Political rambling
Aug. 11th, 2004 08:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apocalypsosI just got a mental image of what ye olde friends list will look like the day after the presidential election when they announce the winner. Lose, you bastard, lose. *sends bad vibes towards the White House*
Oh, and I heard the audio clip of his "sovereign" ramble last night. You know, everybody's entitled to a mistake or two, but the man says stupid things like this at least once a week. This time, he said two stupid things at the same bloody event, and made a room full of reporters laugh at him. Not with him, at him. I just ... it's anybody's prerogative who you want to vote for, but for crying out loud, when the man behaves like this, it's like presenting the world with our ideal American by sending in the village idiot. I realized yesterday that I wouldn't mind any other Republican candidate as long as he could sound like an actual Presidential candidate. It's just like in Internet arguments -- you want to disagree with me, fine, but at least be able to form a coherent sentence with some actual logic behind it. (If there's one thing I can say about the conservatives and/or Republicans on ye olde friends list, it's that you guys are polite and can give your side intelligently.) And don't even get me started on the fact that the man went to Yale and Harvard and has no idea of the definition of the word "sovereign", but I do and I was only at IUP for three years.
Look, here's the thing. I'd lj-cut this, but I just have to say it. There are a lot of reasons I'll be voting for Kerry instead of Bush this November, mostly because Kerry more represents my beliefs. He's not perfect, of course -- Jesus, my perfect candidate for president right now would be Barack Obama, but the man's not running. And he doesn't support some things I'm for (the gay marriage thing, especially, but outside LJ, I know very few people who are for it, so I'm not surprised), but he supports far more of them than Bush does. It all boils down to one basic thing -- I'm sick of arguing.
I've been arguing with people about politics for the last four years, and I'm tired. I've been dealing with the Bush administration's terror alerts for three years, and I'm exhausted. I've been reading their blatant disregard for the American right to pursue happiness for the last few years, and I'm disgusted. And it's not just Bush that bothers me, it's this aggravating polarization of the political parties that's driving me nuts. The fact that when someone says they're a Republican, it's like Democratic code for "hates women, homosexuals, and non-Catholics," and when someone says they're a Democrat, it's code for some Republicans that stands for "kills babies, is for gay sex in the streets, and loves terrorists" -- it's annoying. Do all Democrats and Republicans think this way? Of course not. But that there are more people who think like this than in past years is disconcerting.
Do I think if Kerry wins, everybody will stop arguing over politics? I'd be an idiot to think that. But do I think it'll lessen? Maybe a little, yeah. I just want to stop having fights on- and off-line about things like gay marriage (which, contrary to popular belief, will not lead to armageddon -- Bush's insistence on invading every country that might have had a guy in a turban within its borders once has a better chance of that) or the war (I know it'll come as quite a shock, but war is bad -- yes, all war, even the ones that liberate people and save lives in the end; war is still a big fight where lots of people die) or sex ed (hey, Bush, I hate to break it to you, but I may be the only person on the planet for whom abstinence is working -- there are nuns getting more nookie than me).
I know I said I was going to lj-cut political opinion posts from now on, but I wanted at least this one out there.
EDIT: Speaking of things I'm tired of, read this and be disgusted. *eye roll*
Oh, and I heard the audio clip of his "sovereign" ramble last night. You know, everybody's entitled to a mistake or two, but the man says stupid things like this at least once a week. This time, he said two stupid things at the same bloody event, and made a room full of reporters laugh at him. Not with him, at him. I just ... it's anybody's prerogative who you want to vote for, but for crying out loud, when the man behaves like this, it's like presenting the world with our ideal American by sending in the village idiot. I realized yesterday that I wouldn't mind any other Republican candidate as long as he could sound like an actual Presidential candidate. It's just like in Internet arguments -- you want to disagree with me, fine, but at least be able to form a coherent sentence with some actual logic behind it. (If there's one thing I can say about the conservatives and/or Republicans on ye olde friends list, it's that you guys are polite and can give your side intelligently.) And don't even get me started on the fact that the man went to Yale and Harvard and has no idea of the definition of the word "sovereign", but I do and I was only at IUP for three years.
Look, here's the thing. I'd lj-cut this, but I just have to say it. There are a lot of reasons I'll be voting for Kerry instead of Bush this November, mostly because Kerry more represents my beliefs. He's not perfect, of course -- Jesus, my perfect candidate for president right now would be Barack Obama, but the man's not running. And he doesn't support some things I'm for (the gay marriage thing, especially, but outside LJ, I know very few people who are for it, so I'm not surprised), but he supports far more of them than Bush does. It all boils down to one basic thing -- I'm sick of arguing.
I've been arguing with people about politics for the last four years, and I'm tired. I've been dealing with the Bush administration's terror alerts for three years, and I'm exhausted. I've been reading their blatant disregard for the American right to pursue happiness for the last few years, and I'm disgusted. And it's not just Bush that bothers me, it's this aggravating polarization of the political parties that's driving me nuts. The fact that when someone says they're a Republican, it's like Democratic code for "hates women, homosexuals, and non-Catholics," and when someone says they're a Democrat, it's code for some Republicans that stands for "kills babies, is for gay sex in the streets, and loves terrorists" -- it's annoying. Do all Democrats and Republicans think this way? Of course not. But that there are more people who think like this than in past years is disconcerting.
Do I think if Kerry wins, everybody will stop arguing over politics? I'd be an idiot to think that. But do I think it'll lessen? Maybe a little, yeah. I just want to stop having fights on- and off-line about things like gay marriage (which, contrary to popular belief, will not lead to armageddon -- Bush's insistence on invading every country that might have had a guy in a turban within its borders once has a better chance of that) or the war (I know it'll come as quite a shock, but war is bad -- yes, all war, even the ones that liberate people and save lives in the end; war is still a big fight where lots of people die) or sex ed (hey, Bush, I hate to break it to you, but I may be the only person on the planet for whom abstinence is working -- there are nuns getting more nookie than me).
I know I said I was going to lj-cut political opinion posts from now on, but I wanted at least this one out there.
EDIT: Speaking of things I'm tired of, read this and be disgusted. *eye roll*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-08-12 04:16 am (UTC)on the other hand i heard that kerry started his last campaign speech by saluting and saying "i am ready to serve", which is the first really obnoxious thing i heard about him.
what do you think about these two facts, what is the general opinion? was the first downplayed in america, was the second an attempt to get the bush voters/nationalists onto kerry's side?
no subject
Date: 2004-08-12 04:36 am (UTC)As for the saluting bit, Kerry's been tossing around his Vietnam record quite a bit, mostly because (I think, anyway) it's an impressive thing that Bush doesn't have. And saluting ... shit like that doesn't help his chances with the Bush voters. If listening to Bill O'Reilly for two weeks taught me anything, it's that loyal Bush voters think he signed up for Vietnam simply to use it during his political career, that four and a half months of service doesn't count (tell that to the people who were injured or killed within their first week in Vietnam), that he didn't earn his medals, that he didn't really save anybody, and that the fact that he was later a war protestor completely negates his war record's true importance.
To be honest, I think Kerry gets more wavering Bush voters when Bush does something stupid, cruel, or annoying.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-12 04:55 am (UTC)