Vote Early and Often.

Finally.  Voting day.  I live in Iowa, so we’ve had non-stop campaign ads on TV and radio for over a year.  A YEAR, PEOPLE. We still have a land line and since last Saturday have had over 100 calls come in.  ROBO CALLS.  We don’t even pick up the phone anymore.  I don’t know why we keep the land line except that the husband is slowing becoming a prepper and has decided that we need to keep it.  Sigh…

So – here’s what I think about politics in general:

1. There are very few, if any, true public servants left in the country.  It’s all about money.  And power.  PERSONAL money and power.
2. Both parties are so rotted with the quest for personal money and power that nothing can get done.
3. I still have some hope for President Obama for one reason – he doesn’t come from a long line of politicians.  He doesn’t (or didn’t) owe favors or have favors he can call.  The Bush family is one scary bunch.  Seriously, I truly believe that if we knew the real truth about them, we’d all long for the apocalypse.
4. Mitt and Robin (I mean, Ryan) are all part of the same family tree – their plan is to protect and elevate the power and influence of BIG MONEY.  Mitt comes from it – is part of it – and has benefited from it his entire life.  He will serve that master if elected and Robin (I mean Ryan) will go right along with everything.  Lock step.
5. The people that are constantly railing against gay marriage think about a lot.  I mean,  A LOT.  I find that suspicious.
6. People always say we need politicians that aren’t part of the machine – fresh faces that want to do the right thing.  Well, that was President Obama 4 years ago.  The Republicans joined forces and made sure that he couldn’t do much of anything.
7. No, the economy isn’t back to where it was before the recession.  But who in their right minds WANTS IT BACK THAT WAY?  People burying themselves in credit card debt, buying houses they couldn’t afford, refinancing at over 100% of value to take trips to Disney every year because housing values were hyper inflated.  Is this what we want BACK?  I am much happier with slow recovery – of course, I still have a job, so I make that statement from a position of comfort.
8. Presidents can’t create jobs.  There’s only one thing that creates jobs – DEMAND FOR PRODUCTS.  Period.
9. Presidents aren’t responsible for the price of gasoline.  The oil companies (who are in cahoots with the auto industry) do that.
10. There is NO REASON WHATSOEVER that autos that get 50+ miles to the gallon shouldn’t be available.  Lots of them.  It could be done, the technology is there, but Big Oil (can you say BUSH) won’t allow that to happen.
11. Windpower could change the face of our energy future.  It will take some subsidies to get it firmly established.  But the Repubs want to cut it off while still giving BIG OIL billions of dollars in subsidies via tax breaks year after year after year after year.
12. No one – either party – will even broach the idea of means testing for Social Security.  Mitt will qualify for the maximum benefit.  And he made $20m last year in interest/investment income.  Think about that.
13. No one without a uterus should be allowed to make any law that controls mine.  Period.
14. Contraceptive coverage should be mandated for all health plans.  Seriously?  How can this even be a question in 2012???
15. No local, state or federal employee should get all of their health care benefits for free.  Period.
16. Marijuana should be legalized.  And tax the bejeezus out of it.  Then use the money raised to figure out how to combat the real evil – meth.  It is SATAN.  I would think the fast food lobby would be all over legalization of pot.
17. If they want to outlaw something that really damages society, start with Jack Daniels.  I don’t know a single personality that’s enhanced by JD.  Everyone – EVERYONE – I know that drinks it to excess turns into a big, angry, stupid asshole.
18. We are all piss-poor medical consumers.  People have no idea what stuff really costs.  I went to a high deductible HSA plan a couple of years ago.  Boy howdy – it’s expensive!  The $10 co-pay should be increased to a $50 co-pay.
19. We’re all in a world of hurt when the superbugs that are being created by the overuse of antibiotics really take over.  Quit demanding antibiotics.  Read up.  They don’t WORK FOR VIRUSES.
20. I’m depressed at the entire state of affairs.  The mess in NYC/NJ is a scary vignette of what would happen to this country if the grid went down.  We are not prepared, people.  The husband has begun preparing.  I want to cry and laugh at the same time.  I’ve decided that my ‘prepping’ consists of hoarding sleeping pills and a bottle of vodka.  If the end times are at hand, I’m going to party my way to a dirt nap.
21. I want to bitch slap the entire Supreme Court for changing the rules on campaign finance to allow corporations to donate unlimited amounts of money to campaigns.  What the hell were they thinking????
22. There is no reason on earth why money earned through no work at all should be taxed at a lower rate than the money earned from working.  Big Money got those laws passed to protect themselves.  Earned income should be taxed at the lowest rate with graduated rates for unearned income – the more you make by NOT WORKING, the more you should pay.  And if you shelter money off shore (like our buddy, Mitt, does), you should pay top rate, no deductions on all the income you have period.
23. Churches are no longer non-political.  Organized religion is doing everything it can to influence this country when it’s not raping our children.  The first thing I would do as president is eliminate the non-profit status of all churches and make them pay taxes on every dollar they take in.
24. We need a totally secular government.  Take out ‘under God’ from the pledge of allegiance and get it back into the schools.  That phrase was added not so very long ago by some zealots.  Why is that appropriate and not ‘under Allah’ or ‘under Buddah’?  We are not a Christian nation.  We are a democracy.  Religion and faith are not the same thing.  One is public and one is private.  Why do we swear on bibles?  How stupid is that?  Mitt made a big deal out of telling us that he donates 10% of his income every year to the Mormon church.  He failed to mention that it’s required by his religion to get into heaven.  Bill Gates is an atheist and donated over $30m of his own money last year to help the people of the world, but he’s evidently going to hell.  Which he doesn’t believe in, so I guess the joke’s on everyone else.
25. I’m done ranting.  There’s more but it makes me tired.  Logic and reason and equality and fairness and compassion and all of the other things that really make this world good are not even in play anymore.

Cheery, huh?  Real?  Yes.  But I will vote, because that’s all I can do.  Hard times in the land of plenty.