I’m Bitter

Geesh, people are still bringing up Obama’s “bittergate” gaffe.

Let me paraphrase what he was trying to say:

People in small towns want a politician who can stand up for their economic interests, and do what it takes to promote job stability and job growth, e.g. keep their jobs in their towns instead of moving overseas, making good health care available, etc.  But they have become bitter when they vote those issues because no-one’s been doing that for them.  But there are Republicans who will work for other values, such as protecting their gun rights and, i guess, promoting their religious values.  So they have been reliably voting Repub, since Repubs have been reliable on those issues.  If Dems will start being reliable on the economic issues that are important to them, they’ll start voting Dem.

Granted, the way Obama phrased it was open to misinterpretation.

Cui Bono?

I’m not shy about it. President Bush and the Republicans are not* fascists, not totalitarians, but they sure don’t care if America slips into authoritarianism of some kind or another. There are probably some forms they’d prefer over others–he’s ostensibly willing to lock the US down to keep Al Quaeda from establishing a Muslim authoritarian empire from taking over the US.^† Quite possibly some don’t realize that an American led dictatorship could be a bad thing…I mean, America, it’s by definition always good, right?

But, why are they so willing to tear away our freedoms? Cui Bono? Who benefits? Cuz really, it’s not making us safe from terrorism, and if it were, well, no-one’s making us safe from natural disasters, and they’re doing more damage recently than terrorists ever have.

So, who benefits? The party. The Republican party mostly. The Republican party strongly supports a well defined social pecking order. Those with the most money win, and get special privileges. Men and whites are higher in the pecking order than women and minorities, and the Republicans like it that way. Clergy like to maintain some control over their flock–no-one else is paying their bills, you know (and since they ain’t even selling anything…). So, if those on top of the pecking order, the wealthy elite, can keep the party of the wealthy and the elite in power, so much the better for them. And so much the worse for the rest of us. So all the police state tactics, intimidation, corruption, vote-rigging, are a means to the end of keeping the Repubs in power (they’ve even on occasion-Nixon, e.g.-mentioned as much), for the good of America, by which they mean the wealthiest people in America.

The same goes for Republican economic policies, actually. Take climate change. A realistic economic assessment of the problem wouldn’t pretend that the globe isn’t warming, or feign ignorance. You don’t get ahead economically on wishful thinking alone. You’d say yep, there’s a problem, now how can we best mitigate it, or better turn this knowledge to our advantage. However, those at the top in the US are so wealthy that they can reasonably hope to live above the consequences; and even better for their relative social status, those at the bottom might even be much worse off.

That said, a solid two-party system is better for both parties than a three party system, or a many party system with enough indie parties at least to force alliances on votes. Ergo, the Democrats are worth propping up, too, if you’re interested using politics to maintain your place in the pecking order. So Democrats aren’t to be trusted as a rule, either…but I find they general actually do handle themselves better, and are more reality based in their policies than Republicans are.

So, I’m voting Obama ‘08!

And will blog something about video game math soon, I promise!!!

*necessarily

^†I don’t care either way, Muslim or oligarchic, I don’t want to live in a dictatorship

The last thing I want…

Is a president of the US who would SLANDER AMERICA!. Watch this! Now what the hell? A Sky News interviewer brings up a couple of our most noble, glorious American projects, and Prez Bush has the gall to say that talking about those is slandering America? Now, last I checked, in order to be slander, the claim has to not only be false (which clearly it isn’t) and also has to do damage to the slandered, i. e. it has to be a bad thing. But this is America we’re talking about, we don’t do bad things! And I won’t let my Prezzie say we’ve done anything wrong without giving him hell about it.

I <3 America! I <3 rendition and torture! I <3 imprisonment without due process! I <3 dissappearing people! These things aren’t things we should be ashamed of! We should be proud of them. Live at all costs, just don’t let them kill me! Freedom isn’t worth it. Or something like that, my memory isn’t always so good.

And that Republican scum would say bad things about America is why I’m voting Obama ‘08.

I will get back to video game math in the near future, I promise x<3