ok kids, everyone's doing it so here's my take on the elections this year. as always, career politicians are evil and their sickly sweet lies are not to be trusted. anyone who comes from a privileged/rich family who has never known hardship or lived like the people is they are supposedly trying to help (the ones whose vote their are courting) should be scrutinized. i'm not saying that an underprivileged/poor background makes a candidate better or more in tune with the needs of the people. i'm just saying that we all know it is a minority of people that rule a country and they are representing the majority of the country in doing so. these minority rulers tend to also come from backgrounds that are of a minority, that of wealth and power, that of the few controlling/owning the many. when you vote in local elections and pick leaders for your local community, the people running tend to be from your neighborhood so they are more likely to have a similar wealth/power situation as you do currently. but as these local leaders become leaders of greater status, of moving up to county, state, and then federal, i personally think they become more out of touch to the reality of hardships. they have experience of course in areas where us commoners don't. but to get to those higher levels you need money to promote yourself. you need to court people with money if you don't already have it. if you already have money, well then you're still courting them but you probably already had some connection to them already. what is the trade off? it's tit for tat and the commoners are not giving the tit so we don't get the tat. (damn that is such a weird phrase, tit for tat!)

alright, so you get by now that i take a skeptical and cynical stance towards politricks. that doesn't mean you shouldn't vote though. because if you don't vote, then the views you are against win by default because you didn't speak out against them. to vote is to speak, no matter how cynical you may be about the authenticity of the final vote count, if fraud is involved, or our outdated and ridiculous method of deciding on the winner of presidential elections via electoral college.

it is time-consuming to keep up on all the issues going on locally, nationally, and internationally. when election time rolls around, you should try to make yourself aware of what's on the ballot and do some research, not just be fed propaganda. notice i used the word "should" as this is much harder to actually do. i think there's many out there who only focus on one or two issues and make decisions of that. or maybe they only vote on or two measures and leave the rest of the ballot blank or have a method for picking the rest, such as gender/ethnic/party/name preferences. then of course there are the people who only vote for president, that's it. no matter your voting style or beliefs or affiliated party and all that, even though i'm nobody, i do encourage you to vote, for you to speak out.

now, my brief words on a few things. i hate the 2 party system. i know there are other parties but they don't stand a chance. as a matter of principle, i am not a member of either majority party. however, i tend to vote for one of the majority parties, especially in the biggest election we have, the presidential one. but also, as a matter of principle, when it's the primaries i tend not to vote for the major parties. the minority parties will never get a big enough voice so that they are seriously considered during every presidential election, but i believe in sending the message out there that the 2 party system needs to be shaken up. sadly though, when you look up the minority party candidates for the primaries, there are very few worth giving a hoot about. there were many on the bill that i would place under "crazy" but that's the beauty of this country, i suppose, that as long as you meet the requirements you can run for office, though i may disagree with the requirements. (call me "crazy" for thinking that usa citizens since birth but born not on american soil/territory should be allowed to hold the highest office. i don't think we should punish them simply because they fell from their mom's crotch while she was on vacation, volunteering abroad, or something like that.)

national politics
something for fun: palin as president.
more fun: video clip of the real sarah palin on saturday night live but amy poehler takes her place rapping on weekend update

state politics - california
proposition 8: look, i'm 3rd generation californian. i'm proud of this state. i'm glad that history ran the course that it did so that my interracial parents could marry. now for my generation, i would like the possibility of marriage for everyone. i'm not the biggest supporter of marriage. i personally don't believe in legal binding as evidence of my commitment to someone. (not to mention the legal mess of separation.) however, these legal bindings are necessary because they provide rights. we may think that things should be some way and that they are. but just because we think that's how it should be doesn't mean that's how it is. if we were living in a rural place a long time ago, perhaps if a man and woman lived together and everyone in town knew that they were a couple, and something happened to one of them, well then who would disagree with the other inheriting the property, goods, and whatever debt there may be. it's just a given. that isn't what happens these days. hetero or homo, a couple has to be legally bound for such matters. this proposition is one step towards removing equality if you vote for its approval. california took a step towards equality and this proposition wants to walk back much more than a step in my opinion. it also saddens me to watch the ads supporting the proposition. these ads are heavily funded by the knights of columbus, a catholic society to which my father was a proud member. i know the basics of my father's political mind (republican!) when he was at university and i think it fits with the times and his religion. i'm curious, but perhaps do not want to know, how that political mind would have changed with the times, or if it would have changed at all. would i be yelling and screaming at my father, walking out on the family and being disowned? would i visit for sunday dinners and have happy times? would he be dick cheney or would he be sonny bono? i'm gay and love my father and cherish the few things of his i have, including his knights of columbus soft briefcase but maybe i'll put some rainbow and hrc stickers on it and attend some catholic events.