Political stuff and what wins my vote...

Yeah, I said stuff, because that's pretty much what it feels like.

Today, I'll sit and actually READ through my voter's pamphlet before I make my voting decision.

But will I be swayed by the other pieces of the political landscape??

Hmmm...

ADVERTISING:

Thanks to the Supreme Court,people who really care about their issues could spend a ridiculous amount of money on political advocating and hating this campaign season. In fact, they care sooooo much about their representative's impacts on EMS, education, taxes, services, you name it, that across the country they're willing to drop $2billion dollars (you can listen to more about money and politics here or here).

If you care that much about something, just use that $2 billion to fix some of the issues yourself. Why buy someone else's ability to solve your problems?

I'm not impressed you'd waste so much of your personal money on filling my recycling bin with your often misleading flyers.

You don't win my vote.

STUMPING:

For weeks I've seen this image outside of my local Post Office. When I walk by I try to think how this connection is drawn?

One day, an older woman was talking to the faithful LaRouche supporter who stood in the blowing wind and sprinkling rain.

She said, "It took us eight years to get done everything we got done, and took him only twenty-two months to destroy everything."

I felt my hair stand up. Literally.

Okay, this isn't an Obama love-fest here, but I HATE seeing short/narrow mindedness in action.

What is the deal with Obama-is-Hitler image anyway? The only rationale I come up for that is somehow LaRouche has decided the social and economic circumstances in this country that led to Obama's victory were in some way similar to those of post-WWI Germany. The economic devastation of proposed WWI reparations crippled Germany and left the populace ripe for a popular uprising by a charismatic leader.

IF this were a valid comparison, then the LaRouche supporter's sympathizer wouldn't be seeing eye to eye with him because then she'd have to accept that her guy did damage equivalent to post-WWI in order to usher in the charismatic new leader.

Yes, faulty reasoning and logic abound here (even my guess, I'm sure). But is it right to simply say: Obama is a socialist so he's Hitler?

I saw many GW Bush is Hitler posters during his tenure, but it wasn't because people thought he was a socialist.

I'd like to see some more creative political analogies, but I suppose if they tried to be more creative fewer people would understand what they were saying.

If you want my vote, then appeal to my higher order of thinking, and that won't happen using some tired comparisons.

RALLIES:

Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor freedom rally draws an estimated 47,000...

Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity and Stephen Colbert's March to Keep Fear Alive draw over 200,000...

This isn't about winners and losers, it's about the power of media. People on both sides of the aisle think these men are the truth-speakers for their teams.

I don't know how much of the truth comes from any of these mouths, but the fact that they are able to whip up such intense emotions demonstrates just how hungry we are as a nation for a political system and government that works and works well.

I'm one of those hungry people.

TAXES:

People, you cannot have taxes slashed AND keep the government programs you like.

So don't be so darn outraged when you say NO to prop-whatever then crime rates go up or school dropout rates go up or road conditions suck or the wait to get your driver's license is two times longer or your Social Security case worker doesn't get back to you within a week because his/her caseload as tripled or whatever.

Check out the definition of cause and effect.

I know how I vote can have effect on the things I care about and think are worth keeping or axing for my family and my country. So scaring me or wooing me with tax cuts is pointless. I understand there's only one money pie out there and the only thing I'm really concerned about is HOW MUCH of that pie is being eaten by non-US mouths (ie international debt holders).

PLAYING THE GAME:

In the end, when I think of politics I think of the scene from 'A Beautiful Mind' when Russell Crowe's John Nash is in the bar and realizes (as per game theory) if all players work seperately try to maximize their own reward then the payout that each participant is less than if they work together.

Yeah, it's a crazy idea that we as a nation could work together for any reason other than defending ourselves against and alien attack.

So when I vote today, I'll think about what's best for 'us' as a whole and cross my fingers that it doesn't take an alien attack to get the rest of my fellow Americans to hopefully do the same.

I guess you could say, the prospect of an alien attack is the biggest factor in my voting behavior.

Peace

A Pink American