The Big Day

(Source)

So here it is, Election Day. There are folks of my acquaintance who are concerned* that the United States will lose its mind either tomorrow or the next day, at the very latest. (When in reality, if the excrement is going to collide with the rotating cooling device, that would no doubt occur in January. Before or after the 20th, it makes no never mind.)

Personally, I think there will, no doubt, be a few fist fights, probably between drunken males who are actually good friends, and who knows, a protest or three amongst the less enlightened of our brethren and sistren could (and probably will) break out. Coming to a college campus near you!

As to all out war breaking out in the streets, as to virtual Fort Sumters being shelled, as to the Horn-call of Buckland being sounded, as to the possibility of a mass exodus of one group of party adherents or the other fleeing the country occurring today (or tomorrow for that matter), let's just say I have my doubts.

Frankly, I don't think anything will be decided today. Do I think it will be close? Yes, I do. A colleague of mine (who leans slightly left) has been a font of knowledge regarding the three ring political circus of the past few months. Rather than throw my hands in the air and declare "you're what's wrong with this country," recently I have been keeping my mouth shut and listening to what some might refer to as "the other side."

I have learned a great deal (which often happens when you stifle the natural urge to put one's two cents into the mix) over the past month or so. My liberal colleague will actually listen to Fox News, as opposed to just CNN, though he still listens to them as well. So he's getting his news from both "sides" (as it were) and we discuss it like rational human beings. Rather refreshing all the way around.

Anyhoo, this colleague predicted Monday morning that it would be a toss up. (To demonstrate that, he literally flipped a coin and said, "Call it in the air. That's who's going to be President.") He's a big statistics guy (which is, after all, one of the roles he plays at work regarding productivity and the like) so he looks at a lot of data from a lot of websites, tries to filter the bias and the slants and he says, "fifty-fifty, can't call it."

Again we're talking about the Presidential race which, if you'll recall, I harped on here. While the two simians leading the pack (troop? like baboons?) are garnering all of the attention, (I know, I know, there's Johnson and Weld, not to be confused with Johnson & Wales, nor the outlaw Josey Wales, and that green team, no, not Kermit and Miss Piggy, I mean what's-her-name and who's-it. Oh yeah, Jill Beer Stein and Pajama, er, Shamu, er Ajamu Baraka. Cool name, no, never heard of him, nor her for that matter.) It's not them which will decide, or seal the fate of these here United States.

Nope. Congress. As in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Those are the people we need to keep an eye on. Presidents come and go, our elected representatives in Congress seem to persist like a bad cold in April. They are the ones who tax and spend us to death. The President can ask for a tax hike, only the House can raise taxes and decide what to spend your tax dollars on.

The President can make nice with other countries, only the Senate can approve treaties. Conversely, the President can get pissed off at other countries and ask for a declaration of war. Again, only Congress can say "Yup, go get 'em!" If the Prez wants to press on without Congressional approval, well then, guess he gets to pay for that his own self. Congress has to approve the funding.

So where is this all going?

Folks are going to get all wound up over who gets to take the oath of office in front of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on the 20th of January. Meanwhile, all those cockroaches in Congress will continue to not do their jobs, overtax and overspend, and generally neglect those duties spelled out in the Constitution.

Why shouldn't they? Who's holding them accountable? Certainly not "We the People." I'm not sure when we stopped giving a hoot, but it's been a while since we've really paid attention. Elect Republicans, they act like Democrats, elect Democrats and, well, they act like Democrats. (At least they're honest about what they're all about, the GOP is most assuredly not, for the most part.)

So think about where you want this country to be in ten years, in twenty, then vote. If you want to be Europe, I suggest you move there. There's a reason our ancestors left that place. (And all the other shite holes our ancestors fled from, trying to get away from those who declared themselves our "betters" and those who wanted a pliant and ignorant populace. We're Americans damn it, not Third World peasants.)

Anyhoo.

Vote, damn it!

It's my grandchildrens' future I'm concerned about. If we screw it up, it's them that will be paying for it.

Not us.

Carry on.




* And that concern runs the gamut from mild anxiety to all out "Holy Crap we are so screwed."