Monday, November 3, 2008

Spend Regret Repeat

I updated my website today for the first time in months. As I continue to think about this election and it's implications, I wonder why I really care. The fact is, I voted and have voted for president now 3 times. Not once has my vote been cast for the winner of the office and while I think most Americans are in the same boat, nobody seems too concerned with the system that continues to fail us. What is the point of voting when an electoral college disregards and overrides the popular vote? Anyway, if McCain wins, I get to move to Mexico. A group of us are talking about it. Frankly, I love the idea of moving to Mexico finding some land with rich clay deposits and setting up a folk pottery. Tiff thinks I wouldn't make any money. I don't think she's wrong, and I don't think that would matter too much. We spend so much of our lives worrying about money that we forget to enjoy the things that don't cost anything. We miss out on major events in our lives because the only way we could afford to go is to pay for it with a credit card. We irresponsibly spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on small purchases while we pine away for home ownership. How many magazines and pairs of shoes and boxes with knobs do we need? I don't think that this election, regardless of outcome, will solve any of those problems. The new American mantra, spend regret repeat.
.
And speaking of regreat - something I'm really genuinely concerned about is the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Both candidates say they're going to shut that place down. What happens when we shut it down and the men that we've been torturing and whose lives we have ruined are allowed to return to their countries? How does a nation make amends with them? What a terrible mess our country has made in the world. Why have we allowed our government to act this way? It is fucking absurd. I think it's time for some very serious discussions regarding dissent.