Citrakāyaḥ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
citrakayah) wrote2012-02-23 05:19 pm
citrakayah) wrote2012-02-23 05:19 pm
Entry tags:
I Hate Presidental Elections (Rant)
The e-zine Expanded Horizons looks interesting. They explicitly stated that they wanted therian and otherkin speculative fiction works, and I can provide that quite easily. And I could even possibly get paid.
Now, on to the rant.
We pretty much have two options, it seems: Romney (or Santorum) or Obama. I like much of what Obama says, but whether he is well-intentioned and merely gridlocked or cynically exploiting people is irrelevant to the central point, which is that our fucking government has the kind of ability to adapt that I would expect of a fucking dinosaur with an inability to mutate. I find it very unlikely that he is not well-intentioned (faced with the kind of opposition he is, things are likely going to be either moving to the right on policy or getting nothing done), personally, but I also don’t care. He is center-right on many issues, and while he agrees with far more of my beliefs than Rick Santorum there are quite a few he doesn’t. Lesser of two evils and all that stuff.
The United States should institute preferential voting and public campaign funding. Immediately. If I could vote in November 2012 (I can’t, but only by less than a month), I would be forced by a desire to avoid contributing to any Santorum or Romney victory by voting for Obama, because he would be far better than either of them. I would prefer, however, a Nader presidency. With a Green Congress.
People call the Democratic Party ‘left’ or ‘center-left’ but it is center-right at best these days. I see little difference between the two parties on most economic matters. And yeah, I blame the fact that right-wing groups are better funded and better organized, what with the Koch brothers and Exxon and the American Legislative Exchange Committee (which seriously does operate like a shadowy underground organization of secrecy) and the Heritage Foundation.
I hate this place. I hate the reverie so many are held in by a two hundred year old document written by people who by our standards are fools and bigots and who I could outwit easily, crafting a better government by myself (No, really, I could make a better governing document today than they could two hundred years ago, because I have two hundred years of hindsight to see everything they got wrong and didn’t take into account, like the Industrial Revolution). I hate the stranglehold the doctrine of rampant individualism has on people, with the philosophy that people should care about themselves first and foremost and not have an ounce of compassion for others, and that people always get what they deserve. I hate the doctrine of human superiority, where we should care nothing for any species but our own. I hate the doctrine of laisses-faire. I look at these things, and I feel little but disgust at policies that have caused the sufferings of millions--no, billions--of innocent sentients. I do not >i>hate those that pursue such policies, because I think it counterproductive, but I will fight to my last breath opposing such policies.
But I don’t want to stay here. I fear that if I fight long enough and hard enough, I shall become bitter and cynical. A lifetime of ideological war can’t possibly be good, not if there never seems to be anything to show for it.
I’m fighting to move reality closer to my ideal of utopia. I can deal with the fact that my ideal of utopia will never be met. I can merely hope to make reality more like it. And I know that I and those allied with me are succeeding... but it seems to be happening so slowly. And when I push on society to change... where I live, you don’t really see it changing. This is my private hell. I can push all I want, but the town in Northeast Missouri where I live is trapped in the past too much for my tastes.
Makes me very glad one of my first orders of business is to get the hell out of here.
Now, on to the rant.
We pretty much have two options, it seems: Romney (or Santorum) or Obama. I like much of what Obama says, but whether he is well-intentioned and merely gridlocked or cynically exploiting people is irrelevant to the central point, which is that our fucking government has the kind of ability to adapt that I would expect of a fucking dinosaur with an inability to mutate. I find it very unlikely that he is not well-intentioned (faced with the kind of opposition he is, things are likely going to be either moving to the right on policy or getting nothing done), personally, but I also don’t care. He is center-right on many issues, and while he agrees with far more of my beliefs than Rick Santorum there are quite a few he doesn’t. Lesser of two evils and all that stuff.
The United States should institute preferential voting and public campaign funding. Immediately. If I could vote in November 2012 (I can’t, but only by less than a month), I would be forced by a desire to avoid contributing to any Santorum or Romney victory by voting for Obama, because he would be far better than either of them. I would prefer, however, a Nader presidency. With a Green Congress.
People call the Democratic Party ‘left’ or ‘center-left’ but it is center-right at best these days. I see little difference between the two parties on most economic matters. And yeah, I blame the fact that right-wing groups are better funded and better organized, what with the Koch brothers and Exxon and the American Legislative Exchange Committee (which seriously does operate like a shadowy underground organization of secrecy) and the Heritage Foundation.
I hate this place. I hate the reverie so many are held in by a two hundred year old document written by people who by our standards are fools and bigots and who I could outwit easily, crafting a better government by myself (No, really, I could make a better governing document today than they could two hundred years ago, because I have two hundred years of hindsight to see everything they got wrong and didn’t take into account, like the Industrial Revolution). I hate the stranglehold the doctrine of rampant individualism has on people, with the philosophy that people should care about themselves first and foremost and not have an ounce of compassion for others, and that people always get what they deserve. I hate the doctrine of human superiority, where we should care nothing for any species but our own. I hate the doctrine of laisses-faire. I look at these things, and I feel little but disgust at policies that have caused the sufferings of millions--no, billions--of innocent sentients. I do not >i>hate those that pursue such policies, because I think it counterproductive, but I will fight to my last breath opposing such policies.
But I don’t want to stay here. I fear that if I fight long enough and hard enough, I shall become bitter and cynical. A lifetime of ideological war can’t possibly be good, not if there never seems to be anything to show for it.
I’m fighting to move reality closer to my ideal of utopia. I can deal with the fact that my ideal of utopia will never be met. I can merely hope to make reality more like it. And I know that I and those allied with me are succeeding... but it seems to be happening so slowly. And when I push on society to change... where I live, you don’t really see it changing. This is my private hell. I can push all I want, but the town in Northeast Missouri where I live is trapped in the past too much for my tastes.
Makes me very glad one of my first orders of business is to get the hell out of here.
no subject
Good luck with getting out of your town. Just don't come to the south -- it's horribly stuck in the past on a lot of issues.
no subject
Granted, they're not going to win, but at least you're doing something with your vote.
Also, one question: If faced with the possibility of Santorum and his allies in power, how would you strike out against them if you disliked the other side that could win?
I plan on moving to New England. That, or California.
no subject
No idea. I don't like any of the candidates and I dislike how you're forced into a "better of the evils" thought when it comes to voting.
The New England area is actually really good and I'd love to move there myself. Having lived in California, I refuse to go back. The school system is horrible on all levels and the politics isn't all that great. Couple those with the mentality of a majority of the people there and it's not a very good place.
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no subject
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But
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Where in Vermont would you recommend?
no subject
The biggest city is still Burlington.