I'll Ask Again In Two Years

Let the 2018 election season commence!  


Dear God, Jeremy.  We've barely maintained our sanity just getting through this election, and you're on to the next one?  


I'm actually behind.  There are already Plenty of Articles out There about who is going to run for president in 2020.  These articles are by people who do this type of stuff for a living.  It's nonsense, sure...but it's paid nonsense.

But LIR is right.  We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves and look past today's election and the importance it brings to our country, our democracy, and quite frankly, our place in the world.  I'm going to give my bi-annual message to the people.  It's a little different than most other messages you'll hear today, but I think it's just as valid:

Don't be afraid to not vote.  

Everyone else tells you how important this election is, and how critical it is to make your voice heard in the sea of millions of voters.  But to me, those can be conflicting messages.  Here's what I mean.  If the election and voting is important to you, by all means, vote. 

If you have to be reminded that today is election day, and reminded that it's your "civic duty" to vote, please don't vote. 

If you don't know 100% which candidate you're voting for in each race, please don't vote.  If you only care about the presidential race, it's perfectly okay to leave the others blank.

If you don't know where each candidate truly stands on whatever issues that matter to you, please don't vote.  Of course, by "truly stands," I mean not listening to what the other candidate says about their opponents policy positions, not getting the bulk of your policy information from pithy Facebook posts by partisan blogs, only watching/listening to media sources which provide opinions you already agree with.  The League of Women Voters runs a great informational website on every race without bias or slant on policy proposals.  It's not too late to become an informed voter. 

I firmly believe that the most important part of a democracy is informed voters.  I am an informed voter.  When I walked into my voting booth at number 89 this morning, I knew exactly who I was voting for and why.  I perfectly understand that regardless of my personal position on any policy issue, approximately half of the people in the country disagree with that stand.  That's okay.  If you disagree with me, and you vote the other direction, then we'll count up who wins.  If I get my vote cancelled by somebody else for whom my preferred policies do not work as well, so be it.  That's what voting is for. 

If I get my vote cancelled out by somebody who says, "I'm a registered *insert political party here* so that other candidate is trying to destroy America," then I have a problem.  A thoroughly uninformed vote is cancelling mine out for no reason other than a D or an R at the end of someone's name, or a fear of a phantom policy position they saw on a picture on Twitter, or that guy on *insert partisan media outlet here* told them to. 

I have voted.  By the time you read this, most of you probably will have as well.  But, if I can save one informed vote from the purgatory of the ignorant, it will have been worth it. 

It's A Struggle

Strangely, I’m not debating whether or not to watch the debate  

Isn't it your civic duty to be an informed voter?  You should pay attention to the goings on and not about the rampant partisan-based hatred drivel posted on the internets.  

So instead of listening to partisan-based hatred drivel posted on the internets, I should listen to partisan-based hatred drivel spouted off by candidates in a controlled timed setting during which it has already been stated, claims will not be fact-checked in real time?  I don't see how this is an improvement.

So, if you're a regular reader of the Blag here, you are probably aware that I have more than a passing familiarity with politics and the relevant politicians of the day.  You may or may not be aware of my political leanings, which are not relevant at the moment.  My primary concern in matters of politics is a heretofore fruitless endeavor to stop the spread of misinformation in non-politico circles when it comes to election education.  By that, I mean people posting and believing blatant partisan garbage that finds its way to my Facebook and Twitter feeds.  Stop it.  

I don't think that's going to quite do it, Jeremy. 

Yeah, probably not.  There are still way too many people who despise the two options we have for President this year for there to be any sort of curtailing of the drivel.  So what we're going to have is way too many people watching the debate, pretending they know what each candidate stands for because of that pithy post they saw some partisan group post on Facebook.  They'll watch with anxious anticipation for the person they hate to say something, at which point, they'll scream at the TV that the candidate is lying, ignore everything that they have to say and agree with the candidate they hate less, regardless of what they say.  

I don't see why I need to waste a couple hours of my life tonight to watch this. 

Added Bonus...No Lines!

Yay!  We don’t have to hear about the election anymore!  Wait, what?  

At long last!  The day we've all been waiting for is merely 202 days away!  

So, as most of you probably know, the primary elections were held here in the Greater Jeremy Area yesterday, after a long and annoying campaign before the actual campaign starts.  Yoi.  

At this point in election season, we've at least whittled the previously giant list of people nobody liked to a small handful of people that nobody likes.  Let's review the list shall we....you know....for the benefit of people who still haven't voted before voting.

In the left corner, you have the Heir Apparent who is a remarkably adept lawyer able to stretch every last truth to its very breaking point, and The Cranky Guy whose sole reason for running is a giant governmental overreach into the private sector which we don't need, nobody really wants, but sounds really good in commercials, even though he has no earthly clue how he would do it.  

