Well, it’s that time again.  Time to swallow your pride, stand in line at some poor, dilapidated elementary school near your house, and vote for the lesser of two evils.

I wish I had some convincing insight into who to vote for and why, but I’m going to share some of my thoughts about our current political state.  I hope that either way, I inspire you to go to the polls and avoid being completely apathetic to the process, which is completely understandable, but it won’t change anything.

The State of our Union

In the wake of George Bush, arguably, the worst President America has ever known, President Obama has been trying to “change” America.  The Economy looks like it’s beginning to pull out of the recession, but seemingly the only people doing well are on Wall-Street.  The average Joe, myself included, are having a difficult time finding jobs (although I have seen more openings) and where we were once hopeful of a new administration, the public’s perception seems is that we’ve fallen into a mire of unfulfilled promises and half-assed policies that haven’t amounted to much of anything productive.

Obama hasn’t brought (enough) Change

During his campaign, he had the best marketing slogan you could possibly have, because when people are exhausted by the status quo, just keep saying the word change, and you’ll probably win.

Recently, at a townhall meeting the President faced a hefty woman (not the good kind of hefty, with curves in all the right places, but the Golden Corral kind of hefty, who takes 5 trips to the meatloaf bar), who was an ardent supporter of him during the campaign, that felt that he hadn’t brought the change she felt was enough.  I would point out, she probably doesn’t know enough, much like the majority of Americans, about how complicated and lengthy the political process can be to bring about change.  The press made her clip the soundbyte of proof that Obama truly had been ineffective.  When I watched this, I began to wonder – is this realistic?  In the 663 days the President has been in office, should we expect more from our President by now?

Beaucoup de Problems

To be fair, we’ve had a recession as bad as the Great Depression, wars in two different nations, social policies that have been broken for 40+ years, politicians owned by corporations, lobbyists exerting too much influence in law and rising gas prices.  (I probably missed a few dozen other issues.)

For me, I asked myself, how much change was realistic.  I’m not sure 8 years is enough time to bring about the change that needs to happen, let alone less than 2.

A small taste of things he has done to bring change:

• Improved international relations and perceptions of America
• Eased restrictions on stem cell research
• Passed a credit card reform law:  added restrictions on interest rate increases and fees, and restricted the marketing of credit cards to college students
• Passed a stimulus bill that helped save our financial institutions (the majority of funds have been paid back)

I would say, he ended the Iraq war, but in reality there are still many troops being deployed back to Iraq, so the war is anything but over.  Also, I’m trying to avoid the healthcare conversation as I’m just not sure what exactly was done.  (It sounded okay in theory.)

What are we voting for on Nov 2?

In all honesty, I’m not sure what we’re voting to change.  Republicans, tea baggers and angry independents might argue that since not enough change has come that it’s time to kick those Democrats out and get the people who care about this country into office.

Democrats would argue, we need to stay because change has been delivered and we’re heading back into the right direction and Republicans smell.

Sarah Palin might argue that if you have enough Moose carcasses you can create the ultimate immigration-fence deterrent from those fucking snowbacks in Canada.

I would argue this.  The majority of elected officials probably have motives driven from all sorts of influence, least of all their constituents.  All parties involved in the political system have their negatives.  However…

If we force ourselves to do our own research, outside of the major news organizations, we can begin to make informed decisions.  Long term, we need people who are fighting to change the status quo in office.  If we have knee jerk reactions every election because change isn’t happening fast enough, nothing is going to get done.  It will take a long time before we begin to see an upswing in this country that we can all agree, benefits the masses.

So on the days leading up to next Tuesday, take some time away from banging your wife, playing Bejeweled Blitz and hunting whiggers in the burbs’ – and research who’s running in your local elections to make an educated choice, then go take some time off from your job you can’t stand, to vote.

And Sarah Palin, if you’re reading this, just know maybe your cunny isn’t the draw you think it is.

Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.