I just filled out my mail-in ballot for the November 4 election and have applied the postage. As I sit here and look at it I find myself not at all pleased.
I voted a straight Democrat ticket, I can no more have Neil Kashkari as my governor as I can have Carl DeMaio representing me in congress. Thankfully, Kashkari isn't considered to have even a remote chance against Jerry Brown, but DeMaio is right now in a toss up race against Scott Peters. I suppose since he is running for a house seat, that should DeMaio actually win it wouldn't be as big a deal as if he were a senator, the house is going to keep a Republican majority this year anyway.
So Why am I not at all pleased? Follow along below for my mild electoral rant.
I'm not at all pleased on a number of levels.
It would be fair to state that I am not enamored with the government we have today and ever since Obama's first election with the subsequent obstructionist policy of the Republican party my opinion of politicians in general hasn't improved. Yes I am disillusioned, and I am hardly alone.
Consider the rise of the odious Tea Party, who have the unmitigated gall to consider themselves patriots and not the racist anti-government boobs that so many of them seem to come across as. Tea Party candidates seem to almost exclusively represent the worst of science denialism, racism and thoughtlessness.
I'm not pleased at the amount of acceptance that Ayn Randian libertarianism seems to be getting, why its not universally derided as an odious philosophy of "I got mine, fuck the rest of you" is beyond me.
Seems to me about the worst thing you could wish on anybody is to live inside Ayn Rand's vision of Utopia.
I'm bothered by the ever increasing influence that religion is garnering in the political sphere.
I'm not pleased that even with a Democratic president in his second term, we still are saddled with the majority of the Patriot act, that under a Democratic president we have seen an unprecedented increase in attacks on peaceful protest (see OWS - Ferguson - et. al.), I'm upset that my government is apparently fine being the proprietors of our own little gulag in Guantanamo bay. I'm upset that promises of a transparent government have led to one as opaque (or worse) as the previous one.
I'm sick and tired of a never ending election cycle. I cant help but think that right now congress looks more like a shitty reality TV show, no better than "Duck Dynasty" or "Dancing with the has-beens" than anything resembling thoughtful governance.
I'm not at all pleased with the seeming inability of the Democratic party to actually stand up for something, their inability to effectively fight back against the right. why that is I don't know, My gut fear is that its because they would rather keep their offices than actually risk votes by standing up and fighting for progressive policies. It is notable that at least a few are running on their support of the ACA....somewhat late I think but notable.
It seems to me, for way too many politicians, that their job is far more important to them than actually doing the job. A false impression? perhaps, but if it is, what does that say about the actual competence of the people we elect.
It bothers me that in all likelihood the republicans will take the senate this cycle, it bothers me because I personally cant muster the confidence that our President will veto all the crap that a republican congress will spew.
What bothers me most is that we have apparently the exact government that Americans want, for all polls that indicate our congress is less popular than hemorrhoids and cockroaches yet almost every single hemorrhoid and cockroach up for re-election will be so.
Allow me to conclude with a slightly edited Monty Python reference....
'I would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this diary. It was never my intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are concerned more with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today. Nor indeed do I intend that readers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive.
I am sorry if this impression has come across.'
Well maybe not, in any case I'm off to the Mailbox because I have to vote.