The ease of which one can become emotionally invested in an election is proof of the devil. :) Among the stressors are:

  • The inherent racism of voting (for or against) based on melanin content alone,
  • Organized and deliberate attempts to produce illegal voter registrations and votes,
  • Courts who allow park benches to be used as addresses,
  • Other courts who say political groups have no standing in the execution of electoral procedures,
  • Threats of riots should the wrong candidate win,

And that’s before we even begin to examine the things each candidate espouses. Obama spent part of his career as a community organizer/agitator.  Well, we are agitated! I hope he is happy. If we spent half the attention on the second coming of the real Messiah as people do on the coming of The One, Hell would be uncharacteristically devoid of the American demographic.

I confess. I get wrapped up in it. The adrenaline rush, the opportunity to espouse and sell my views, the affirmation from the like-minded, and the winning over of the undecided are positive (as opposed to good) consequences to electoral politics. It is a battle between logic and feelings, and I think it’s safe to say some people let one rule at the expense of the other. There’s no party monopoly on that.

This can’t be good. Every four years, so much time, money, and emotion are invested in two days of the year. Government should not be our focus. There should not be so much power in government that we have to worry about things like a Fairness Doctrine, what income level is “rich”, or which industries stand to gain or lose depending who’s in office.

Not exactly career politictians.

Not exactly career politicians.

This is the real flaw in the way we do things: that the people who want government to matter less have better things to do in their opinion than becoming a legislator. When was the last time you heard a campaign commercial for an elected official who wanted the government to leave you alone?  We don’t talk about whether it is right to tax your income or to participate in pork-barrel spending but how much of each. Government dependency over and above securing “the blessings of liberty” is now a given.

Each election matters more and more because people see personal gain in the manipulation of government. Congressman John Murtha is running ads in western Pennsylvania that government-paid jobs will go away if he is voted out of office. One woman is convinced (YouTube) that her gas and her mortgage will be paid for by an Obama administration.

If McCain wins, it will be because the last constitutional defense against the mob, the Electoral College, will have held. It has a good chance of failing this year, attacked by campaign promises and a media slacking in analysis and impartiality. Even if McCain wins, while he promises to cut government spending, he makes no promises in cutting government influence.

Thus, 2012 will matter yet more. While that keeps Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh employed, it’s not healthy for the rest of us.