The Good, The Bad, And The Romney

They say ignorance is bliss. And while ignorance certainly comes with less research, less nervous pacing, less acid reflux, and certainly less yelling at your television, ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is ignorant. Information is bliss.

And with a much-anticipated Presidential election a mere two months away, information is everywhere. Unfortunately, so is ignorance.

Before I get too ahead of myself, I want to make one thing clear: I don't think you're ignorant if you vote Republican. I don't think you're ignorant if you vote Democrat. I don't think you're ignorant if you vote Independent. In fact, I don't even think you're ignorant if you don't vote for any candidate for President at all. That's the great thing about this country: Choice. If you don't like one guy, vote for the other guy. If you don't like any of the guys, don't vote for anyone. The choice is yours, as long as it's yours and not CNN's, or Fox New's, or the lone guy who protests absolutely everything at a college campus near you. In other words, opinions are everywhere, screaming at you from every TV show, magazine, and Facebook status. It's just a matter of what you choose to take seriously.

In case you guys are all living under rocks and have managed not to notice, many of the issues surrounding this year's election are incredibly sensitive to many people in many ways. Because of this, politicians (both left and right) have begun taking definitive stands on these controversial issues. And while each candidate wants to say the other is "dividing our country" the truth is, they all are. Everyone in politics is. We divide ourselves without even realizing we're doing it. I see a million Facebook posts a day: If you are FOR "The Family" and AGAINST abortion, vote for Romney! If you are FOR equal rights and AGAINST making abortion illegal, vote for Obama! According to the world around us, it's simple. You are either FOR or AGAINST.

Or are you?

The truth is, none of it is as simple as we might like to think. A presidential election isn't black and white, it's 50 shades of grey (sorry, had to be done!) This grey area is where we all run into problems. What happens if you are for equal rights (AKA gay marriage), but against abortion? Who do you vote for then? Or what if you like the idea of smaller government, insofar as the smaller government doesn't start outlawing things like gay marriage or abortion (which actually, while I'm on the topic, I need a Republican to explain to me how that works, because I would think that smaller government would equal less laws and less being in everyone's business...? No sarcasm, serious question. Someone get Condi Rice on the phone ASAP).

All joking aside, there is a serious lack of middle ground in politics and that's frightening in a world where virtually nothing is cut-and-dried. Sure, we technically have a third party here in the good ole U-S of A, but honestly, who takes it seriously? Remember Ross Perot? Ross Perot was basically made into a caricature and was essentially a walking, talking wet dream for Saturday Night Live writers. For all any of us can remember, he could have actually had some great ideas but when I think of him, my brain instantly conjures up Dana Carvey in a bald cap with his ears sticking out, intentionally doing the worst impression of a Southern accent known to man while I laughed my butt off. I remember very little of the actual Ross Perot. A few months ago Rosanne was claiming (threatening, really) to run for President under the Libertarian party. So there that is. Gary Johnson, the rumored real candidate and former Governor of my home state (Everyone's a Lobo! Woof! Woof! Woof!) has some decent, though vague, policies and ideas for improvement. Too bad most of us will never get to hear any of them, as he's not even allowed to come on TV and debate with the big dogs. Honestly, what's up with that? Are we humoring poor Gary by letting him be on the ballad when clearly no one up in Washington is thinking he's a viable option? Do you think Barrack and Mitt are worried about Gary sweeping in and winning? Probably not. We keep having elections based on this "lesser of two evils" concept, so really no matter who you vote for, you lose something (except for the 2000 election, which I will remain bitter and angry about until the end of time because I truly believe everything was lost in that one. I love you, Al!). Until we have a legitimate Libertarian party, elections will never truly be fair, because we will continue to never be fully informed about this mysterious third party we all keep hearing so little about.

This long, seemingly pointless tangent all comes back to one thing: Information. Know who you're voting for and why you're voting for him. More importantly, if we're all going to vote, we should vow to not take a leap-year approach to voting. As in, don't just vote every four years. If politics in general and my lone semester as a political science major have taught me nothing else (aside from the fact that if I ever went into career politics I'd have a full head of grey hair and a serious drinking problem), it's that the President is just the head. The Congress, House of Representatives and Senate are the neck. Local elections MATTER, they might even matter more than the Presidential election. If you feel you identify more with a Republican president than a Democratic president, I can tell you it's not going to matter much when the House or Senate or Congress is run by a majority of Democrats and the issues you believe in get buried or overruled (trust me, I just spent four  years watching it happen). I pride myself on staying informed (I want to make Peter Jennings proud, after all), but when it comes to politics, the same rule my mom always told me about girls in high school who would say nasty things to me still applies: Consider the source. And yes, Liberal media has a slant and Conservative media has a slant, but do you know what doesn't have a slant? Government records. If you really care about repealing Obama Care, don't say it needs to be done just because Glen Beck says Obama Care is unconstitutional. Read the bill and decide for yourself. In fact, you can read it right here. It's a doozie and will probably cure any insomnia problems you have had in the last twenty years, but there it is, unbiased and without commentary from either side. Information like this is public information and incredibly easy to come by. While I'm certainly not suggesting we all become policy experts (and in fairness, I'm using Obama Care as an example of ONE bill, so simmer down), it wouldn't kill us to know what these bills are actually about and to know what's really behind them. Can you imagine what it would be like if we were all that well-informed?

One final thought: We recently had a few friends over for dinner and naturally, the conversation turned to politics. One friend said he wasn't voting for Obama because he was a "Dishonest man". My initial response: Shock! Gasp! A dishonest politician! Say it ain't so! But the point I think (I hope, anyway) he was trying to make is that the word "Politician" is synonymous with the word "shmoozer" because they are all experts at saying what they know the voters want to hear in order to obtain the most votes. It's cynical and it sucks, but unfortunately true in most cases. The purpose of a campaign platform and endless campaign promises is to get the voter on your side, for said voter to see you as the only real option when election day rolls around. That being said, when pressed on why he found Obama dishonest, he couldn't really give a good reason why. This might irritate me more than anything else in politics. It's your right to think Obama was a terrible President because he did nothing for the economy and he wasted too much time with his own personal agenda. I don't necessarily agree with you, but I respect a direct, concise, researched opinion, as long as you can respect a direct, concise, researched rebuttal to your opinion. Having an opinion, but not knowing why you have it, in the day and age we live in is absolutely unacceptable. Information is all around you. And while the Republican and Democratic National Conventions are entertaining as hell (we REALLY know how to make a speech here in America!) I don't necessarily count them as informative. It goes back to the shmoozer factor. Of course any politician will tell you they voted for something "popular" or against something "unpopular", but again, how they voted is also public information that you can see right here. The internet, people, is a beautiful thing.

If you take nothing else away from this blog, please take this: I implore you to weigh your options in the upcoming election. Don't vote for someone because Clint Eastwood and his chair like him, or because he looks especially handsome in the reflection of Joe Biden's dentures, or because you'd want to do yoga with his wife. Learn everything you can and make the best, informed decision that is right for you. Research is as easy as a click of a mouse. So click.