Politicos

I haven't said much about politics in awhile--a long while, actually--perhaps because it depresses me. I've been politically aware for a long time now (since the mid 90's) and I've never been more "aware" of the futility of caring about politics than I am right now.

I don't mean that politics doesn't matter; in fact, just the opposite. I think when you look at all the things people can obsess over (celebrity, sports, social life) politics is one of the only things that can and will actually change the world. The people we elect are directly responsible for how our society, and our planet, will end up, and yet those who do the electing are so incomprehensibly stupid that it makes me wonder how anything works at all.

Take obsession over celebrities, or sports. I know a number of people (myself include, but to a lesser degree, I hope) who know the latest about every Hollywood person out there. They "vote" with their wallets, but at the end of the day, Hollywood has only an indirect effect, at best, on how people live their lives. Sports is the same; I'm quite disappointed that the Tigers got beat out of the Series like they did (that's a whole 'nother post, even) but does it change the world? It barely changes Detroit.

Then there's politics, where there seems to be no real accountability, and no real thought behind any one particular voter's choices while in the voting booth. People spend hours learning about what stupid-ass thing Paris Hilton did last week, but 5 minutes of actual thought about the Iraq war, or the environment, or just the corruption in general, is apparently too much to ask.

I'm just frustrated, and this is a rant. I've been depressed, politically, since the 2004 election, and I don't want to see the same thing happen here. But I'm smart enough to know that even if my "wildest dreams" come true and the Dems pick up both the house and senate, they're probably too inept to do anything with them.

I'm just one vote, unfortunately. And I can curse and bemoan the voting majority in this country that wants to keep electing the Republican party, but I can't do a single thing about it. None of them even read this blog.

Okay, just in case they do, I'll say this: don't be an asshole. The Republicans have screwed up pretty much every facet of government, and while the Democrats may screw up as well, any of you who put the GOP in power in 2000 and 2004 owe the rest of us the chance to let our own people fix it. If it doesn't work, I'll join you in voting Whig in 2008.