Politics 3.

The right and the left.

We'll never be free of this little tussle for as long as I live....*sigh*....

Wheeelp, ya take a commie, water him/her down, ya got a socialist, water 'em down some more, ya got your average lefty.

Same for the right...'cept ya start with Ghengis Khan, and use a lot more water until you hit a rational conservative. :P

Keep watering until either solution is chemically pure, you got your genuine moderates.

Your lefties tend to go Democrat, your righties tend to go Republican.

Your moderates could go either way.

Or, neither way.
Hence our low voter turnout.

Then you've got your fake moderates who ain't fooling anyone, they're an elephant/donkey in sheeps' clothing.
That shit's fucking irritating.

And then you got your conserva-dems, and I dunno how that works.

Libera-pubs don't seem to exist.

These things go in cycles, but for right now, in late 2009, the Repubs are having a little bit of a batshit infestation.

We're all hoping they iron that out.

So, there's your two factions that like to knock heads together in our little two party system here in the states.

Britain has a similar deal going on, but they have the spectrum divided up into more parties.

Matter of fact, I think the U.S. is the only one who does it this way with the whole stupid "red vs blue", shit.

Oh, yeah, and of course, through the respective kaleidoscope lenses of ideology, your righties tend to see all lefties as commies, and your lefties tend to see all righties as fascists.

Yeah, that kinda thing is always good for a political discourse.....

Course, doesn't help that some of 'em are commies and fascists.....

And then to top the whole 3 ring circus off, you've got that politicians as a class of people have more than their fair share of sociopathic habitual liars.

But, as I laid out in part 1, this tends to be inevitable.

So, it's really all a big fat depressing mess, really.

But...as I laid out before, the alternatives are worse.

Some people will try to tell you there's no real difference between Repubs/Dems....and that's a big fat load.

Watch the health care debate mess, they're practically pulling hair.
And then look at how ignorant some of the individuals involved are.
People that stupid can't pull of a staged conspiracy.
That's real disagreement.

The ones who say there's no difference are typically your Libertarians, who say the Reps/Dems are both stealing your money, and curtailing your liberty, but from different directions.

Well, that's some cute rhetoric, but I invite these folks to spend some time in an African village outrunning warlords out to hack a limb off, then get back to me about this whole "losing our liberty!!", shit.

As for "stealing your money",...well, I point back to, it's all imaginary, you get in your paycheck what you get.
"Tax cuts", aren't gonna do a goddamned thing, they'll just take it out of you some other way.

This "money out of my pocket!!", delusion is more entitled (yes, entitled, you heard me) western white boy shit.

So yeah, this whole "so and so is a Nazi out to shit in my dinner!! Arrggh!", because someone gave a dopey speech, or signed a bad bill, these are the fears and gripes of a soft people, and only a free people can get so soft.

But, that's no bad thing.
That's what freedom is for.
The alternative is outrunning warlords.
Fuck that shit.
Our ancestors didn't want to live that way anymore.

Fuck that "Red Dawn", macho romanticizing of toil and violence horseshit.

And speaking of that, have you ever seen how goddamned fat John Milius is?
Well, there ya go.
Case closed.

So, in the end, all the bitching by the right about the left, all the bitching by the left about the right, it's really a symptom of well...liberty working.

And I include my own bitching in all of that.

But, I sort of covered that from another direction.

I mean, hey, you think I'd get away with all my writings on religion in Saudi Arabia?

....still....despite all of that, politicians ARE still awful....

But, they always have been, and we still muddle through as a people somehow, because here we are.

So, my advice, just don't sweat 'em.
And take the advice your parents and/or grandparents told ya, don't discuss religion, or politics at the dinner table.
Else it just ends up as well, the cartoon at the start of this damned ramble.
And if someone tries to foist their politics on ya at the dinner table, remember this old chestnut.

So, ideology shoveled away like he dung it is, all that's left that really matters are issues, and all that matters as far as that goes, is policy.

And just know this.

You'll never get exactly what you want, and probably not even close to what you want.
Especially if the other party from yours is in power.
And probably not even if your party has the power.

So, don't invest your hopes in politics, and politicians.

That's yet another path to mental illness.

And, also know this.

Despite no one getting exactly what they want....again, somehow, we've muddled through pretty well as a people.

So...maybe people are just fucking crazy.

Oh, right, they are.

But, that's what this messed up imperfect system attempts to manage.

Enjoy the show.

And again, try not to sweat it, or you'll end up like me on election nights.

Well, okay, maybe that's not so bad, any sane person was glad those elections were over.

But, any other time, y'know....

Politics, it divides us, but it really shouldn't.

I mean, look at that...barnyard vs circus animals??

Chrissakes....