In the right corner, we're down to the guy who wants to spend an awful lot of money on a building project which will do roughly nothing to solve the problem he claims exists and cause in-numerous other problems, the guy nobody in his own party likes, but they all say he's the lesser of two remaining evils so they hold their nose and tolerate him, and the only guy in the entire race who's spoken a word of sense, so nobody pays attention to him and even fewer people vote for him.  

Fortunately for me, I was not eligible to vote in yesterday's election, so I didn't have to vote "for" any of these people.  But, I will be voting in 202 days, so I'll leave you with this piece of advice.  When writing in a candidate, don't write in Mickey Mouse.  There's nothing wrong with Mickey's platform per se, but if you're going to be filing a "None Of The Above" protest vote, you cause a lot more problems if you write in the name of a real person.  Votes for Mickey Mouse can immediately be thrown out, so make sure you force somebody at the polling station to do some work.  Write in a real name, and make your protest count! 

Seriously...Whoever Can Give Me One Reason Gets My Vote

Finally, the 2016 election can start!  

That's right, ladies and gentlemen.  At long last, we can finally begin the 2016 election cycle that you've all so anticipated.  At least judging by the non-stop flood of politically-leaning posts we've seen on Facebook and Twitter and everywhere else in creation.  It's just a little unfortunate that the election cycle doesn't conclude for another 280 days.  280 long, long days...

Today marks the first time people actually cast votes in the election we've heard about almost non-stop for the last year and a half or so.  Give or take.  

It's another election between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party which have spent the last 7 years racing to their ideological extremes, abandoning the political center.  Forcing people into the notion that their beliefs (and make no mistake, they are beliefs) are entirely correct, and the other party's beliefs are leading (or have led) to the demise of America, democracy, freedom, the world...what have you.  

Is it a wonder now that 42% of people in a recent poll have identified themselves as Independent voters, who do not associate themselves with either party?  (Full disclosure...I am one of those people.  I have never had a political affiliation, I certainly do not wish one now, I currently support no candidate running for president, and I hereby publicly endorse writing in "Mickey Mouse" for your presidential vote in 2016.)

Because of the political divide (and no, I don't give a crap whose fault it is), we now have a race between lots and lots of people that lots and lots of voters don't want to be president.  Sure, they all have their supporters, but not a single one of them comes without millions upon millions of absolute blood enemies.  Make no mistake, we're not talking about people with a different political viewpoint...we're talking about people who have made up their minds to enthusiastically, vehemently, and vociferously despise each candidate.  Yes, that is primarily the fault of cable news and the internet, but it's the way it is, and the way it's going to be.  We are too far down the rabbit hole to actually try to understand the viewpoint of an opposing politician.  It's a phenomenon I like to call The Misinformation Age.  I've ranted about that sort of thing before, but I don't think I had given it a name at the time. 

So this is the row we've sowed.  

From the left:  We have a seriously flawed candidate who has been the heir apparent to the current administration for 7 years but comes with non-stop credibility issues which may or may not be relevant, but that doesn't matter in The Misinformation Age.  People will hate her no matter what she says or does and constantly bring up her alleged character flaws.  Her chief rival on the left is a cranky old guy who is channeling his inner Robin Hood, spewing lots and lots of interesting ideas to benefit the poor without any means of actually getting any of these things accomplished given the fact that there is a congress who will never pass bills with any of his ideas, or paying for them if he somehow did.  I think there's still one other Democrat running, but we won't be hearing from him for much longer, so don't worry about it.  

From the right:  We have a thoroughly unqualified mouthpiece who encourages and enables The Misinformation Age through speeches all about getting people to hate other people for whatever reason seems to fit the given mood.  Foreign, Poor, Rich, Democrat, Female, Unemployed, Muslim...it's all in play.  And he has the same problem as mentioned above, where there is no way any of the stuff he talks about will ever happen.  There's a Senator who is reviled in the senate for not being willing to work with other elected officials to accomplish the things he wants to accomplish for the small sliver of the populace that his views represent.  Oh, and he can't stop lying about current policy issues.  There's the other Senator who might have some good ideas and some willingness to get them accomplished with support from others, who is vilified by the two former candidates for being part of "The Establishment" (which is who at least pays lip service to representing the aforementioned 42% in the Politically Abandoned Center), and can't get enough support from the party fringes to make meaningful progress in this election.  There's the legacy pledge who used to be a mildly successful governor of a state nobody likes and whose best chance to win was always a full on Thomas Jefferson Johnson moment.  There's the other governor who might stand a chance to win if he would actually say anything.  

And then there's everybody else who will remain relevant long enough to write a book about their experience and cash out for another 4 years.  

I understand that it may seem like I'm a little pessimistic about this year's election.  That's understandable, mostly because I am entirely pessimistic about this year's election.  I genuinely don't want any of these people to win, and more to the point...regardless of who wins, it will not be a candidate who is capable of correcting the political discourse.  That is to say, none of these candidates will be one we won't have to hear about as the main reason for the demise of America, democracy, freedom, and the world for another 4 years.  Why shouldn't I be pessimistic?