red, independent, and blue

so, I know no one wants to hear my opinion on the election, so I’m not going to say anything. I’m just going to type it. you don’t have to listen.

you may have a lingering hunch that I’m a democrat through and thru considering the way I bash dubya through and thru. very very untrue. I am a staunch non-affiliate. proud of it, too, in the way that college GDIs are proud of not being Greek.

my beliefs, like (I believe) so many others really are, are not encompassed in one party or another. I’m very fiscally conservative (CPA, hey!), though I support an increase in minimum wage and do not (unlike my father) think all Dems are commies. I think women should ultimately be able to decide what they want to do with their bodies, but I also do not have a huge problem with people having guns (bullets kill, not guns.. – chris rock?).

The major problem I have with political parties is that definitive line of opinions. If you vote for a certain party, you vote for a whole ishload of things you may not 1- agree with, 2- care about, or 3- even know about. and so, democracy is flawed in the same way American Idol is flawed – stupid people vote for someone because he’s got nice hair, knows how to work the stage, and sleeps with one of the judges.

The other major problem I have with political parties – people, whether it’s because they had household influences or found religion or because they’re black or Mexican or gay or trust fund endowed or East Tennesseean, align themselves with one party or the other and constantly vote “straight down the party line” no matter what incompetent nincompoop is running on the ticket.

The thing I like about the parties – let’s take an analogy. Everyone loves an analogy. Jesus really loved analogies. There is a company. It is called, hypothetically, Coca Cola (red). It has a competitor. It is called, hypothetically, PepsiCo (blue). Coca Cola decides to start using toxic waste in its soda. PepsiCo calls them out on it and captures some of their market share. But then PepsiCo’s CEO gets caught with his dick in an intern’s mouth. Coca Cola publicizes the shit out of it, to the point that he finally gets fired, and they take some market share back.

See? In a word, accountability. Parties provide competition and, thus, accountability. Ahh, the capitalism of democracy. yesssss.

So, the election. In a word, glad. In a sentence, glad that the ads will stop and that laura bush and daryl waltrip will stop calling my mother’s house, glad the House is blue, don’t know how I feel about control over the Senate too. Political changes like this have a direct affect on my job – those damn taxes. While I don’t think anything major will happen in the next couple years, if a Dem wins the presidential race in 2008, then I can’t imagine what that will mean for tax reform. Just writing the word “tax” makes this too dry, though, so I stop.

we’ve still got our very own handpicked idiot in DC (or ranch) heading it all up; at least Condi finally, after many discreet notes were unheeded and accidentally used as TP, sat down with him for a while last night and told him to get rid of that scarlet letter Rumsfield:

"Seriously, George, you can't just keep wiping your ass with everything I say just because I'm a woman."
"But people laugh!"
"I know, George. I know."