Good Intentions

So, there was some kind of election yesterday, and I guess some guy won. I mean, that’s cool and all.

Oh wait, it was historic, because he was black? Wow, go America!

I’ve been reading a lot of Republicans and conservatives bleat and moan about how this will be the end of America because of TEH SOCIALISMS. Irony is a foreigh concept to them, considering we just nationalized our investment banking industry. Hm.

Anyway, law school is hitting that evil yet sweet stretch where everything is starting to crash down on top of me. Let’s see if he can remain sane, shall we?

I surely hope so.

EDIT: Perhaps I should clarify my position in case any of the two people who read this blog wander by. In principle, I am socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Government should basically leave me alone, and take what it absolutely NEEDS and no more in taxes to fund things: roads, police, some government programs, etc. My main problem with Republicans is that they want to more or less tell me how to live: who I can marry, what to do with my body, etc. I’m not fine with that. They also like to erode civil liberties in the name of SECURITY and PATRIOTISM, and there are strange intolerant undertones that run through certain sections (read: Religious Right).

Democrats annoy me less, because they are less about telling me what to do. They want to take more of my money, and I can actually accept that, because at heart I am a Hamiltonian Federalist and I believe in a strong federal government. Sorry. The states have shown they like to screw things up (see: Civil War, desegregation). But other than the tax issues, Democrats aren’t going to tell me what to do with my life. They’re going to leave me alone, and help out minorities and the poor. That’s neat. Go for it.

What I’d REALLY love is for this election to break apart the Republican party into: Social Conservatives and Fiscal Conservatives. And then the FCs can join the Libertarian party and make it legitimate and a true third party, and I will vote Libertarian in a heartbeat. Right now, though, the Libertarian party is run by crazy people who do not believe in government AT ALL, and those people need to be shouted down by a rational majority.

As far as this election goes: I liked John McCain circa 2000. He was a true maverick (sorry) back then, as his policies really broke with the mainstream Republicans, and he was a huge proponent of honest and transparent government. 2008 McCain went 180 degrees in the other direction to pander to the fringe right, who have fucked up the country anyway for the past 8 years. Bush, by the way, was an abject failure, both at home and abroad. It’s hard to see that any other way; I’d love to hear real, rational, fact-checked arguments to the contrary. Obama, while I am not happy with all of his policies, and also realizing that everything he promised will basically never happen, appealed to me more than McCain, including his tax plan, his Constitutional Law professor background, his rhetorical skills, and the fact that the Democrats annoy me much less than the Republicans. That’s it. Obama is not my Messiah, he’s not Jesus, he’s not my savior, he is just a different direction for the country.

And seriously. We will all be fine in four years, for good or ill. If Obama manages to fuck up the country MORE than Bush, I will eat my hat.*

*Exaggeration

That was Ben Franklin, some 300 years ago, give or take some change. Still pretty apt today. The man was wise, verily.

I’m putting a moratorium on any political posts on my blog at least until after Election Day, possibly until after Inauguration Day. I seriously can’t handle the misinformation, the misrepresentation, the whining, the shit-talking, the lies, damn lies, and statistics, and just the general idiocy and inanity of both sides.

I think law school has made me more prone to considering both sides of something, and I can see the merit in the general arguments from both sides. You can only get to that nougaty center when you drill down past all the bullshit rhetoric and generalized asshattery/dicketry of the supporters. And I’m seriously tired of it. Stop putting up tweets about it, stop putting up facebook statuses about it, just stop! Please. We don’t care for whom you’re voting, or why. We just don’t. Just go vote and shut up.

Everything about this election has been divisive and severing. There needs to be bipartisan commitment to fixing things, not petty squabbling among factions. This annoys me to no end.

Phew. I feel better now, in some small way.

I found this pic on Fark.com, specifically here.

How nerdy. Also, clown car!