I've Got To Let It All Out

****Fair Warning - Post for Posterity's Sake - Rambling will commence in 3....2....1


I'm not a writer. Anyone who has read my posts knows that. So this is just for me and my posterity to look back on in 10, 20, maybe 30 years and see what may have changed in that time. Feel free to read on if you'd like...even comment if you want to, but just don't say you weren't warned. I just felt like I should put some of this down in writing.

If you are easily offended...I'm not apologizing. I'm sure I'm going to tick some people off, I'm sure people who in the past referred to me as an "acquaintance" will now claim they've never heard of me. I honestly don't care. Not that this is going to be some kind of raving, Michael Savage type of post. I just want to write some of this down because I'm sure I will forget how I felt in a couple of years (that kool-aid they serve seems to be working pretty well for everybody else, so I'm sure it will get to me sometime, too) I just am not into the whole politically correct thing. Maybe it's the fact that I'm 1/2 Mexican that I think I can get away with it. Either way, this is all just my opinion and the way I see it. I don't think anybody can accuse me of trying to force my views on anybody. I like to think that I regularly (but not all the time) listen to what others have to say, regardless of how much I disagree with them.

I also want to point out that I don't claim any unique or special knowledge of the subject. I wasn't a poly-sci major in college, but I don't think that disqualifies me from having something to say about politics in general. I've typically voted Republican in the past, and I would think most would describe me as conservative. But I also think (as I mentioned earlier) that I'm relatively well rounded. I don't just listen to people who think like I do. Just so you know my spheres of influence, on my bookmarks inside a "News" folder I have the following links that I look at each morning (in the order that they appear): CNN, Drudge Report, Google News, FoxNews, MSNBC, USAToday, News-Record, CNBC. When I'm in the car, I tend to listen to only a small handful of radio stations. I'm rarely in the mood for just music, so I listen to 2 Guys Named Chris on Rock 92 in the mornings (for my 10 minute commute), Neal Boortz on FM Talk 101.1 around the lunch hour (for the 10 minutes I'm grabbing a bite...if I grab a bite at all), Allan Handelman on FM Talk 101.1 on the drive home (another 10 minutes), and sometimes I swallow real hard and listen to about 5 minutes worth of Michael Savage when I'm driving later in the evening (also on FM Talk 101.1). As for television, I don't watch any news broadcasts regularly (unless SportsCenter counts), and I don't watch any newsmagazines either. I tend to stick to scripted shows (like Jerry Springer...kidding) and sports events. Oh, and when I happen past a Rhino Times rack, I will usually pick one up and browse through it.

So, let's summarize...online I get (I think) an even mix of news (CNN, MSNBC & News-Record vs. Drudge & FoxNews). On the radio I get (I think) an even mix of political commentary (2Guys is relatively neutral, Boortz is Libertarian but uses his time on the air to bash the Democrats & Handelman, when he talks politics, CLAIMS he is independent, but uses his time to bash the Republicans...and Michael Savage is just too crazy to listen to for very long, I listen to remind me that no one wants to hear what you have to say if you are screaming at them and calling them names).

I also want to say this before I say much more...I'm not racist, I'm really not (but isn't that what all racists say? So I'm sure some of you will judge me and say that I am even if I say I'm not, just because of some of the things that I say. Truth is, I'm not...not anymore than you are. You can't know my heart, so you'll just have to decide for yourself, but again, I don't care if you think I am or not). I like to make the same claim that I've heard from other minority groups in the past. "I can't be racist because I'm a minority." Truth is, I HAVE experienced racism directly. I had a very serious girlfriend (post mission...so when I say serious, I mean serious) break up with me because I was Mexican and we were getting a little too close to permanent commitment. She said our cultures just didn't go together. "I mean, how would we celebrate Christmas? Mexicans do things differently." I also overheard some comments from her parents regarding my ethnicity. (Now that I look back on it...maybe it was just an excuse. She just needed an excuse to break up with me because she didn't like the way I slurped my cold cereal in the morning and she thought the racism route was a good way to go). My reaction when I heard all this? At first I was a little shocked, maybe hurt, but more than anything it was so ridiculous I laughed about it (not the break up part, the racism part...I won't lie, my heart got broken because of the break up, not because of the Mexican comments). Not the only time I've faced it, but my first obvious experience. I've faced it since, but it doesn't bother me. Whatever. As I said, I'm not a PC kind of guy.

Now, here we are. It's Election night and we are on the verge of history (or so they say on TV). It's cool, it really is. I've been glad to see that, for the most part, the race issue hasn't come up. I would have been extremely disappointed if either party tried to use it to their advantage. That's not to say I haven't heard comments. There have been the idiots who would try to make me feel that I was racist if I didn't vote for Obama...because that is the only reason somebody WOULDN'T vote for Obama, because they hate black people, right? There have also been a few on the other side who have tried to imply that it's "us against THEM (you know, the black folk)."

