the politics that be*
over the past few weeks, i’ve engaged myself in a handful of political blogs in an attempt to brace myself for the upcoming election. after the last two botched presidential elections, i’ve come to hate this time of year. the deluge of mudslinging and outrageous political ads and misrepresented quotes and blatant cover-ups and lies is all a little too much to take. how does one get to the heart of the matter? how does one know truth from fiction these days?
i try to be an educated voter, but even with a wealth of information at my fingertips at any given hour during any given a day, i know i’ll never know everything i need and want to know. and probably along the way, i’ll find out some things i never wanted to know, thus resulting in outrage, frustration and overall fatigue.
that, and there are just too many demanding issues to address. what i care about and what those in power care about are usually two different things completely. like (in no particular order), i’m seriously distressed by our overall appearance to other countries; overpopulation in the world; the fact that the fish population is on its way out the door (and being a scuba diver, that saddens me greatly); war profiteering; the obvious shift in wealth; the ever-increasing population of vehicles, particularly SUVs, despite the incentives to get hybrids and more fuel-efficient (and smaller) cars; the prolific marketing of EVERYTHING consumable; the air being punctuated by cell phone chatter; high fructose corn syrup in many foods we consider “staples”; depleted uranium deposits in iraq and afghanistan causing severe birth defects; just to name a few.
i keep hoping that i’ll wake up one morning, and the scorn and shame we’ve endured on behalf of some ill-advised folks in our government, as well as all those things i’ve listed above, will have been one massive bad nightmare.
—-
- i claim no political authority. i am not holier than thou. i try my best to be well-informed, live life fully without extremes or unnecessary luxuries. and i apologize if my thoughts are not cohesive or complete. the above passage is only a fraction of what i feel.