I question the intentions of everyone.  Everyone has an agenda.  Some want to kill the stimulus just to show that they (Republicans) aren’t dead yet.  Others genuinely oppose such huge government spending.  Others really want pork.  Others genuinely view this as a way to prop up our economy and create jobs.

I see it this way…

WhiteEyebrows’ Economic Allegory

Imagine a very large house – a mansion.  The mansion is big and beautiful.  It is constantly under construction/expansion.  The owners are filthy rich.

In the last few expansions the contractors perscribed some ‘structural enhacements’ to the core of the house which would make the house easier to remodel and expand going forward.  They removed many major support beams and tried to just distribute the load of the enormous structure on every 2×4 in the house.  This would allow them to build onto it faster and cheaper, and without regard to structural engineering.

The house continued to grow at an astouding rate.  New floors, patios, porches, wings, and garages were added like crazy.  Then one day, lacking the structural integrity to bear the weight of all the new construction, a key part of the house slowly started collapsing.  It didn’t happen all at once.  Several workers started seeing cracks in the plaster while others just felt that something wasn’t right.

Then there were some bad days.  Whole pieces of ceilings and walls started collapsing, but the house still stood – distributed across the weight of much of the rest of the house.  Some part of the house were unaffected, and others were slowly and completely decimated.  Soon, there was a big gaping hole to the exterior of the house for the whole world to see.  Slowly but surely the hole grew until a large, central part of the house was considered rubble.

The many workers got together to decide what to do.  Two solutions emerged:

1. They could pay massive amounts of money to hire scores of people to come in and quickly clean up the mess.  Then pay more people to continue building by doubling the number of materials.  Instead of using 1 2×4 for each stud, they would use 2 2×4′s.  They would simply double the materials, propping up and supporting the old, poorly built construction by fusing new material onto it.  Then hastily building new construction over the areas of the collapsed house to return it to tip top condition.  This new work would hide the destruction of the past and patch up a good number of structural problems.  This would be the most expensive solution, but might produce results quickly.
2. They could go in and strategically place temporary supports in the house, which would keep the destruction from spreading to other parts of the house.  This would buy them time to repair the structural problems they had created for themselves.  They could hire some real structural engineers and create new, innovative ways to support, monitor and regulate the massive weight of the structure that they would undoubtedly want to continue building upon after this crisis was over.  This would cost less, take more time, be much more painstaking, and show results slowly.

Which way would you rebuild the house?

More interesting though was the moment that happened immediately afterward, when VP Biden was asked to administer the oath to the senior staff members who were assembled.  Biden wasn’t expecting to give the oath, and so in a moment of cover and panic, made a crack that “he didn’t have as good a memory as Justice Roberts” and would need a copy of the oath to read.

When Biden made that comment, Obama visibly bristled and frowned.  This is the exact kind of classless politics he has renounced for the past 2 years on the campaign trail – and now he has a poster child of such politics on his right hand.

Lucky guy, huh.

I’m thrilled about Obama’s reaction though.  It shows me he actually believes what he was saying, and is actually committed to a more civil dialogue in Washington. Then again, it just might be a sign that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks, and even the highest levels have yet to buy into his vision.

Update: Washington Times Wire

Update: Here’s the video… it’s about 1/2 way through.

It’s not like it matters much, though.  I live in the state of Texas, which will send all its electoral votes for McCain, no questions asked.  Most of you who read my blog are from either Texas or Utah, which both enjoy a stranglehold by the Republican party in Presidential politics.  So whoever I vote for would be a vote of conscience, without much real meaning.

The electoral college sucks.  It was a 18th century necessity, but not a 21st century one.  It’s no wonder we have such great voter apathy in this nation, since a great majority of American’s votes really don’t count for jack.

From the latest polls, though, it is obvious that the Republicans are going to get spanked this year, and the only question which remains is: How big will the landslide be?  In my opinion the Republican party totally deserves it.  They had 6 years of control of Congress and the White House, and their only accomplishments: No Child Left Behind and repeatedly funding the Iraq War.

McCain’s campaign has not had a cohesive, resonant message for months (no, I DO NOT consider “Joe the Plumber” to be a message), nor did they set up any kind of overarching campaign theme that resonated with anyone from the outset.  They have been spending months and millions of dollars hacking at the leaves, and not striking at the root.  Now, in the final days of the campaign, they are running a fear-based campaign (I’m less bad than that guy).  McCain deserves to lose in a landslide.

