The State of the Union

It's no secret I'm a conservative. I've made that known in previous posts, and in my conversations to people who know me.

And so, when I read an article like this one in the WSJ about a democratic supermajority partnering with an Obama White House, the hair on my neck stands up, and I get a non-Star Wars "bad feeling about this". (By the way, read the article. It's a good one, and gives you something to think about no matter your political ideology).

Unions running amuck. Socialized heathcare to anyone who wants it. Out of control taxes. A bigger green movement.

All things that aren't out of the realm of possibility (or probability). All things that I really don't want to see.

And yet, despite that, I can't, and won't, bring myself to vote for John McCain for president.

Nor can I, or will I, bring myself to vote for a GOP candidate for Congress this year.

I'm sick of American politics. Completely sick of it.

I'm sick of two parties controlling the system, and both being controlled themselves by fringe, far-right and far-left groups. I'm sick of the NRA and the religious right having outrageous demands that have no place in actual Conservative America. I'm sick of MoveOn.org and the socialist left pushing for policies that have no place in common sense America. I'm sick of bloggers on both sides, whether it's defending poor choices, mocking a misquote, digging up thirty-year-old stores, or mocking a voter who happened to ask a question. I'm sick of "fair and balanced" being a euphemism for "spin in the other direction, and probably going further than the original spin'. I'm sick of debates that aren't debates, but rather are candidates sticking to a script of talking points.

I know I'm not the only one. I'm not the only one who wants to hear actual ideas. Details, and not just "I'm going to do this better".

A monkey can create a campaign platform that says "we need to better the country, make it safer, and make the economy stronger." A third-grade student could do that. Every person in America thinks that's a good idea.

I'm not the only one who wants the people we send to Washington to actually represent me. When an Ohio Senator tells the press he's getting thousands of calls and e-mails from people in Ohio with 95% of them against a bill, and then votes for the bill, I lose the last shred of faith I have in the system, at least in the system being run by the bums we're sending to Washington.

This has really turned into a rant on all of politics in America, and it wasn't intended that way. I really wanted to just rant against the GOP, the party that is supposed to come closest to my ideals. The party that claims it wants a smaller government, that it wants to fight wasteful spending, and that it wants to represent people like me.

And, yet, facing the possibility of what that article points to coming to pass, I'm turning my back completely on the GOP and voting for none of the bums that want to represent me in Washington.

Which is fair enough, because I feel like they've completely turned their back on me, too.



And, I don't feel a third-party vote is a thrown-away vote, but that's a blog/rant for another day.