Politics Are Stupid

I’m not an overtly political person.

Yes, I vote. No I don’t campaign. My wife suggests I can barely match my clothes; I don’t think I’m the right person to help steer the country.

And yes, I hate it when people don’t vote. But I realize that’s a choice too, and I’m in no position to tell anyone what to do and not do. But yeah, I really hate it. It takes like 30 seconds. It doesn’t hurt. You can make a joke out of it if you want. And I can’t think of any reason not to do it. Remember New Coke? We could have been stuck with New Coke if people didn’t vote. And Coke 2: Electric Bugaloo (as my college roommate called it) was terrible. (Though if they called it Coke 2: Electric Bugaloo I probably would have voted for it. Because, c’mon – breakdancing movies are never bad references.)

Yes, I believe big business runs this country…way more than any Democrat or Republican. Policy is made more on their interests than the interests of the people. I’m pretty sure this belief is why I loved Rubicon (and that was my contractually obligated “Watch Rubicon” moment of this post).

Yes, I could go into minutely fine detail about conspiracies I believe in about the voting public and how little we know about the government and how it creates policy, but we’re all seen (or should see) 3 Days of the Condor. Redford did it much better than I ever could, and did it much more handsomely than I ever will be.

All that said, this past election and the current climate it’s created is stupid.

And it has nothing to do with the results on election night (well not too much at least).

It wasn’t hard to predict the democrats would lose some control. People are mad because the economy isn’t doing as well as it used to do, and, when in doubt, blame the people in charge. Right or wrong, that’s pretty much always going to happen. Attention spans are not are strong suit in this country, unless it involves The Simpsons.

I hate hearing the Republicans, immediately after winning, talking about getting the president out of office in 2012. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love spite. It drives many of my decisions. And it is not healthy at all. I don’t recommend it for anyone. But I also don’t represent people’s interests, or create policy that affects a large body of people.

I also hate that the Democrats are lamenting they didn’t have enough time for their programs/policies/whatever to work. The arrogance they displayed, up until they realized they were going to lose their all-power status, was kinda lame. And the message that we now must all come together…? Yeah, something, something dollar short.

I hate labels. I hate that politics have come down to “what team are you on.” I hate that the interests of the people are ignored while the people in charge throw marketing taglines out there, but deliver nothing. It’s not about winning or losing, guys. It’s about, you know, the people?

Politics are a game. Just like Monopoly. Democrats and Republicans are the wheelbarrow and thimble traipsing around the board. And we are the Chance and Community Chest cards. Sure, everyone wants to win second place in a beauty contest. But you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think the real prize they’re playing for is 2 hotels on Boardwalk.

It’s a shame it’s gotten like this. Because I don’t think the country is divided as politicians make it out to be. At the end of the day, we want to see progress. And yet all we’re getting is victory speeches and promises that the “other guys” will be gone soon. And the victory speeches are even that good. Has no one ever seen “Victory?” Take a page from Pele. His speech is way more passionate than anything I’ve seen in the past 18 months – bad acting and all.

I’ll still vote. Because I like to vote. It makes me feel good. I like wearing a sticker the rest of the day. It makes me feel as though I did something important. I like getting a quizzical look from the older gentleman volunteering at the polls as I give him the double guns on the way out. I like the nice little rush when I walk out of the booth. I just wish the elected officials got that rush too. But watching the elections, and the back and forths, something tells me, they’d hate getting the double guns from me.