Okay, two months is a little long between blogs, since I know many of you have been aching to hear from me. Sorry! I am, really.
I can't blame Facebook, although I do visit there daily to feed my virtual puppy. I get my green-patch plants that my long-lost high school friend sends me daily, and I check out what other people are doing (specifically, if my kids updated their statuses--or is that stati?--today, because if they did, tomorrow's status will read, "grounded from the computer for two weeks"). That's about it. Feel free to send me Flair. And feed my puppy.
I wish I could say I've been too busy writing, but that would be a boldface lie. I am happy to report that my story about the girl with cancer is now 25,000 words long. It's about 3/4 of the way done, and I'm stuck, so I'm blogging tonight. At least I'm writing. But, writing has not been a big enough distraction for me either. (I wish it were!)
Mostly, I've been caught up in politics. And the economy, which these days is the same thing as politics.
I've determined three things:
1. Sarah Palin needs to go back to Alaska and stay there.
2. I'm tired of looking at all of these candidates' faces. They are all politicians, and they are all putting on their happy faces for America. I wish they would all wear masks right about now, because the caked on make-up to cover the wrinkles and the sparkling white teeth that gleem with every smile... it's making me sick.
Let's see... John McCain could wear a Superman mask, because he's going to swoop in and save us all. He did that today, with this Bailout Plan. Oh, that's right, he dropped us. Whoops!
Barack Obama could put on a Ronald McDonald mask because he's so darned agreeable. Doesn't he ever get mad? I want to see him really go for it, get McCain's dander ruffled up. No no, can't do that, but here's another happy meal. Instead, we get to see the lovely Mrs. Palin and her ever perfect hair and smile, and Mrs. Obama who color coordinates with her husband whenever possible. (I shouldn't jest--I do that too, as much as he hates it.) (And try finding out what the Democratic candidate is going to wear every morning before you get dressed! It isn't easy to coordinate with him.) (Just kidding, Honey. You know I prefer to coordinate with you : ).)
They all look so perfect, from crown to cuticle. Just more reminders that you need to start with money to get to that level, money that most of us will never be privileged enough to know.
3. The average American would like to just skip the remaining 36 days and vote tomorrow. It's like watching two very tired, worn-out old farts trying to sprint to the finish line. It's painful to watch. The crazies will vote for the crazy one, and the rest will sit back and hope there is enough sanity left in the country to win the election. Let's suspend the campaigns and VOTE TOMORROW!
I think the closer we get to Election Day, the less political I get. I know who I want. I'm doing what I can to help. No sense arguing, I think. We need to vote. Agreed? Great, let's go vote.
Here's a shout out to my blog-reader Liz--hey Liz! (You could be my only blog reader, Liz!) Great to see you at all of those back-to-school nights this month. Now, if we could just get together for more than five minutes in a hallway? Great. Feel free to join us for Sangria on Friday nights, just don't mind the mess. It's soccer season.
Everyone else, feel free to shout out and let me know you're here and reading, and I'll try to come by and write something amusing more often than every two months. And don't give me any of that Field Of Dreams, "If you write it, they will come..." malarky. I have stat counters, you know.
And if I don't make it back before election day, at least you know where I'll be.
Gobama!
-PLB
4 comments:
Okay, I'm pretty sure you *can* vote today, as almost every state allows for absentee balloting. The problem, of course, is that it doesn't make the politicking go away sooner. Also, for a lot of places, the absentee ballots are counted after the election day votes are tallied, which can really screw things up, especially if it's someplace where the votes are close (like Florida or Ohio).
When you look at other democratized Western nations you see that they do not have long election seasons. I don't know the exact time frames, but in Germany and Britain candidates aren't allowed to declare and run until a few months before the election - not any of this "whenever I want, two years in advance" crap we have. If you want to talk election reform in this country, I'd start with no one being allowed to declare or raise funds before Memorial Day of an election year. Five months is plenty of time.
Second element that needs to be reformed: the electoral college. It is asinine to me that we insist on fair and balanced democratic elections abroad, with every vote counted, knowing that our own elections wouldn't pass United Nations standards. There is no reason why a 21st century nation as advanced technologically as ours should still be operating under 19th century procedures.
Finally, no more running mates for candidates: the top two vote getters take the top two positions. Why make Democrats pick between Obama and Clintion when they could have Obama AND Clinton? Or, in a more contentious year, a split white house. You want real checks and balancese, you want party unity? Have a democratic president who is constantly forced to work with a republican VP. With a split nation having representation in the white house there won't be any of this finger-pointing from the outside of people saying "when we're in the white house things'll be different..."
Since I'm living in a dream world, I think our house and senate should have proportional representation as well. This is a harder thing to do because, well, how can you. But shouldn't the government elected by the people have an ethnic make-up that is truly representational? Within 20 years the population of the US will approach being 45% Hispanic, but I don't see the House shifting that direction. Shouldn't these bodies be nearly half women as well?
I think the only way around this is to dump the Congressional districts and allow states to vote for candidates at-large. Dump the political parties and let people vote according to issues, to who speaks for them.
When I was a teen I thought the answer was a lottery. Since they say anyone can be president, why not prove it by holding a lottery using social security numbers. You get called, you serve. We've had actors and CEO's and military figures, we could certainly survive with a plumber, an accountant, or a factory worker running the show.
Seriously, could we do any worse than we're doing right now?
Hi Patti! Liz is not your only reader. :)
- Mikki
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