I continue to listen to the running commentary on our next election, still 14 months away. I don’t listen because I want to. It’s just that any time I’m in an airport, lounge, taxi, or any other place with a TV or a radio set to NPR, I can’t help it.

I really wish I could turn it out. Why? Because as I anticipate doing my civic duty next November, here’s how I see my options:

Vote Republican.
While exporting democracy, the current administration has been importing theocracy, and we keep eating it up. Bush has played us for patsies time and again, yet we keep coming back for more, like hungry dogs to an empty food dish. Let’s start with Iraq. Whether we should have gone in or not is irrelevant; Bush lied about why he wanted to go in. (I would have been much happier had he simply said, “Saddam’s a bad dude who’s thumbed his nose at the UN for over a decade. It’s time to put teeth to all those resolutions we passed, and anyone who is unwilling to enforce the resolutions they passed may as well leave the UN right now.’ But he didn’t. He said Iraq was linked to al Queda, and it turns out that was just Cheney talking.) Plus, let’s look at some of the other things this Republican administration has foisted upon us: Karl Rove, John Ashcroft, NSA spying missions, the Patriot Act (which in a previous incarnation was called “The Alien and Sedition Acts” and was almost immediately regretted by the president, not to mention repealed), Harriet Miers, $3 gallons of gas and—simultaneously—multiple quarters of $10+ billion profits for Exxon/Mobil, unfunded school mandates, secret prisons in East Europe and Afghanistan and a semi-secret one in Guantanamo, civil strife in Iraq, a destabilized Iran, a destabilized North Korea, collapse of the Middle East “roadmap,” increased anti-American sentiment the world over (anyone heading down to South America anytime soon?), payment of over $250 million to Halliburton for charges that even a Defense Department audit said shouldn’t be paid, Bill Frist’s inside trade in a “blind trust,” DeLay’s unethical behavior, changes to the House ethics rules in order to accommodate DeLay’s questionable behavior, DeLay’s criminal indictment (I guess they didn’t change the rules quite enough), mass defections of non-partisan scientists from governmental organizations, a record deficit (after his Democratic predecessor left him a surplus–oh, the irony), Jack Abramoff and nationwide lobbying scandals, strong-arm tactics to quash the press, including the indictments of reporters for refusal to reveal sources, the Hurricane Katrina response, a lack of senior-level accountability (and in fact, continued support of the senior-level operators) in such foul ups as Abu Ghraib, Pat Tillman’s “friendly fire” death, the Valerie Plame case, the firing of 8 US attorneys, the secret wiretapping of citizens’ communications, the Katrina mess and its aftermath (they’re still uncovering slop and problems), the Iraq intelligence fiasco (though he did sacrifice George Tenet), refusal to submit to Congressional subpoenas, misinformation campaigns against political rivals (like against McCain in South Carolina and against Kerry with the Swift Boat Vets), and so many other wondrous policies that have impacted my life in such beautiful ways as hourlong security waits at airports that do anything but keep me safe, walls on our borders, Colin Powell’s exit from politics… OK, I quit. Voting Republican has clearly become the fast track to the new American fascism.

Vote Democrat.
If the power-mongering route to hell isn’t for me, I could try one of the two Democratic options, including the tree-hugging, anti-everything, disorganized, wimp-ass option, or the other one named Hillary. (Did it just get cold in here? I’m suddenly shivering.)

Don’t vote.
Yes, the options suck. So I could always opt out of voting all together and simply leave my future in the hands of the zealots who do show up to the polls.

In a word, yuck.

And now if you don’t mind, I’m going to stick my iPod in my ears and tune out the world for awhile. Come and get me when we’re sane.

Posted under Personal, Current Trends