Every four years in this country we get to go through the joy of listening to grown men and women throw insults around like they're in elementary school again, and then vote on which one kept their side of the playpen the least stinky so that they can run this country.
And every year I'm appalled by it.
This past election though I was more appalled than I have been in a long time. Not just because of the politicians though, but because of the voters.
I don't care if you voted for Obama or McCain, or one of the unknown candidates. What bothers me is how many people voted based off irrational decisions, or for agendas that we shouldn't be worrying about with the state of the union as it is.
The big things that irritated me though were:
1. The people who voted against Obama because of his name meaning he was a terrorist, or the antichrist, or whatever else crap was going around.
2. The people who voted for Obama simply because he's black. Skin color does not qualify you to be a good leader!
3. The people who just voted without being informed at all, or based off selfish desires.
I'm sure the first two are pretty self-explanatory, but the third is what I'd like to touch on most.
I am not impressed by people who voted based off issues like gay marriage, pot legalization, and other trivial matters like that.
We were going through a horrible recession (depression mayhaps?), and still are in it, and yet people wanted to focus more on things like pot and gay marriage? I don't see the logic here.
To me, isn't it more important to choose the candidate that is going to fix the economy? Who is going to give American's back the standard of life they're still pretending they can have? To help us earn back our pride?
Unfortunately, the whole country has their ideals backwards. People scream that the economy sucks, but they don't base their decisions in votes on that fact. They scream for change, but they're unwilling to be a part of that change, and the government we have voted in refuses to make them a part of it.
So now, we have repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell. We might end up with government run health care. Congress voted themselves another raise, and no one stopped them. We had cash for clunkers, and a few other obscure government programs. There were more bailouts, and we gave even more money out in aid to foreign countries.
We've just gone further and further into debt. Unemployment is rising, just like the price of gas. No one has faith in the economy, so less people are trying to find a job. More people are just seizing welfare, and draining our taxes. The elderly can't get a social security raise. And more and more companies are outsourcing work so that they can undercut their prices while taking work away from Americans.
Think about it. We're focusing on all these small things that might make life better, but if the economy collapses, what then? Where's your gay marriage, Don't Ask Don't Tell, public health care, and cash for clunkers going to get you when the whole country goes broke and is overrun by some other nation or force?
The answer is no where.
Which is why I feel that my fellow Americans need to open their eyes and realize that trivial matters are just that--trivial. Before we can tie up loose ends, we first have to tie a knot.
That which holds the country together is a strong economy. Because without the flow of money, nothing else can happen. When things start to stagnate, it doesn't matter how much health insurance you have because you won't be able to get to the doctor to receive it. Gas will be too high, and you won't have a job. And hey, how is the government supposed to provide this health care to us without enough in taxes?
The answer is that it can't. And adding taxes on won't help, because then more businesses will go under.
What we really need is a President who takes a look at history and says "Hmmm, maybe there's some merit to it after all" and fixes things.
We need to make it cheaper to manufacture our own goods. Put a nice high tariff on outsourcing and call it a day. Cap the price of gas, so that Americans can afford to travel. And while you're at it, mandate that cars are more fuel efficient, because it can be done. Stop letting Congress vote their own raises, and stop this pension of forever receiving their salary. America cannot afford it!
Fix welfare too, so that it doesn't last indefinitely. And be a bit more selective with who gets it. People who play the system should not be rewarded so easily!
Make it more difficult to have illegal immigrants working, and really punish businesses who do! This isn't just a matter of the American economy, but common decency towards another human being too. We abolished slavery in 1865, and as far as I'm concerned having illegal immigrants work in poor conditions for mere dollars a day is nothing more than paid slavery. We won't go into how I feel about illegals in general though.
The big thing though is to help bring back small businesses and the middle class. They really are what drives the economy and the union, and the more that are out there, the better.
And always bear in mind this quote:
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.
You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
-Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931
So in one year when it's 2012 and the world doesn't end, and we have to vote for a new President, really focus on more pressing matters at hand.
This has nothing to do about democrat or republican. Man or woman. Black or white. It has everything to do with who is going to start fixing this broken country, and restore it to the glory that it had when our founding fathers threw out the British and gave us the Bill of Rights and Constitution that barely anyone remembers anymore.
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