I know every election for the last 20-25 years has an ominous feeling as if this is the most crucial election in modern times.
Newscasters and political analysts do love to use a lot of hyperbole. But history has somewhat taught us that failure to do so does have its consequences.
After the events of 9/11, Republicans seemed to do better in 2002 as junk spam emails, the rise of right-wing media and mass hysteria made people think the Democrats (and only the Democrats) were to blame for their terrorist attacks. It’s actually both. If you light a candle and leave it in a hotel room burning for the next occupant who doesn’t put it out as they see the flames spread, you have to share that shit burger.
Following Hurricane Katrina, the general public and finally the media grew tired enough of the Bush/Cheney administration to change things. But they didn’t continue on this track. After Barack Obama was elected in 2008, a lot of people screwed up in 2010 and didn’t bother to vote. This allowed the TEA Party to take crucial elections.
By 2010, North Carolina was actually becoming a more progressive state. But Republicans were able to take control for the first time and a long time. A good part of the blame was on Democrat voters who failed to turn out as they did in 2008. Elections are not a one and done issue. You don’t wash your clothes or dishes once.
Elections have consequences and it seems people get too burned out. And since the summer, political ads have been running non-stop it seems. Yes it can be frustrating but not doing anything only leads to the problems piling up. Yeah, it sucks to wake up a few minutes early to put the trash out. But if you keep forgetting, it’ll pile up.
And that’s what has happened.
I have a few issues with third party voters and independents. Mainly, it’s because independents usually have conservative views but don’t want to be associated with Republicans. And I can understand that. Yet they keep whining that both sides are the problem.
Libertarians are making waves and I suspect by 2032, we will have a good contender for President. That’s if they can pull their shit together. Other third party people like Jill Stein and Cornell West are just rabble rousers. But H. Ross Perot actually struck a nerve in the 1990s. However, no one did a thing about it.
Complaining about something on social media and message boards isn’t going to change anything. I view independents/third party voters as Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs. At the beginning of the movie, he’s upset that the waitress didn’t automatically fill his coffee six times. The waitress had to handle a table of eight people and probably other tables.
Mr. Pink says he won’t tip $1 even though crime boss Joe Cabot is paying for his breakfast. Granted it’s 1992 and probably couldn’t have been more than $5. He says he want jeopardize his principles to chip in $1 as a tip. His argument about tipping culture does have merit as he doesn’t think it should be automatic. Yet he’s still saving a few bucks because someone else is picking up the tab.
He’s getting a free meal just like everyone else. And still thinks he should stand by his principles because he doesn’t believe in tipping. Yet, he never asked for a refill. He never made a gesture for a refill. He only wants a system that works in his favor. Even if waiters and food servers were paid a better wage, he would probably still be critical that he didn’t get six refills of coffee.
And that’s really the problem. They want to criticize while acting like they’re not responsible. Every vote and every non vote has consequences. You never see much grassroots campaigns for other candidates than Democrat or Republican. It doesn’t help that most third-party candidates are out there like Pluto. Gary Johnson really wasn’t the best candidate for the Libertarians in 2016. So they kind of hurt themselves in 2020 and 2024 when Jo Jorgensen and Chade Oliver, respectively, were the candidates who didn’t get as much attention.
They still have some growing pains.
Yet I would love to see more options on the table. I don’t think elections for sheriffs, district attorneys or even police chiefs should come down to Democrat or Republican. It’s non-partisan. We should also scale back the time frame in which political ads and campaigning in general are allowed to have. This needs to be drastically shortened like a lot of other countries do. We need some relief.
Regardless of what the results are today, we will start to hear about the 2028 elections by the end of the week. There’s too much big money in politics. The only way to get it out is to get on board and then start the reforms. But I think that’s too complicated for some people because they can’t function if there is any real change.
Look at the Three Ms – Bill Maher, Dennis Miller and Michael Moore. They always talk about the needs for a change. But when events go their way, they flip-flop the other way. They have to have that chaos and instability to stay relevant. However they come off more as cantankerous and misanthropc.
Elon Musk has reportedly spent $400 million to push the worst of the worst of Republican candidates in office. Texans on all sides hate Ken Paxton yet the politcal ads attacking James Talarico and the liberal agenda. Oklahomans on all sides hate Mike Mazzei yet the political ads attack Cyndi Munson and the liberal agenda. This election cycle the Republican Party has doubled-down and went full swing on how racist, bigoted and sexists they are.
That’s because they can’t campaign on their accomplishments because they don’t have much. They just want to stay in power. So if you continue to vote for them, you really just want to be prejudiced and stop the liberal agenda.
And you can’t pay for groceries, the bills and your rent/mortgage by saying you stopped the liberal agenda by being a bigot.
What do you think? Please comment.
