Politics, hurrah!! .....Right? <_<

http://jacquelinecarey.com/

One of my three favorite authors, Jacqueline Carey, has decided to stand up for a candidate in the presidential election. Naturally, I like this because she's endorsing the candidate I like; but that's the way it goes! Someone endorses your candidate, they're doing the "right" thing; someone endorses the other guy, they're drones. *shrug* I guess that's just how it goes. She does bring up two very interesting points, however. One, I agree with; the other makes me shake my head slightly.

The first point is that we seem to have a severe decline of intellectualism in America these days. It's a very good, and sad point. We've decided we would rather have guys 'like us' in the White House, instead of people we can trust to make hard decisions. I mean, let's be honest; while most of us think that we'd do a good job as president of the United States.. truth is, we wouldn't. So why, for the love of all that is good in this world, would we want someone in the White House that's just like us? *sighs* It doesn't make sense. Sure, the suit-wearing, latte-drinking prep from New England may be a nice stereotype to rag on.. but honestly: who would you trust to run your business? Them, or a hick from the south that has the same kind of education you do? Forgive me, but I'll take the latte-drinker. They have more education, and clearly know what they're doing. There's nothing WRONG with being an intellectual in today's world; hasn't that been every single American immigrant's dream? The reason they come here, in the first place? Isn't that the American dream? Why have we abandoned such ideals for being 'just good enough' to make it through life? Have we become so lazy? This is why we have jobs going overseas, being outsourced. We're lazy workers, demanding a LOT of compensation for menial work. We get frustrated and outraged when immigrants, willing to work for their money, to build the dream for their children, come over and do our jobs for us because we're too stubborn to do it ourselves. I hate to say it, but outsourcing is mostly our faults as Americans. We've constantly wanted more money, to be better than our neighbors: bigger TV, a pool, more game systems, better grill, etc. We wanted this money, without any further training or certification. Just.. more. The upper-middle class continues to grow further apart from the lower-middle/lower class. We now have a huge divide, caused by this need for more stuff. Now, don't get me wrong: I love stuff. I'd love to be one of those upper-middle class "snots" with a latte addiction. Problem is, I was born poor and will be paying off about $90,000 to $100,000 dollars in student loans for YEARS. I'll probably be fifty before I can really stockpile money and get the nicer things I'd like. *shrug* I think it comes down to jealousy, to be honest: a large majority of the population are jealous of those latte-drinkers. They don't want them in positions of power, because they're not one of us. Honestly? Get over yourselves, lower-middle class America. You wouldn't be a good President, and stop ragging on those who would be one.

The second thing I want to touch on wasn't even a point, really. Just a sentence. "Electing a president of the last remaining superpower in the world is a lot more important than electing the junior high prom king." Um, I'm sorry.. but when pretty much all of our economy is based on debt, mostly to other countries, then forgive me if I don't consider America a superpower anymore. Our economy is BEYOND the toilet (closer to the sewers at this point), and all we have to claim is a bunch of nukes. Oh, yay; we could blow a large portion of the world up. I'm sorry, but that doesn't constitute being a superpower: that constitutes being a bunch of brats with big guns. I consider it somewhat akin to celebrities, actually. Imagine, if you will, a washed-up celebrity. Let's use.. Flavor Flav as an example. You know your time is gone, and you're nothing more than a joke. What do you do? Fade quietly into the night, or grasp onto every single straw you possibly can, in order to stay in the limelight? Grab as many reality shows as you can, or retreat to remake your image, so people will like you again? If you're a celebrity, you choose to hold on for dear life. America is doing much of the same. Our economy is in shambles, our international reputation is laughable at best, and we're so convinced that we are direly important to the rest of the world. So important, in fact, that our election will change the world. No, it won't. Will things be shaken up for a bit? Yes. Will it drastically affect the entire world? No. Not really, no. We're not that important anymore. America is becoming a washed up celebrity, grasping for those last few bits of power and importance. We need to focus on ourselves, and why we've become this way. Fix ourselves from within, then come back to the world community with an open mind. There's no reason for us to try and police the world: that's not our job. We wouldn't want China coming over here and fixing our messes; why should we be expecting to be welcomed with open arms when we barge in and try to fix other countries problems?

That got longer than anticipated, but it really set off a rambling train of thought within me.