Politics & Life
Oct. 13th, 2012 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breezeshadowI got my mail-in ballots yesterday, and dear god, no wonder California is broke. How many proposals exactly do we NEED anyway? And why do they all cost the state hordes of money? We really don't need to label genetically-engineered food; I think the state can let go of that proposal and expense.
This also means I get to figure out which loser candidate is going to get my vote this year. Last election I voted for Ralph Nader. This year it's likely going to be the Green Party candidate even though I know if she won? She wouldn't be able to do even half of what she proposes.
But it's that way with every candidate. The way the system works? Presidential candidates can spew all they want, but the only way they could get what they promise done is a) if they launched the most executive orders ever or b) if by some miracle both houses ended up with a major majority of their party. Even then? Good luck. Supreme Court will shoot some stuff down, people will critique this or that, and suddenly the massive conglomeration that is the United States Government will start turning and prevent the crazy-ass things that everyone promises.
Still, it's better to have a set of proposals and stick with them, otherwise you'll end up on a site like Mitt Romney's Flip Flops..
I need to watch clips of the debates at some point before I vote. I don't plan to vote for either of them, but I've heard they both were shitshows in their own ways, and I live in the US. I might as well watch the circus that is our current political system.
I'm not sure what can reform it to get it away from this, besides lots of education of the public so that things like Fox News and MSNBC aren't considered accurate.
Those of you out of the US: I really hope your political environment is a little less batshit insane than ours. And for those out there who live in a volatile area, like Pakistan (where a 14-year-old activist was shot by the Taliban in an assassination attempt because she dared think women should have a right to schooling): I just wish I had the money in the world to fix it.
Tschuess.
This also means I get to figure out which loser candidate is going to get my vote this year. Last election I voted for Ralph Nader. This year it's likely going to be the Green Party candidate even though I know if she won? She wouldn't be able to do even half of what she proposes.
But it's that way with every candidate. The way the system works? Presidential candidates can spew all they want, but the only way they could get what they promise done is a) if they launched the most executive orders ever or b) if by some miracle both houses ended up with a major majority of their party. Even then? Good luck. Supreme Court will shoot some stuff down, people will critique this or that, and suddenly the massive conglomeration that is the United States Government will start turning and prevent the crazy-ass things that everyone promises.
Still, it's better to have a set of proposals and stick with them, otherwise you'll end up on a site like Mitt Romney's Flip Flops..
I need to watch clips of the debates at some point before I vote. I don't plan to vote for either of them, but I've heard they both were shitshows in their own ways, and I live in the US. I might as well watch the circus that is our current political system.
I'm not sure what can reform it to get it away from this, besides lots of education of the public so that things like Fox News and MSNBC aren't considered accurate.
Those of you out of the US: I really hope your political environment is a little less batshit insane than ours. And for those out there who live in a volatile area, like Pakistan (where a 14-year-old activist was shot by the Taliban in an assassination attempt because she dared think women should have a right to schooling): I just wish I had the money in the world to fix it.
Tschuess.
