The Polls are In

>>I wrote this almost immediately following the last election<<

Okay, so another election day has come and gone, no one will know the differnce in a hundred years anyway, but I don't care. I live here, in today's world, not 100 years from here. And neither do you.

I don't get it, my wife, my brother, assorted other people. They are all so put off by any discussion that may even indicate politics that I've pretty much been barred from discussing any of the subject matter with them. I guess it's like so many other things, you love it or you hate.

Whichever one you do, I hope you voted yesterday. I hope you'll vote in years to come. I hope that you find ways to get the information you find important regarding the candidates in your district and on your ballot.

We have a long way to go right now in this country. The Dems are going to tell us that we need to determine a clear exit strategy in Iraq, and fast, no matter how much Pelosi talks about Bi-Partisanship, this WILL happen. Be ready.

On the other side, the Reps keep telling us how great our economy is. And they're right. If you look at it from certain standpoints. But the best measure of our economy is what's happening to the middle class at any given time. And right now folks, we're struggling.

My only point in this post really is just to make sure that we are all informing and educating ourselves, something that I myself do not always do the greatest job off, but I hope you will do better than I have, for yourself, for your children, and for the rest of the country, because we're all in this together. And that's how it effects us all if anyone happens to ask you.

Acceptance

Okay, so I guess that's it, I just have to sacrifice myself to the fact that I'm only going to get on this about once everymonth (probably less when the Twins get here) but that's okay. I don't think anyone is reading this anyhow.

Okay, well, let me start off with DUH! Of course people are freaking out and creating buzz about the shuttle going up. Maybe you shouldn't tell people something's wrong if you don't want that to happen, but that's the thing, they do want people to talk about it. I'm guessing risk is pretty negligible here or they probably wouldn't have put 7 Americans into orbit there, but hey, I'm just some midwestern guy in his 20's, what do I know.

What I know is this. The best way to get a child to do something is to tell them not to, I know, not a huge revelation for most of us. But did you know it works with Adults as well? All NASA has to do is leak this info that things are bad with the shuttle and we shouldn't launch it, and then suddenly everyone is struck by this spur of the moment Americanistic thought of "But we must!"

It happened with the war in Iraq, it happened with the Cold War. The suprise, I guess, is that it didn't happen in WWII, which is where I think it all really started. You see, when Pearl Harbor was attacked that fateful December Sunday in 1941 America learned that it pays to go on the offensive, to be proactive, if you will. And after that we tried very hard to be proactive, we did relatively well in this area for the next 60 years or so too. Minus the whole Kennedy thing, but hey, Reagan made it, so it's all good, and besides, there's always some idiot who wants to get his fame in an idiotic way, ever since the caveman it's been that way.

Anywho, after 60 years we got comfortable again, we were resting on our laurels, after all, we're Americans, we've worked hard since the foundation of our country and we deserved a much needed rest, right?

Enter Osama and the shit hitting the fan. Everybody was so pissed at Osama that they didn't stop and think about what throwing the entire Middle East into chaos may ensue.

Also, most people don't realize that structure, however diabolical, always helps people cope with life. Now granted, Iraqis were not in the midst of a friendly governmental structure, but there was structure.

So we took that bastard Saddam out. Great for us! And great for Iraq too, right, they're free now. Except is wasn't freedom like when we did, and hell, even our founding fathers had to get together and write the constitution to keep the country from falling to the wayside. Why did we think we could shoot a guy and just bring our boys home like nothin had ever happened?

Because we were being proactive again, but, like in Vietnam, we didn't totally think this one through. Everyone, even our senators and congressmen (there the ones who approved the war and bitch about it now) was so concerned about the terrorists we forgot to think about the citizens of a country we were about to invade. And YES, we invaded it, and NO this is not EXACTLY like Vietnam. In Vietnam guys were drafted, and then they had their tours extended. Not so today, today it's just your common everday enlisted man that's getting to sit in the desert for an extra few MONTHS at a time.

Now don't get me wrong, I support the troops, I know quite a few, and my uncle will be joining the ranks real soon here, so for all you ultra-conservatives out there, don't tell me I'm just being caloused and liberal. In fact, don't tell me jack. Just listen, for once.

We screwed up, okay, it's that simple, now we need to get this job done quickly, and get the hell out. If we're so worried about Iraq, then lets make sure we sign a treaty with them, to come to their aid. You know, I'm pretty sure that helped out a little county over in eastern Europe back in the late 30's/early 40's, you remember Poland, don't you?

I guess my point is this. We are Americans and when things get tough, we alwasy try to be even tougher, but maybe instead having the violently flaring temper that our Irish/German ancestors gave to so many of us, perhaps we should attempt to stop for just one moment and more accurately aim our punch at the heart of the problems that arise, rather than wherever the blows may lie. Let's allow ourselves to be marksmen, not machine gun junkies.