To vote, or not to vote...

This is the only time I have ever actually caught myself saying "why should I even bother voting anyway?" since I was first able to vote. Every year they tell us more young people should be voting, more people should be out making the choices for this nation. And this is what they give is to make the choice between. This presidential election is little more than just a media circus, and a pretty horrible joke. For instance, on CNBC today, the BREAKING NEWS story was that McCain was giving a speech that we are in an energy crisis.

No... fucking... way...

I suppose that none of these politicians thought about this 3 years ago when the price of gas jumped over $1 a gallon in a matter of months? This isn't something that just happened overnight. But of course, being in politics, whatever happens to be in the news today is what they need to make a stand on. God forbid we're actually preemptive. Who wants to head off a problem before it actually BECOMES a problem? Nope. That's not the American way. Let's just wait until it actually explodes into a crisis before we address it. Go us. Notice now that we're not making a big deal about the war anymore. All of a sudden it seems like we forgot it was going on. Nah we're more worried about filling up our Suburbans and Escalades and Excursions. Who cares if a few people died. They're only our sons, brothers, daughters, sisters... No biggie.

Plus, we have just an amazing political system set up as it is. We have 2 political parties. Democrats and Republicans. But they're the same party. One person says one thing. The other person disagrees. The first person changes his mind and agrees with the other person. The other person says no, that he said the first time was correct. It really doesn't matter what party you vote for. There are no more clear party lines. No real differences. The only thing the 2 party system accomplishes today is to provide a reason for them to bicker and point fingers.

When the legislative system was originally set up, it was truly a government of the people, for the people, by the people. A farmer would represent his family, friends, town... He would serve his term in office, then go home, and continue to farm. Today politics only serve to fuel politics. We turned it into a business rather than a service. People get into politics to earn money and power and respect, not to do what's right. They get into office, then they give away positions and contracts to whoever they think will further their career, despite what it will do to the people that put them in office. When it's time for them to leave office, we should just put a "FOR SALE" sign in the window. At least then it'll be truth in advertising.

I also haven't heard a damn thing to get me excited about either candidate. Obama talks about hope and change. We should hope for change, and make changes for hope. But what are we changing? What are we hoping happens? How about we start hearing about how you hope to change the country. What are you going to do? What are your plans? And McCain... I haven't heard ANYTHING from him other than current events. We are in an energy crisis. Here's a cookie. What do you plan do to about this problem that's going to make a difference within the next 5 years? Nothing. Nothing you do will fix it. How are you going to fix the nation? Yeah, didn't think so. Neither of you are worth the effort in my opinion.

Now, one candidate that I was really pulling for is Ron Paul. Besides having a name that sounds like a porn star, he at least had a plan. I don't know if it would have been good. I don't know if it would have worked. But the man had an idea. He had real plans, real solutions, and real conviction. He never had a chance though, because he wanted less government in our daily lives. What politician would support him with that?

We need a complete overhaul of our system. But that's not going to happen. Until then, I'm just going to write in Green Lantern. At least of I'm going to throw away my vote, it'll be for someone we KNOW what they represent.