ELECTION 08: PART ONE

Since only about six people read this blog, I don't have to feel ashamed writing about my relative ignorance and disinterest regarding the election. So I can look back in ten years and see how I perhaps contributed to the rise or fall of this great nation, I thought I'd document my personal political experience. In part one, I'll detail my current political knowledge and several opinions I have regarding the political process and the election in general.

UNINFORMED: AND LAZY

For past elections, both presidential and local, I haven't been voting. At all, ever. I think the last time I voted was about nine years ago, on some sort of millage affecting my sister's high school. Aside from severe laziness, my reasoning has been that I don't really know what the issues are and that I'm not familiar with the candidates. So what good would it do to vote? I could do more harm with my uninformed vote than good, so I'm content to let people who actually read the newspaper make my decisions for me. It's been a conscious decision and one I've been comfortable with.

ELECTORAL COLLEGE: WHAT?

In presidential elections, I still don't really see the rationale behind taking a half-day, going to wait in line and casting my vote. Why? Because our system is still set up so that the popular vote doesn't matter. I think I understand the principle behind the electoral college, but I can't get behind it. If I'm correct, it's meant to give a greater voice to those who live in less-populated areas. So the concentrated populations of New York and LA don't decide who's president. So farmers have their say. So the militia in South Dakota doesn't get marginalized. But it's still weighted by population, so that reasoning doesn't even hold much water. If it were one person, one vote, and then that vote actually counted toward the election, I'd feel obligated to do my research and really pick the candidate I liked. But as is, I'm registered to vote and I don't really know why.

TWO PARTY SYSTEM: BAD AND BAD

The other reason elections seem dumb is that you basically have two options. Republican or Democrat. Don't tell that to my friend Socialist Nick, who works admirably to promote his organizations brand of socialism. But it's true. No other party has a shot. We even know that, talking about which candidate might hurt one of the big two, not which third party has a chance of actually winning. How many electoral college votes do you think go to the Green Party? The two party system means I basically have to decide between two manufactured personalities and decide which probably won't ruin our country. It makes voting pretty easy. I don't even have to know much about their stances on anything or what the issues are. Because deep down, most politicians are the same. Except for Carcetti, who is fast learning that running the city of Baltimore ain't gonna be easy.

WHAT I KNOW: VERY LITTLE

I basically know what Yahoo News headlines and The Daily Show (which I now watch on a very infrequent basis) tell me. I have a limited idea of who the candidates are at this point. From memory, this is who I think is currently in the running for President: Barak Obama. Hillary Clinton. Jon Edwards. Rudy Guliani. That guy from Law and Order. That guy who has lots of YouTube videos about him. John McCain. Mayor Bloomberg (he's probably thinking about it).I think there are probably five or six more, but since I don't think my opinion really matters at this point, I won't really start paying attention until the candidates are chosen for both parties. At this point I'm rooting for Obama, because he seems like he could genuinely make a difference. In what? Who knows. Not me.

That's all for now.