I want my world to be well defined. I want clear cut, black and white, right and wrong, good and bad. I want us versus them, good guys versus bad guys, heroes versus villains, etc. I want it to be clear what the right thing is to do, but that isn't often the case.
I have long considered myself libertarian-leaning, even once being a card-carrying member of the official party. I really like the sound of the phrase "less government at nearly any cost". I voted for Ron Paul... as a write-in vote in the general election.
That said, I find myself saying "There aught to be a law" more and more often. I notice myself enjoying the safety, convenience, and efficiency of the world around me, most of which is in place because of some government agency somewhere. I see brilliant emerging technologies that would benefit the entire world get buried by some mega-corporation that recognizes it as a threat, and I wish for more government control.
When I was younger, the rules were simpler. You voted for the republican candidate because that's what white Christians do. Now it's more complicated. I rarely like any of the candidates, often liking the republicans least of all. Voting for the lesser of all evils seems like a lousy way to do things, and as such I'm having quite a lot of trouble even knowing who to root for in the pending elections. I'm disenfranchised perhaps, but more than anything I'm becoming increasingly aware of the fact that a well-defined platform that spans all issues is no longer valid. I want to be able to side with the democrats on issues A, D, and F, while siding with the republicans on issues B, C, and E. I want to be able to vote on issues, not on people.
It feels like we're being asked to pick our favorite two or three hot button issues, determine how we feel about them, line up with the party that comes closest, then just parrot back the stance of the party for everything from that point forward. It's clumsy and it feels like being herded. I don't like it. I'm not interested in voting for the most-likely-to-win member of whatever party panders to my demographic most successfully. I want to elect my friend Brian to congress. Check that, I want to draft my friend Brian into congress. He's a kind soul with a wise outlook who is slow to anger and seeks out information before making decisions. He'd be great, and as such, he wouldn't last a week. Neither party would have him. This makes me grumpy.
It's the year 2010. Perhaps it's time to start thinking about doing away with the concept of career politicians and instead simply draft our best and brightest into service as senators. Brian would beg me not to vote for him. That's why he'd be perfect for the job.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment