Freakin' Politics

In some ways, politics is important. Once in a while there is a specific issue that divides the two sides and makes choices very clear. More often than not, however, it makes little difference to how we all live our everyday lives. Hell, zoning decisions by a local planning board whose names we can seldom can remember have more effect on our day-to-day existence than decisions made by Congress and the President. naturally there are exceptions. We went to war under our last President under a dubious rationale, but considering that most of Congress was on board with the decision, it's difficult to claim that a President from the other party wouldn't have led us into these senseless conflicts too.

Our current contest for the office of President is full of urgent calls to defeat the other guy, portraying one as an America-hating Communist and the other as a heartless bottom-liner who hates Americans. Both are painted as being out of touch with regular Americans. I hear and read horror stories every day about how President Obama is going to take away our guns, kill the railroads by outlawing coal, and institute Shariah law. Just as often I hear about how Romney is going to ship all our jobs overseas and make us all wear Mormon underpants. In three and a half years, Obama hasn't even tried to do many of the "socialist" things that he supposedly wants to do, let alone succeed due to Republican obstructionism. Why should I believe that following a second Obama inauguration he will suddenly reveal  his true colors and turn us into a Communist-Muslim state? Conversely, why would I think that Romney would be able to implement all the horrible things that he is accused of?

That all being said, I plan on voting for Obama in November. I think that overall, the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act is good for the country and good for me and my family specifically. I like how he has gradually extricated us from Iraq and how he is getting us out of Afghanistan. I support his recent action to help young undocumented immigrants. I don't think that he was aggressive enough battling the effects of the recession (even while acknowledging that he inherited a mess) and that he severely underestimated how tough the job of President is and the extent of right-wing Republican opposition. His opponents mobilized much of the country against him with appeals to emotion, in particular fear.

Romney on the other hand seems to say whatever he needs to say to get elected. In the early days of the primaries I thought he was relatively sane; a middle-of-the-road, moderate Republican who would be somewhat harmless as President. And probably if elected he will be. I doubt all of the evil attributed to him would in reality come to pass. But honestly, I just can't bring myself to vote for a Republican after four years of hatred, four years of misinformation, four years of obstructionism. Even if Romney isn't as right-wing as his campaign rhetoric suggests, he is willing to pander to that segment of the population. And that's just not the kind of man that I can vote for.