General Disdain With Sweeping Reform

Let me preface this with a few points here.

1) I'm not going to cite certain instances, or factual numbers gathered by the media, because for any point that I give you a number, you can come back with another number or figure to totally negate what I'm saying. We can go back and forth in that arena for days, and I don't have neither the patience nor the desire to get into a pissing contest of political knowledge. I don't care what you know, and you don't care what I know.

2) I'm also not taking sides. From a guy who could be the poster boy of political inaction and deserves to be berated for his lack of participation in our most basic of democratic rights, I'm aware of my apathy....and with it my choice to divert allegiance to either of the sorry excuses for political parties that we have at our disposal. So lay off of me. I'm self-aware of my laziness and indifference. Plus, nobody likes a finger pointer. More on that in a moment.

It's the political season and it's a time when names like Nancy Pelosi, Rick Perry, Barak Obama, and various sundry political figurines come into our collective consciousness. To be honest, I don't care much for any and all of the names. It's time for the posturing, the flexing of goals attained in previous terms, the freak-sideshows like Kinky Friedman (following in the blundering footsteps of Ventura, and Schwarzeneggar), the (and I cringe when I hear this) loud bellowing of "sweeping reform," and the general lies and casting of judgement that comes with this oh so exciting time.

Now, I appreciate it when people get passionate about whatever moral virtue they stand behind, or whatever whistleblowing figurehead shouts out wrongdoing of his supposed enemies in the political arena giving a passionate and well-informed argument for why he is in fact right (and most likely, in his opinion smarter and more intellectual), but I've got a problem with the fact that we can't seem to see the forest from the trees.

Let me sum this up really quick so you's know where I stand:

1) I agree with state's rights. What's good for Maine, is not good for Arizona. What's good for California, is not good for Connecticut...so on and so forth.

2) The less the federal government governs, the better. Now before you blow a gasket, hear me out. I don't mean that the government gets a free pass and all of societies advancements are left on the shoulders of it's citizens. What I'm saying is, to meet all of our interests, you can't make generalized decisions. What ends up happening in the course of pleasing everyone is that you segregate everyone. It's a retroactive outcome. The less the federal government is telling you what to do, the more freedom you have to do what you want to do. How you make your money, how you live your life, who you live your life with, who or what you worship. A government that has the decency to respect the American people by staying out of their lives. I don't want to use the "C" word (ends with "-ism") here, but we all know about it. It's a wonderful idea. There's only one problem with it though. It doesn't work.

We hear about sweeping political reform every time these elections come around. Right now we're hearing about how the Democrats are hoping to "turn the tide," and " seize the House and Senate."

The problem with it though, is that there isn't any sweeping reform. Just short of wars, natural disasters, and Acts of God we don't see any noticeable change....and that's change out of necessity. Maybe our perspective is limited until we can look back under the critical eye of history, but your measured in the times you live, sorta like "environment determines your reality" type shit. When was the last time we had major advancement (note I didn't say "change"...we've had that...in the other direction) in our political environment? Are we so past the learning curve that we've overdrawn the "idea bank" in this lovely governed nation of ours?

My problem with the two-party system could be a lengthy discussion that will not take place in this mish-mash of paragraphs about American politcal inadequacies. I'm only making observations, but I'll sum it up really quick-like. The two-party system is so entrenched in our government that I don't expect I will ever see a legitimate threat to it in my lifetime. As good as it is to be king, it's better to share the crown with your queen than to relinquish it altogether. They will fight tooth and nail to remain in power, and what's even more twisted is that they will fight tooth and nail to protect the other. Sure, they talk and tell of differing ideals and social systems and how they affect the nation...how their differing ideas will benefit the voting public, making it your "right" to choose; how they work via "bi-partisan" committees to solve the pressing social issues as a team, like some kind of boy-scout troupe. Fuck that. Every single one of them is a trained liar and deceiver of honest, unique, hard-working Americans. Now, now...I'm sure they all started because somewhere in their youthful heart they thought they could "make a difference," but after the mind-numbing bureacracy, and the life-polishing money was heaved into their pockets, I think those ideals became a little less sharp and that ache in the belly to make the world a better place resides somewhere in the back of a Mercedes C-Class.

This all sounds completely cynnical, and I can see how my little thesis here could be critiqued from every angle. I'm very well-aware of all of this. Like I said, you could pull numbers that show just how many starving tree-ridden kittens were pulled from trees by our government and how much money was generated, blahhty, blahhty, blahhhty, friggen blah.

The fact of the matter is...in a generalized way, I don't think our government is living up to it's potential...much less it's expectations. I think the two-party system has something to do with this. I say make a change, before we're forced to change it for you. The possiblities in that scenario are quite unnerving.