Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
(Mark Antony after the murder of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare)
God help us it's mid-term election time. I'm sitting here with a sample ballot in my lap and a truly dumb and clueless look on my face. It all makes about as much sense to me as casting Marlin Brando as Mark Antony. That Hollywood gaffe aside, Shakespeare's words hold as true today as when he writ them.
I won't bore you with my personal political opinions. I'm sure between Jon Stewart and Glenn Beck you pretty much know it all. Besides, I live in Nevada and not even the people in Nevada understand Nevada politics. Nevada politics are like that favorite Uncle who gets drunk every Thanksgiving and says incomprehensible and inappropriate things until he finally hurls all over the table. He's still your favorite Uncle but Thanksgiving is getting to be your not-so-favorite time of year.
I'm having a crisis of faith. My first crisis is that I'm still challenging my personal belief systems so I hope I figure that one out before I die and find out there really ARE Pearly Gates and me without a bus pass. But I digress, for it is politics of which I speak.
The crisis of faith is that my supposed "party affiliation" appears to disagree with almost all of my candidate choices. To further deepen my confusion, I don't particularly like the candidates I have chosen, they are simply a better choice than the alternative. Hobson's Choice was better than what I see before me now.
I'm going to resist the temptation to turn this thing into a rant and reveal my choices and why I'm making them but then....well then we really would be in hell.
I feel a duty and obligation to vote and to participate in this system, no matter how imperfect it may be. Be ye Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent or ...shudder... a Tea Party flack, you are welcome to your opinions. Just bear in mind that I really don't care much about them for the simple reason that they don't really matter.
If I could choose to live anywhere in the world it would still be the USofA. HEY WAIT! I CAN choose to live anywhere because I live in the...wait for it...USA!! It's an investor-owned nation.
So what is all this really saying? It's saying things have a way of working out in spite of, not because of, the people we elect to office. It's the notion of why this country came to be in the first place that prevails.
Most of all, because we are free, things will always change. It's a built in check and balance. Sooooo, go ahead and vote for whoever you want, in the long run things will work out in spite of our poor choices. The important thing is not to let the other guy decide for you.
Have fun with that....
