Politics

[bobquasit]

Ever since I realized that Obama and the Democratic leadership would never stop being whores for the Republicans, I've felt curiously less burdened. I'm out of the game, or mostly out of it. I'll vote for a third-party candidate, throwing my vote away, yippee! The Democrats can shoot themselves in the foot again, or not, and I don't have to care or be worried about it much.

Either way, I know that the country is really solidly fucked. I don't have to delude myself into thinking that the Democrats will fix things, and therefore I don't have to be outraged when they fuck things up, retain the most offensive Bush secrecy and anti-privacy laws, appoint right-wing judges to the Supreme Court to make the Republicans happy (in the name of "compromise"), and let Bush & Co. off scot-free. It's clear as day that the Democrats won't hold the GOP responsible for their crimes, so why should I let myself get worked up?

And if McCain wins, I feel oddly comforted by the thought that this country fucking deserves it. America hasn't suffered anywhere near enough to learn that stupidity and greed are not survival or leadership qualities. Maybe another eight or sixteen years of things getting a whole hell of a lot worse will get the public to wake up and start thinking...but to be honest, I really doubt it.

The real question, in my mind, is whether or not the country will still be salvageable by the time things get bad enough for the American public to come to its senses. I suppose time will tell.

Comments

[gimmick.livejournal.com]

Um..I don't have any knowledge about politics, but somehow or another, Obama and the Democratic party seemed like a bad idea to me. A lot of what Obama has been saying that actually went into my ear sounded rather ignorant or weak. But then again I'm a foolish, foolish person who's not into politics.

I felt rather stupid for feeling like the only person who felt iffy for Obama, (same goes for McCain).

However, seeing how many are practically worshiping Obama and saying that they'll vote for him because he's a Democrat kills me. To me, party stopped mattering when both sides are so corrupt that it doesn't make any sense to vote for a president BECAUSE they're in this and that party.

Where did actual common sense went off to? America is just another Rome. It's crumbling.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

I have never known you to be excited or happy about any politician running for any office. Why would I expect you to react otherwise? You always look for the dark gloomy side of things.

Self Fulfilling negative prophecy is easy.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know. I was feeling very positive about Bruce Babbitt in 1988. That was before I was on LJ, of course.

And I was quite impressed with Howard Dean in 2003/2004, although I never took the final step of becaming a "Deaniac" (something that I rather regret, now). Still, if you check back in late '93 and early '94, you'll see that I was fairly supportive of him. Let me see...

http://bobquasit.livejournal.com/45070.html

"Self Fulfilling negative prophecy is easy."

I think you mean that it's easy to BE negative. My prophecies are by no means self-fulfilling when it comes to national politics. They're pretty accurate, I think, but not self-fulfilling; I'm sure they have no impact at all on reality.

Now, if I made some negative predictions about myself, I'd agree with you. But that's a stupd kind of prophecy to make, so I avoid it.

[klyfix.livejournal.com]

I'm not really fond of the idea of dying (I mean that completely and totally LITERALLY) just because "the country deserves it." That's a Old Testament God Of Judgment attitude.

With Obama, we step slowly from the Abyss. With McCain, we go from walking casually towards it to running headlong into the Abyss screaming "Whee!"

Let's be serious. America has never ever been the place you seem to think it once was. The Democrats never ever were the people you seem to think they were, and they never all embraced the philosophies you seem to think they did. That's Reality. No politician ever has been a Paragon of Total Virtue. And most politicians, on both sides, are not soulless morons; there are reasons for what goes on. You largely sound like a hard right or religious right winger of the seventies and eighties, actually.

We're humans. We struggle on because we don't have much of a choice. If we really thought too much about our situation there's a good chance a whole lot of us would just off ourselves. Strangely, we don't. We even have kids (totally insane if all is going to Hell) even if we have a choice, because for some insane reason we have Hope (Mind you, I seem to recall that there is a version of the Pandora legend where Hope is actually the last Curse; it keeps people going when it is actually hopeless) and we keep going and often we triumph or at least make it to a point where we can help our successors to triumph. That's what humans do (which sounds like I'm trying to be Heinlein); we survive, we move on, we make a new world.

Hmm, that may be too strong, but I just can't let your statement stand.