My friend Michelle recently articulated her views on this subject, when she described why she decided to cast her vote for Obama:

I am not a democrat and I have never voted for a democrat before. As far as political philosophies go, I am a true conservative. I believe in a limited government. I don’t think it’s the government’s place to regulate personal freedom or morality. …True republicanism, to me is ordinary citizens electing the wisest, most educated and intelligent leaders to govern for them, not over them…

…The Republican Party used to be a party of conservatives and if they had produced a conservative candidate, I would have voted for that person. Instead, the Party has been overrun by a “base” that I neither respect nor identify with. Conservatism has been replaced with a dangerous populism that celebrates an “us vs. them” world view, seeks to erase the line between church and state, and uses fear as a primary motivator. The Republicans have had the last eight years to implement these ideals and the results speak for themselves…

If Obama wins tomorrow, I hope it is proof that:

1. Campaigns based on hope, optimism and the future are better than those of fear, misinformation, and a hunker-down-and-dig-in mentality.
2. The Republicans have moved too far to the right, leaving out the moderates and centrists in many ways.  Bush’s failure to deliver on the promise of compassionate conservatism ended up being a big slap in the face to those moderates who believed in that promise in 2000, and calls into question whether such centricity is even possible with such a crazy, wild-eyed, right-wing base.
3. The Republican party will only be able to win future elections by reaching out, rather than reaching around to pat itself on the back.

The good news is that parties can change relatively quickly.  Remember the mess the Democrats had been in since the mid-nineties?  And here they are, remade as a party and electing a historic candidate to the office of President.  The Republicans will have some work to do, that is if they are truly listening to the voices of me, Michelle, and a whole lot of other people I know who are totally dissatisfied with how they’ve run the joint this year.

This will be my last political post for a good long while!  I’m done thinking about this.

Everyone get out and vote tomorrow.  Remember, if you don’t vote (however meaningless your vote may be), you have no right to complain about anything for the next 2/4/6 years.

What I’m most sick of right now is the “politics of fear” that iEveryone (you know, everyone’s internet-based alter-ego) is completely wrapped up in.

What do I mean by politics of fear?

I have friends on all sides of the political arena, and I get about 5-10 emails or facebook messages a day from them saying “I’m just scared of what <insert other guy’s name here> will do to our country.  And here’s why…”  followed by lies, rumors, speculations, and unsubstantiated drivel!

I, for one, am sick of the false notions and pure crap that is spewing all across the internet about both candidates, campaigns, and platforms.  I’m sick of people thinking that if they just whip their friends up into a fear-induced frenzy with counterproductive, dishonest whisper campaigns, they can somehow influence the election.

More and more, the dishonesty of politics is not in the candidates or even in their campaigns. The dishonesty of politics is making you into an accomplice.  A hack.  A liar.  Yes, you, the faceless people who innocently sit at your computers all day, forwarding email after email of conjectural, unsubstantiated lies which are meant to discredit, defame, and inspire fear in either of the party’s faithful.  You are being dishonest, and I am calling you out.

It’s sad to see that most of these are religious people who pride themselves on their honesty and integrity, but who seem to have no crisis of conscience when spreading rumors and lies about a politician.  (All in the name of getting votes.)

Ask yourself: Can you independently verify it?  Does it really represent your views and stand up for your ideals?  Are you ready to sign your name to that statement you just made?  (At least the media does that.)  Would you stand up and say it in church?  Would you say it out loud? Or would doing so just make you sound like an idiot?

It’s destroying your soul people, and making you look like an idiot.  Wake up.

So why all the politics of fear?  Why do we scare so easily?  We are the United States of Freakin’ America!  Buck up, people!  Get over it.

Remember, we have little revolutions in this country every so often.  They’re called elections.  If we don’t like the way our elected officials are running things, then we can change them.

Together let’s raise the level of political discourse in this country! Let’s get passed party-politics hackery and try to actually address the problems facing our country!

