Maybe it was all the fried-food-on-a-stick pandering in Iowa a couple of weeks back, but I'm already sick of election season.
Saying I'm sick of it isn't really accurate, though. I'm actually angry, really angry. Because I know that the presidential election, which is 15 months away, is going to get in the way of the federal government actually getting anything done to help the country. I'm starting to think that our country is not going to come out of this recession, at least not in one piece.
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Last Friday I was listening to the radio. The hosts and a group of political media types and analysts were talking about the week's news and about which Republican candidate was looking the best so far. Then one of the commenters said something along the lines of, we're twiddling our thumbs while Rome burns; the economy won't be able to handle 15 months of presidential campaigning.
This statement stopped me in my tracks and I've been thinking about it ever since. The more I think about it, the more angry I get that people spend so much time and energy trying to get their guy elected when there are so many bigger problems that our political leaders need to worry about.
Looking back on the first three years of Obama's presidency, I'm not sure it matters too much who gets elected president, because partisan bickering is going to inhibit any real reform anyway. While we spend our time discussing Rick Perry's view on the global warming “theory,” people all over this country are losing hope. Frankly, I'm starting to lose hope myself.
It just seems like the list of problems keeps growing in this country: jobs, financial markets, the public school system, health care, Social Security, war, national debt, the list goes on. While so many American people struggle to keep their heads above water, the federal government doesn't seem to understand. They can say the words, ‘We know it's tough out there. The thing that will really help the American people is this.' Insert political agenda that will get your party elected in 2012.
The last few years have changed this country quite a bit, from my perspective at least. Maybe it's always been like this. Has it always been like this? Maybe I'm paying more attention now that I'm not in college anymore, now that I'm in the real world that the politicians claim to know so much about. I think it has more to do with the fact that I grew up in the ‘90s, a time when America was the world power, when times were good and confidence abounded. I knew that it hadn't always been that way, that the nation had struggled from nothing, but my own experience was of an America that was at the top and expected to stay there.
I can't place all the blame on our political leaders for the state of our nation today. I know that there are bigger factors that affect our country. The world is flat now, I get it.
But I'm also pretty sure that the American political system is not doing itself any favors by sticking to the script it's been using for the last few years. I'd make some sort of pledge not to vote for anyone who made a political move for the good of their own election chances instead of for the good of the people, but if I did that I'd have nobody to vote for. We all know you can't complain if you don't vote, and I'm not done complaining. I'm angry and worried and starting to feel pretty hopeless. Besides voting, what else can I do to help get the country going back in the right direction?
And don't say I should run for public office. Can you imagine anyone electing a journalist to public office? They're worse than socialists.
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