. We're all huge Obama fans, so this latest campaign fills us with a lot of optimism. The last campaign was a real blow to my sense of justice in the political system, but I'm really positive about this one.

I'm having a lot of second thoughts about the permanency of this move, though. I haven't been in a real stable, comfortable place prior, and even though I'm going, the situation isn't what I expected. I feel most confident about this when I'm around others, but when I'm by myself and it's late, I get some pretty intense second thoughts and when they hit, I'm convinced that I'm screwing myself. Rationally, though, I try to remember that if things go poorly and I can't hack it up there, I've got ways back, so I'm trying to think of it as a vacation with possible long term possibilities. In a way, though, it's just weird to find something I was so sure about not too long ago flip over on me, like a canoe in the rapids.

It's frustrating to get so neurotic! Feels just like when I was switching to nights, except my life sucks so... much... less. In fact, day to day, it's much, much better. I don't even know where to begin. It's so amazing. The switch to days is taking longer then I expected, and it's more stressful then I thought it would be (if I had gone back to days sooner, it would be a much simpler process. Initially, I'd automatically switch back because I was staying with Vi who was a calming influence and I wasn't fully acclimated, so it was easy to go to bed at midnight) but my quality of life is dramatically improved and I even feel better about myself. If it wasn't for the stress and lack of sleep, I'd almost say it was miraculous.

So, I guess the Vampire game is gonna be at the Ethical Society. I plan on being at Vampire and Mage, and going for afters, so while I'd be ok with driving, I'd also be down with carpooling. I'm not sure where Mage is going to be though, or if everyone who's going to Vampire is going to Mage too, so I'll do what it takes. I want to say bye as much as play, so I won't miss this even if I'm as exhausted then as I am now. I forgot where Mage was going to be held at, so I'll try to get that before Saturday even happens.

Props for awesome friends. I'm not so hot on the awful beer lately, though. Why does everyone insist on Miller Light? It's so bad! >.<;;

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Date: 2008-05-05 22:27 Subject: [Politics] Or, Obama Can't Lose Security: Public Location: >_> Mood: mischievous Music: Radiohead - In Rainbows Tags: clinton, hunter s. thompson, mccain, neocon, obama, politics

Before I became disillusioned with much of the process, I was something of a political junkie. According to the late Hunter S. Thompson, politics can be a seasonal thing. It's exhausting, and can easily become a cause in itself. This is where all those evil cynical old politicians come from, of course. They sell out to the greedheads and Swine and leave the rest of us wondering how things could get so bad. I was pretty cynical myself, during the Clinton administration, but honestly, nothing could prepair me for what was coming next. 

 

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