Her ‘attack dog’ act knocked my socks off at the convention, but now I am highly doubtful of her readiness for this meaningless campaign and this meaningless office. The “hockey mom”/”lipstick on a pig” thing is really cute, and a refreshing change of pace for our political scene.  She might still have a bright future in the Republican party (if she doesn’t mess this bid up too much).  I just think she was thrust into this a little too soon.

Her debate performance against Biden was just OK.  She got her butt handed to her in the foreign policy section.  It wasn’t because she didn’t know names, dates, or have personal anecdotes to share – it was her lack of a cohesive response on the way forward in the war on terror.  Her entire answer to the question of the way forward focused on the past, while Biden talked about some realistic, concrete plans for the future.

Palin sounded desperate in her constant attempts to change the discussion from what Gwen Ifill wanted to talk about to what she wanted to talk about: Alaska, taxes, and energy.  Good for her for sticking to her strengths, but I have news for her and McCain… there is a lot more to running this country than Alaska, taxes, and energy.

Plus… she said “nucUlar” twice… And as I always say… twice is no mistake.  This formally puts her in the dog house with me.  (And not the good Randy Jackson “dawg” house, either…)

Sorry Sarah… Can we just be friends instead?

Joe Biden was the right choice for Obama.  I liked him in the Democrat’s primary race.  He lends experience and gravitas to the Obama ticket, while not overshadowing the top of the ticket (like Hillary would have done).  Now that this is done and the hand wringing is over, it is clearly the right decision.

The question still remains, though: Can two waste-of-skin Democrat senators actually succeed at the top two executive positions of the biggest enterprise in the world?  I’m still not convinced.

The Many Houses of McCain

You couldn’t turn on the news or radio this weekend without hearing the sound clip of McCain telling a reporter that he’d “Uhhh… have his staff get back to him” when the reporter asked how many houses McCain currently owns.  The headline was quickly generated: “McCain Doesn’t Know How Many Houses He Owns!”

Truthfully, though, that’s not the case at all.  It seems to me that a more likely scenario is that McCain didn’t want to say how many houses he owned.  Clearly, a republican candidate for president bragging to a reporter about his investments in a time of economic downturn is a bad political move, and McCain could see that coming.  It was in the way he stammered before dodging the question that he created a whole new problem for himself.  I’m afraid such lapses and stammering might become standard fare for a 70+ year old candidate for president.  So much for straight talk.

The truth is, knowing how many houses McCain owns doesn’t hurt him at all in this race.  Why?  Because that is the great American Dream (read: Myth), that everyone can be rich and own multiple residences!  Why do you think raising taxes on the rich is so hard to do?  Because everyone worries about the day when they too will become RICH!  In this country, it is certainly no crime to be wealthy, and McCain is.

Nancy Pelosi is a Communist

Yesterday on Meet the Press, Tom Brokaw pressed Nancy Pelosi on the issue of energy, and how she now supports offshore drilling, which she had adamantly opposed weeks ago.  Her justification? If we put offshore drilling on the table, we get to put a whole lot of other issues on the table, like tax breaks for oil companies, and even levying new taxes on oil companies for using the oil that “belongs to the American people.”  She went on and on for 5 minutes talking about how these oil companies profit off of oil that “is the American people’s.”

Well, in case Nancy forgot, this country is based on ~240 years of PROPERTY OWNERSHIP, including mineral rights.  In fact, property ownership is one of the most distinctly American things anyone can do in their life.  There is no question that the framers were highly concerned with protecting the rights of private property owners – and oil and mineral rights are no exception.  They don’t belong to the “American people” (read: government), they belong to individual Americans and companies who have made the investment in their future.

And for the record, your super-fake smile really bothers me…

Thank you to all those who contacted me regarding yesterday’s post, and who offered their passionate support for their candidate of choice. No one actually offered cash though, so I was resigned to making up my own mind on this…

I decided to stop in to vote on my way to work this morning, rather than doing it on my way home. The logic seemed sound that more people would be voting later in the day, and I’d face less adversity by holding my nose and getting it done in the morning… wrong idea. The place was packed! It was like an elementary school carnival – lines everywhere, people sad and confused. I was just lacking the little kids crying.

I’m not going to tell you who I voted for, because… well… I don’t know. (Why do we not tell people who we voted for, anyway?) I have made no qualms about making my preferences made known up until this point in the race, so I guess I don’t want to share because it’s not a vote I’m proud of. I made a purely “political strategery” move…

So instead I just want to share a few little observations from the polls.