I'm also glad that we will be getting past this "we've never had a black president before" elephant in the room. Who knows why it took so long. I don't think it was a racism issue, but I know others would argue with me. I just think the right black guy hasn't come along (yes, I used the present tense). I disagree with those who think this is the right black guy, but there are a lot more people voting for him than the old guy. Which brings up a point, are we sure that all these people that are voting for the black guy aren't voting against the old guy because he is old? Isn't that ageism? Isn't that just as despicable as racism? (Eat your heart out Michael Scott) Maybe not. I'm just saying.

One thing that seems to be happening, which I consider racism, is the contingent of people who are voting for Obama because he IS black. Issues and politics be damned, he's BLACK, so let's vote for him. Show everybody how progressive we are. Prove to the world we aren't racist! Whoops! What did we just do? Proved to the world how racist we are by voting for a guy BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN. I'm not saying everybody who voted for him did so because he was black. I'm just saying there seems to be a lot of people out there who ARE voting for him because of it. It's like all us white folk are afraid the world will think badly of us if we don't vote for the first black guy who gets a nomination. Forget the fact that we are already far more progressive racially than most of Europe. Have you read the accounts of racism that take place around a soccer pitch overt here? It's ridiculous. I can't tell you the last time I personally heard racial epithets at a sporting event, let alone anywhere else in public. And yet we are still trying to satisfy the rest of the world and try to make the rest of the world happy (what will they say about us if we don't elect Obama?), regardless of what it might mean to us as a country.

I have to be honest, I can't say I completely blame a black person for getting caught up in the excitement of having "one of their own" (I thought "we" were all Americans, but that is just my rosy point of view) running for president and voting for him. I've felt a twinge of pride when a Hispanic person is on the national stage for one reason or another (and a proportionate amount of shame, when it is for a bad reason). But I can honestly say that when it comes right down to it I realized just how silly it was to revel in those feelings. I realized there was an underlying amount of racism that was displayed in them.

As I'm writing this, Shena is watching her DVR'd episode of the what I consider the Devil incarnate, Oprah (I think I just made more enemies with that comment than anything else I've said up to this point). Which brings me to another thing that bugs the crap out of me. Why do famous people think that I care who they are voting for? More often than not they don't know what they are talking about or what "their" candidate stands for. They just want to be seen as being part of the right (make that left) group. Why is it ok for a billionaire woman who has a popular television show use that show for one particular candidate or party without running foul of election laws (of which I have no real knowledge...I thought there was something in there about equal air time for candidates...plenty of ignorance on my part in this area). Ok, ok. You got me. I'm just jealous that I don't have her money, right? I have to go by a nickname "Cheeto" and she can be known by just a single letter "O." That's the real reason I'm jealous. She saves so much more ink than I do.

I have to admit I'm a little concerned about what the next four (although I'm sure it will be eight) years will bring for us economically. I work in personal finance, and we try our hardest to help our clients prepare for and then live through retirement. We use every tool we can to help those clients hang on to as much of their money as possible. It's true we live under a form of Socialism now. That is what taxes do, but that doesn't mean it can't get, what I consider, worse. I just don't see how taking money from people who have legally earned it to give to someone else is a good policy. It's a good policy to get elected, and it may be a good policy to STAY elected, but I don't see it being good for the country as a whole. But, I could stand to be corrected. Maybe in eight years we are living in a Utopian society and everybody is happy as a peach. I just doubt it.

I'll bet by now you are thinking I voted for the old white guy, huh? Actually, no, I voted for the only other option on the ticket here in NC, Bob Barr of the Libertarian candidate. I couldn't pick Bob Barr out of a crowd. Don't know what the guy looks like, don't know what he stands for. He could be an alien named Dkleudrggg who has taken human form for all I know. Point is, I'm tired of the two party system. I'm tired of the media and the elephants and the donkeys making us think that one of the two represents the general public and we have to pick between these two because they are the only candidates out there. That's right, I took a proverbial vote bullet for the rest of the country. Truth is, it won't matter. It will help McCain lose and Obama win, but I hope that there will be enough others out there who vote "neither" that we can start getting a foot hold into the system and expose the Republicans and the Democrats for what they really are...One Party. They are the same. Obama won't be running the country anymore than Bush was. It will be run by lobbyists and cabinet members who tow the party line. It's not about what's best for the country, it's about what's best for the Democratic Party (or the Republican Party).

And don't get me started on those who say that if you are a Republican all you do is regurgitate what Limbaugh tells you to believe. Have you talked to an Obama supporter? They will use the word "change" 20 times. Where do you think they got that from? Look at that sign behind Obama's head. What's it say? And that is what they repeat back to you. They all got caught up in the moment, they felt the white guilt, they fell for the "it's Bush's (and therefore the Republicans) fault." He's a smooth talker, no doubt about it.

To me, this feels like getting strapped into the roller coaster at Space Mountain. The button has been pushed and the cars are on their way onto the track. No turning back now. You can't get off until the end of the ride...in eight years. We'll just have to see what the ride brings.

Have you notice the rambling yet. I think I followed a bit of a train of thought in the beginning...but now it's just getting ugly. I'll end there for now. Let's just hope this doesn't drag out until December (why is the party that lost convinced that there was voter fraud? I guarantee the party who loses will start the court proceedings on Wednesday)...the stock market can't handle it.