As I've expressed, 2008 was my last election. I have no plans to vote in next year's election, or any beyond that, unless the state of our politics takes a radical paradigm shift (or I may not be able to vote at all, since it's easy to visualize the shit hitting the fan with such force that it won't be possible to have elections, or for them to simply not be allowed). However, let me tell you a brief story behind my reasoning in the last election. I registered to vote in 2000, right before the presidential election of that year. Nader had engaged me on such a level, that it was easy to vote for him. I also voted for him in 2004, as well. But by 2008, it was obvious that our country was undergoing pretty significant changes, and not for the better. I had still planned to vote for Ralph, partly based on what many people simply cannot seem to grasp or think through. I not only believed in his message, but I also live in New York, which is not a so-called "battleground" state. It is a safe Democratic bastion, and so it's easier to vote for a third-party candidate, even if the general election is slated to be close.
I had written off Obama as a corporate-backed bullshit artist, who was admittedly very good at communicating with the masses and saying all the right things. However, I did not realize how radical and bat-shit crazy the Republican Right really were, until I saw a clip of them at a McCain rally. They were saying that if Obama was elected, "they (black people) would take over". Another said that "he looks down on us like we're trash". Several were calling him a "nigger". I was pretty fearful on seeing these people, and really did not want to see them, or anyone like them, near the levers of power. Well, there was also the matter of this election being an especially historical one since it could end up with our first black president. So I caved and voted for Obama. I lived to regret it. I wasn't expecting anything special, but if he was a tad better than Bush, I'd have been partially satisfied. But since then, I've learned about peak oil and economic contraction, and have come to look upon politics and elections as irrelevant. These guys probably couldn't do shit about our problems even if they actually wanted to.
Anyway, I do think it's important to pay scant attention to politics, if only because it offers us a glimpse into the state of things, and how people respond, as we continue our long slide downward. This latest incident also gave me a valuable insight into why I reneged on my political beliefs last time and voted for Obama. It's an easy thing to do when you see how bad the other guys are, at least in comparison.
At the last debate, Wolf Blitzer spoke with Ron Paul about a hypothetical healthy person who suddenly falls ill and is not insured. Blitzer asks Paul, "should that person die", and some in the audience resoundingly shout "YES", with laughter and cheers soon following. A big part of the collapse that is in progress will be more and more moments like this, that show how nasty and vicious people can be. In better times, this behavior would be expressed behind closed doors, or in whispers. But now, this behavior is being expressed more openly. The motto of these people, the Tea Partiers, should be, "I've got mine. Fuck you". That's basically their philosophy, in a nutshell.
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