Obama will give you donuts: The only people smiling or enjoying themselves was a couple of Obama campaign volunteers on the sidewalk outside the polling location who were giving away free donuts and coffee to the voters. To fully appreciate this, you have to realize that last night we had a freak snow storm that came through and dropped 3″ on North Texas. Texans don’t do ice and snow. It was 33 degrees when I entered the polling place, but they were there giving out their donuts. So the conclusion? Obama supporters are nuts. Obama will give the whole country donuts.

Hillary was no where to be seen: No campaign signs, no supporters trying to sway undecideds, and definitely no donuts. And yet Hillary is still neck and neck in the polls? I think this is because it’s not cool to be a Hillary supporter anymore. Everyone who is anyone is a Barack supporter now… so the poor Hillary lovers are forced to be closet supporters lest they get attacked by the Obama crazies.

Will the Huckleheads please go home: As I saw people leaving the Republican door, I wondered… why are they even here? Are they all just coronating McCain? Or are they here to cast a vote against John McCain? If so, that means they are likely voting for TV Evangelist Chucklebee. I had to seriously resist the urge to break their legs and fingers at that very moment.

Never catch the eye of a Ron Paul supporter: There were one or two who were coming out of the polling location when I was going in. They scared me. Of course, they were partially dressed in camo (and boy-howdy they really needed an undershirt or “bro”), and probably came with their gun rack in the back of their truck filled up with their highest power weapons, just in case they needed to protect their freedom. Should you find yourself in this situation, just look at the floor and start muttering the preamble to the Constitution, and they’ll leave you alone.

Republicans are better looking than Democrats: …or at least they get more ‘dolled up’ to go to the polls in the morning. I’m telling you, there were some HOT ones coming through the republican side. The Dems had more of a ‘homely’ bunch… lots of obvious school marms and shut-ins. (No offense to the school marms and shut-ins who read this blog) I actually first noticed this by watching the election judges. On both sides, they were all older ladies. The republicans were the typical Texas belles, with their hair recently done up, nice makeup, looking professional, efficient and elite. The dems were all kind of lumpy… with bed head (not the really cool, hip kind) and large facial moles (ok, I made that part up).

It pays to be disabled: There was a sign on the door that said, if you are unable to stand in line, pull to the curb and honk your horn. THANK HEAVENS no one actually did this while I was there, or there would have been a good old fashioned riot led by yours truly. Why should you get to go to the front of the line, just cause you are so overweight that your own knees can’t support the weight of your large backside?? grrrr…

Though we’re the world’s most advanced society, our voting system is incredibly antiquated. First you stand in the line to get your name found in the book. Then you sign the book. Then they pass your ID and voter card over to the election judge. Then you wait in the 2nd line to get your ballot. Then the election judge writes your name (manually) on some carbon copy triplicate form (so I guess the only qualification for this job is to have good handwriting and to look ornery), then hands you a ballot. Then you stand in line for a voting machine. Then you stand in line to turn in your ballot, which they actually just stuck in a pile on the top of the table. No ballot box! How am I to know my vote won’t get overwritten or …oops… knocked onto the floor!?! What happened to the security of the ballot box with the super official looking lock on it?

Gimme a What-What for the Bruthuhs and the Sistahs: The line for the Democrat primary was probably 80% african-american. I’m so glad they are coming out in force! You could tell, for many, it was their first primary, and probably their first vote ever. I’m happy that the Dems have such a closely contested race. I’m glad that they have two live ones! I just wish the republicans just had ONE live one… is that too much to ask? Sigh… However, if there’s one thing about this Obama, it’s that they figured out how to get new people into the system.

Time to hit the showers: I will tell you this about my vote… I walked into the polling place undecided. I stood in both the democrat and republican line. I talked to both election judges, both of whom scowled at my independence and quite openly wondered to themselves why I wasn’t a party hack for either side. I held my nose and cast my ballot. I voted for someone I really don’t want to be President. And now it’s time to hit the showers. I feel slightly dirty by the trick I pulled, but it was the only option, with My Man Mitt out of the race.

Hopefully in November I’ll feel better about the ballot I cast.

So just for fun… reply to this post with who YOU think I voted for.  Maybe I’ll tell you, maybe I won’t…