ok so, politics...

(Note: This post was because of seeing / hearing numerous videos from the campaign trail and after election night. Many of which I found distasteful and stupid)

My apologies about the lack of blog posts, I've actually been a bit busy over here. School work as begun to pick up and I traveled to Leicester last weekend to visit my old friend Jen Beck. As such, I will try and make up for it by posting a decent opinion of American politics per my view as both an American abroad and a student of political science. This isn't really a simple task so I'll split it up into 4 categories and then a closing tid bit. - The American Voter

1. Hypocrisy - We love it. No, really, Americans love their politics to come with a healthy dose of hypocrisy, both sides of the aisle and the center too. We just eat it up and the vomit out all over each other. Here, let me give you some examples: Sarah Palin and Barack Obama, neither of these politicians had extensive foreign policy experience nor did they have considerable executive experience (yes, I know Sarah is Governor of Alaska, when she was tapped she had been in office less than 22 months. As for Barack, had no previous executive experience), yet the loudest supporters on each side screamed that the candidate's collective lives were enough, while at the same time scoffing at the other sides examples. Another example, the crime known as media bias. This is one of the worst offensives that Americans love to yell about. Those who watch Fox news, generally complain about all the other stations for being horribly biased in favor of the left, while those who watch the news from CNN, NBC, MSNBC etc. believe that Fox is a bastardization of journalism. Each side does have some biased, yet most refuse to admit it and simply scream louder that the other side is wrong. (I personally like to read my news over the Internet from dozens of newspapers and magazine articles, everything from from Reuters to BBC, CNN to International Herald Tribune and The Washington Post to The New York Times, yay internet) This type of blind arguing does virtually nothing, it is not debate, it rarely results in any thing more than childish name calling or insane statements or hatred. And yet, so many people get caught up in it, sometimes even the smart people. There are many more, but listing them all would be exhausting...

2. Bullshit - Just like Hypocrisy, we really like well spun bullshit. Don't misunderstand, this isn't every American voter, but quite a few (which doesn't even really mean most of American as only about 52%-56% of the country can/does/cares to vote, even less for mid-term elections, around 35%) So where does the bullshit like Barack Obama is a secret Muslim, hates white people, is the anti-Christ, wants to take out guns, will get sworn in on the Koran and is not a natural born American? The same place that claims Sarah Palin tried to ban books from the library in Wasila (not quite what happened) or that she chose not to abort her down syndrome kid for political reasons or that Dick Cheney is actually Satan / Darth Vader / shot his friend on purpose or that Sean Hannity is a person. Where does all this crap come from? Well a little comes from the News, Ann Coulter (though I don't like anything she says/does/exists), Bill Maher (though I do like some of what he says) and various other outspoken media sources. I feel like most of it is told, spread, propagated by us, the voters, the internet, the bloggers (they are terrible people) and YouTube... Why does this happen? Because we like to win arguments, we hate to be proven wrong, so we take sound bites and gossip and bullshit and then we proclaim it Truth. This way, we can always have some sort of argument or response to the other side. So, many voters just love to construct numerous beliefs, arguments and reasons against the other candidate upon a foundation of complete BS, the worst part is that I have to believe that some of these people know they're doing this and simply don't care if they are being honest or truthful, so long as their guy / girl wins. I say I have to believe it, because I don't want to believe that there are so many gullible and idiotic people in the U.S.

3. Research - This is one of those things that most Americans hate doing. Especially if it has to do with a politician they support. It is very possible that we Americans don't want to know more about our government or politicians because we know if we look to hard we may really not like what we find. Or like some, we're lazy, most of our friends vote one way or our parents vote a certain way and we simply never took that effort to figure it all out for ourselves. That happens far more than we think and far more than any of us would admit. However, when I say research, i don't mean watching the news or reading the newspaper or reading wikipedia (though sometimes it is helpful) what I mean is actually knowing what the hell it is you are talking about before you open your mouth. Try this exercise, if you fail (get less than half right) might want to read up a bit. Question #1 - What kind of governmental system does America have (Hint: America and Venezuela have different governmental systems)? Question #2 - Name 4 Supreme Court cases and how many Justices serve on the Supreme Court? Question #3 - Name 6 amendments to the constitution, both the number and what it changed? Question #4 - Define these three things Communism, Socialism and Anarchism. Question #5 - Did all of the founding fathers think the same and/or agree about government?

Ok see not too hard. If you're having trouble that's ok, I've been studying government and politics since high school (which was not that long ago for me, sooner or later I'll forget some of this stuff) and through college. I get all nerdy and excited about politics, it interests me. But for most people, it only interests them every 2-4 years. Then suddenly, they're experts, near infallible to any sort of opposing argument or fact. It is very easy to feel like you've won if you never listen to the other person. I'd also like to ask, how many people have ever looked up a person's voting record? I've done it a few times, it isn't all that hard. Yet, so many people will never do it, not even think of doing it. Which is why most politicians have it easy, America has a very short political memory.

Ok so I'll hold off on the last couple of parts and post those later, feel free to email or comment with any disagreements or questions, thanks for reading.