Random Thoughts...

Just had a few things on my mind today so I thought I'd share. Obviously a big week. As far as President Elect Obama, I want to say how amazing his speech was. It wasn't the most inspired thing I've ever heard, but the sentiment was perfect. He really tried to express the tone of Kennedy's, "Ask not what you can do for your contry...," speech. A lot of pundits, especially republicans, are saying that Obama promised the world on a silver platter and now he is going to disappoint everyone. But I think that he has been very clear all along. It will take time and it will take work. I thought his tone was focused and clear and inspiring in the sense that people who voted for him didn't just get excited about voting, or the candidate or change, but about politics. He inspired people to get involved and care about what's happening. I think that's why people voted for him and that's why he is going to be a great president. The Revue always looks to the West Wing to prove his point and so I think I will too:

"Bartlet: Here’s an answer to your question that I don’t think you’re going to like. The current crop of 18-25 year olds is the most politically apathetic generation in American history. In 1972, half of that age group voted. In the last election, 32%. Your generation is considerably less likely than any previous one to write or call public officials, attend rallies, or work on political campaigns. A man once said this, "decisions are made by those who show up." So are we failing you, or are you failing us? It's a little of both."



Another thing I was concerned about the night before the election was the appointment of judges. I never really thought about why I should vote for one judge over another and the more I thought about it the more confused I got. I was deciding between a current (republican) Michigan Supreme court judge and his democratic opponent. I looked at their views and their opinions and then had the thought that they shouldn't matter. Political preference should not play any role at all for a judge. They should actually have no tendencies one way or another. The role of a judge is to enforce the law, not to interpret it as they see fit. They are not law makers. They can't decide one way because they feel a certain way on the issue. They must be unbiased in order to maintain any sense of fairness. Anyways, I kind of went back and forth for a bit because obviously I'd like people to interpret the law the way I think, but who are we to do that. It's a slippery slope that I'd really never even thought of before.

One more political point I want to talk about is the fact that Democrats almost had complete power in government. As left and liberal as I am, I don't think I ever want to see one party gain complete control over government. There has to be fairness for checks and balances to work properly. To have a filibuster proof government is absurd. I may agree with democrats on a lot of things, but certainly not everything. If not for unrealistic and terrible foreign policy ideas and many silly domestic ideas, I'm actually much more of a Green Party person. I think republicans represent almost half the country. To completely disregard them is not just unfair but it's wrong. I'm glad there is still some order in congress and Dems to not have all the power.

On that same note, I also sincerely believe that America should be divided into two. This election seemed so divisive. It seemed people either voted for Obama or thought he was a terrorist. I honestly think the south should secede. They can have their guns and pollution and anti-gay, anti-minority sentiment and we'll have our tree hugging, universal health care, stem-cell research, progressive taxed people who care about more things than money and abortion. I truly believe the country would be in a better place. You want a different lifestyle go down south. I've never seen so much hate and ridiculous ignorance than when they would show people in the south who honestly believed in their hearts that Obama was a terrorist and was going to take over America with the teachings of Islam. Those people deserve their own place to live.

Anyways, I was actually gonna talk about a few other things but this is already long enough. Suffice to say that I can't wait for the coming years and what this country is going to do. It's an exciting time and just because the elections over doesn't mean it's too late to get involved. It really hasn't even begun yet. As always, go big or go home...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - my favorite part of the speech was about 6:15 into this clip. It's when everyone else is walking off stage and Obama is standing there waving to the people, and maybe it was the awesome superman-esque music in the background, but you can't help but get pumped and see it in his eyes that he's gonna be great.

Govt. 101...

With the election only a short 10 days away, it still amazes me how little people know. Not just about the candidates, but about government in general. This is one case where I don't entirely blame people. Sure it is up to every person to take a sincere interest in the way government works, but if you don't want to there's nothing anyone can do to make you. But, they can make you learn about it in school. I think the last time we learned about government was in 8th grade. I was 13. I couldn't vote for another 5 years. Why on earth was that the last time they tried to teach me about government.

You know what I was doing when I was 13? Playing Magic: The Gathering. It's absurd to think that I would pay enough attention to retain all that information years later when it was my time to vote. Why do I even need to know that in 8th grade? Not that I am opposed to teaching government at an early age. I think the early you start doing it the better. But it's not really as simple as addition. It should be taught early and then built upon for years in high school and then really focused on wen you are 17 or 18. Senior year of high school should be spent talking about lobbyists and special interests and where money is spent and how to figure out which candidate is right for you. You can't expect to learn everything you need to know about voting just by listening to a couple people argue about issues for a few months. I need to know where money is going and why I should vote a certain way on a certain issue. For as little as America knows about the rest of the world, we also don't know anything about our own country. We are a nation filled with people who just don't care and even worse, are allowed to vote based on nothing.

Sure voting is a right, but it should be treated as a privilege. People should not be allowed to vote based on some inherited view of politics for what their uncle or some random person thinks. It should be based on your own principals and thoughts. I know too many people who are voting for Obama but have no idea why. They say they want change but don't know which Bush policies they want changed. They'll say, "I like his ideas on health care," but have no idea what those ideas are. I have made it a point over the last year to involve myself in this election and learn all I can about the candidates. It started before the primaries and I made a serious effort to learn about every democratic candidate I could. Unfortunately Michigan didn't have a Primary so my effort was somewhat fruitless. But the point is that I still don't know everything I should. I can't imagine trying to jump in this late and decide.

To nutshell a little bit, I think people are idiots and many don't deserve to vote or don't know enough to. Also, I'm scared McCain might win. I'm out. Go big or go home.

-M, p, z & shredder