Archive for the 'Political' Category

State of the economy

Published
by
Cody
on September 30, 2008
in Political
. 0 Comments

I’m not really sure what to make of this “economic crisis” we’re apparently in. On the one hand, it is rather unnerving to watch a number of banks give up the ghost, including Washington Mutual (based right here in Seattle), but on the other hand, it doesn’t seem to be impacting me at all. Sure, I’m having a hard time getting a job, but, considering my past luck in procuring employment, that’s not surprising in the least.

It’s an interesting coincidence that I’m taking a history course right now that’s dealing with the economic situation of the 1930s, including the Great Depression and Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. There were numerous bank failures and credit problems during that time period, just as there are now. It’s a bit eerie, but I have noticed that the proposed solutions are nothing like FDR’s solutions. Of course, the situation today isn’t nearly as dire (unemployment is still around 6%, not the whopping 25+% of the early thirties), but I have yet to hear any decent explanation of the bailout that just died in Congress. Why $700 billion? What would that money be used for? What good would that do? No one is really telling. Contrast that to FDR’s fireside chats over the radio, where he explained to the American public in straightforward terms what the government was doing to deal with the depression. President Bush’s recent speech about the economy wasn’t exactly informative or reassuring, even if he did avoid using the word “depression”.

The thing to remember through all of this, though, is that self-regulation by corporations (even banks) is not necessarily a bad thing, just as regulation by the federal government isn’t necessarily a good thing. I don’t know how this situation will be resolved, but I know that more government interference in the market is not the right answer. After all, the Great Depression didn’t end because of the New Deal. For better or for worse, it came to an end due to the onset of World War 2, when industry picked up to improve the U.S. military. Hopefully we won’t need any such thing this time around.

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No more Palin

Published
by
Cody
on September 15, 2008
in Political and Rant
. 0 Comments

Can I just say: please, I don’t want to hear anything more about Sarah Palin. I already know she’s a horrible pick for McCain and I certainly know I won’t be voting for that ticket come November. Yet I’m still subjected to every detail about her life, from her religion to her children to her hunting hobby. Seriously. Stop focusing on the negatives of Sarah Palin and focus on the positives of the other candidates, namely Barack Obama. Or even third party candidates. They can’t get exposure if everyone’s too busy complaining about Palin and McCain.

Ugh, I can’t wait until this election is over. I doubt the country will be better off no matter what candidate, but at least I won’t have to endure the barrage of mudslinging that accompanies every major election.

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Final showdown

Published
by
Cody
on June 3, 2008
in Political
. 2 Comments

So it would appear that Barack Obama has all but clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. According to the Associated Press, Obama has the most delegates, putting him far enough in front of Hilary Clinton that she will probably concede the nomination sometime soon.

Now it’s Obama versus McCain for the presidency, assuming Ralph Nader doesn’t make a surprise comeback and ruin everything. Again. However, I’ve heard that a strong third party candidate would be more injurious to McCain than to Obama. I guess that remains to be seen.

As to who I’ll be voting for…I’ve decided that in November, I will be voting for Obama. Yes, I know how often I go on about third parties and how I’m not, in fact, throwing my vote away. But when I look at what’s available, I have to say that Obama is a better choice than any of the third party candidates I’ve looked at. The Libertarian Party candidate, Bob Barr, is anything but a libertarian (well, not the kind I am, at least; he even wanted to ban Wicca from the armed forces), Ron Paul is still crazy, and I have yet to hear about any good independents. My favorite candidates (like Mike Gravel) have vanished back into pre-presidential anonymity, so I’m left with a bunch of candidates I can only half-heartedly support.

Therefore, I’d rather put my vote in for Obama. I hate to buy into the “vote for the guy who’s most likely to win” mentality, but he’s the best choice I’ve got.

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False dichotomy

Published
by
Cody
on March 12, 2008
in Political and Rant
. 4 Comments

There is a lot I don’t like about the world: slow walkers, erratic drivers, people who chew with their mouths open, txt-speak, and kittens. Okay, I don’t hate kittens. Kittens with spikes all over them (war kittens!), maybe, but not regular kittens.

Anyways, there’s one thing I hate above all else: the idea that there are only two kinds of people in politics. Everyone encounters it. You’re either a Democrat or a Republican. You’re a conservative or a liberal. You’re a crazy, left-wing, terrorist-loving moonbat or a war-mongering, right-wing, bible-thumping wingnut. You’re either with us or against us.

This is bunk and everyone knows it. The world isn’t black and white, people. There’s a hell of a lot of gray in there.

Continue reading ‘False dichotomy’

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Don’t shoot me

Published
by
Cody
on February 2, 2008
in Personal and Political
. 0 Comments

Well, I did it. I voted in Washington’s primary. Actually, the primary isn’t until February 19, but using the miracle of absentee voting, I already filled out my ballot. All that’s left is to mail it and ignore the results. Okay, I won’t ignore them. I’ve decided I can’t completely avoid politics, though I still think it’s a waste of time. We should switch over to a parliamentary, proportional representation system and make things more efficient. And fair.

I suppose the burning question is who did I vote for. It may surprise some of you, but I actually voted for John McCain. This is all about the nomination, after all. On the Democrat side, it’s going to be either Obama or Clinton, and I don’t particularly care for either of them. On the Republican side, however, it’s still pretty wide open. I’m thinking it’ll be either Romney or McCain winning the nomination, as Huckabee is falling far behind and Ron Paul is…well, the very definition of “fringe candidate”. So, since I had to choose a party (either Democrat or Republican), I decided to throw my vote behind McCain, since I’d much rather have him as a nominee than Mitt Romney.

Luckily, though I had to basically become a temporary member of the Republican Party for the nomination process, I’m free to vote for whoever I like come November. Washington State doesn’t have party registration, which is nice. The drawback is that we have to pick a single party for the primary and caucus and stick with it. I don’t know if other states do it differently, but I know it’s a rather unpopular policy here. Heck, I might have the whole deal wrong. I honestly don’t know how things work. I just followed the instructions on my ballot.

So, who will I vote for in the election? I don’t know. It all depends on who the nominees are. I highly doubt I’ll vote Democrat, though, unless Mitt Romney gains the Republican nomination. Otherwise, I’ll probably vote for a third party. Or write myself in. I’m kidding about that last part. I don’t want to be president. That is, not until I’ve completed my plans for world domination!

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Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States