Poking the Wasps Nest, or, Let's Talk About Politics!

So I generally avoid talking about politics, mostly because a) I don't care that much b) I tend not to be overly informed on the subject and c) people who talk about politics tend to be a lot like rabid dogs.

Only rabid dogs are more rational.

But I've noticed that lately, people seem to be paying a bit more attention to the circus that our electoral system has become.  And when I say that, I mean that people are starting to notice the media focus on relatively unimportant side issues, and the way that only certain inflammatory statements by particular people make it to the front page.  It gives me hope that maybe, one day, the people might rise up, say, "Enough," and actually do something about our broken system.

Of course, in order to fix the system, you have to acknowledge and identify the problem.  And that's the point we're at now.  In an effort to get one more voice out there pointing out the inconsistencies (and get myself on yet another watch list), let's talk about some of them, and the possible reasons behind them.

Focusing On Side Issues:  If you listen to the media, the key issues for this years presidential election are women's rights and gay marriage.  Now, I'm not saying those aren't important issues--as a woman, having a say in what happens to my body is important to me, and who doesn't know a wonderful gay couple or three who deserve the rights and privileges that a legally sanctioned marriage provides?  However, I'm pretty sure that there are one or two things that are just a wee bit more important.  Like jobs.  Yeah, yeah, I know unemployment rates have gone down.  I also know that's there's a limit on how long you can collect benefits, and there's a lot of people who have passed that limit.  Unemployment has gone down because people have run out of benefits, or gone back to school to retrain (or to hide out until things get better), or because people have settled for two or three crap jobs just so they can pay the bills.  Go check the want ads--the jobs that are available are either highly specialized (i.e. require specific training) or shit jobs that nobody wants because they don't pay anything (like fast food).  How many people do you know who have had to move back in with their parents, or take on an additional roommate, or who have lost their job, or who can't afford to replace their broken down car, much less pay their bills? That probably describes about half the people I know, and if you can say the same, I think we definitely have an employment problem in our fine country.  So why isn't the media covering that?  There could be a lot of reasons.  My theory?  By focusing on side issues like gay marriage and women's rights (both of which will eventually resolve themselves for the best), it gives the candidates the chance to hide the fact that they don't have a solution for the job problem.  Alternatively, if you go in for your conspiracy theories, it could even be a way to hide the fact that the main candidates don't want to solve the problem.  Pick your reason for why.  Either way, it's a ploy to distract our attention from what's really important.

This is what's going through my head whenever I think of this.

Manipulating The System:  Now, I'll admit we're traipsing into conspiracy theory here.  At the same time, some things just don't add up.  For example, let's take a look at the debacle that was the republican primary.  How many candidates got put out there for president?  It doesn't really matter, because pretty much all of them were crackpots, crazy, or otherwise horrible candidates.  Seriously, next to the republican hopefuls anyone would look good--especially Obama.  I'm not saying he had a hand in it, or that there someone somewhere is pulling strings.  But after the demolition derby that was the primary, I question who can take the republicans seriously at all.

You saw a primary.  I saw Thunderdome.

Whatever your position, it's looking pretty good for Obama.  But wait, you say, what about third party candidates?  Surely someone else is running.  Yes, Sally, there is.  However, there are these things called ballot access laws.  I didn't even know about this until it was brought to my attention.  You see, in order to be on the ballot, a candidate has to pay a fee and get so many signatures on a petition.  The exact numbers vary from state to state, but you get the idea.  However, if a candidate is backed by a third party--i.e. not republican or democrat--they have to not only pay a higher fee, but get substantially more signatures (think 2000 as opposed to 200).  And, of course, those signatures can be challenged, which means at best a delay in getting on the ballot, at worst not being there at all, if they can invalidate any of those signatures (and something as simple as writing the wrong zip code can invalidate one).  Our current third party candidates are having to do this, and last I was aware of, at least one was dealing with a challenge in Pennsylvania.  If they refuse him ballot access, he'll probably still be a write in candidate, but you tell me how many people are going to know of him.  On the other hand, if he's on the ballot, there's a good number of people who will look at Romney and Obama and say, "Oh, hell no, let's go with the other guy."

The Two Party System:  While I paid as little attention as possible in my history classes, one thing that always stuck out to me was the number of political parties and the way they seemed to change around every few decades, at least to start with.   Now?  We pretty much have two parties and a bunch of fringe groups.  Those two parties have been on top since about Lincoln.  To top things off, we haven't had a serious contender from a third party since Nixon (George Wallace of the American Independent party garnered a whopping 46 electoral votes in 1968).  What's the deal here?  I'm going to go out a limb here and say it's money.  Let's face it, at this point, the winner is whoever can get their name out there the most, and the more money you have, the better you can do that.  It's like voting for prom queen in high school.

Seriously, they have billboards and everything.

The republican and democratic parties have so much more funding than our third party guys.  The other guys simply don't have enough money to compete on the same level.  But at least they still try, even if it means standing on a street corner with a sandwich board.

Voting Against The Other Guy:  Okay, this isn't really the media, but I hear this a lot and have to challenge it.  The idea here is that the third party candidates have no chance, so, even if you hate both the republican and the democrat, you should vote for the one you hate less, just so the other one doesn't get into office.  This always reminds me of a particular passage in a Douglas Adams book, as follows:

"It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see...."
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in."

• Douglas Adams, in So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish (1984) Ch. 36.

(Thanks to wikiquotes, from whom I shamelessly copied and pasted.)

Yes, the candidate that you so despise doesn't get in.  But the one who does is still a bloody lizard.  Either way, you have just elected someone who doesn't truly represent the people or has their best interests in mind.  I mean, with our current election--who actually believes that Romney or Obama has the slightest clue what the average American is going through right now?  They're both millionaires.  Seriously, we just had Romney defining the middle class as topping out at $250,000 a year.  Of course, it got twisted a little, but I think we can all agree that if your income has more than five digits in front of the decimal place, you are not in the middle class (unless you have like ten kids).  For actual middle class, you're looking at more like $30,000-$70,000.  Either way, you're electing someone who has no idea what you're going through and honestly doesn't give a shit (they just pretend to to get your vote).  You're still voting for a lizard.  Now, I'm not saying the third party candidates aren't lizards, but there's a chance one of them might be a human in a lizard suit.  Maybe if everyone voted for the candidate they most agree with instead of against the one they most disagreed with, these other guys might have a chance.  I'd love to see how many people vote for Obama because they don't want Romney vs. how many people vote for Obama because they think he 's the best choice. 

I'm not saying third party candidates are the solution to our problem.  They probably aren't.  What I am saying is that instead of getting distracted by the slight of hand and logical fallacies, we need to be examining how each candidate stands on the issues, and voting accordingly.  If you look at how Romney stands and genuinely believe that he's the best man for the job, you should vote for him.  If that's how you feel about Obama, go with him.  Personally, I'm for Gary Johnson, but hey, it's your decision.  The point is, if we keep electing idiots who benefit from our broken system, it will never get fixed, and this problem exists on every level right now.  The presidential race isn't even the most important one (just the most publicized).

Let's stop electing the damned lizards, okay?




Rational discussion welcome below.  Trolls, people who refuse to acknowledge logic, and people who attempt to start a flame war will have their comments deleted.