Zealots (or, "Here We Go Again?")

[furtech]

Ugh. It's that time again-- friendships destroyed, pointless bickering and teaching pigs to fly. The Presidential election.

I am embarrassed to admit that I let one fanatic take a comment I posted* and steer the discussion away from the point I was making (a factoid with stupid parameters) and lead me into a pointless argument about which candidate had the moral high ground. The is the part some people never seem to learn-- nobody who cares enough to argue about politics is EVER going to be swayed by the equally passionate arguments of another (The folly of trying to teach pigs to fly: it's pointless and annoys the pig).

Honestly? I have a great deal of respect for both (leading) candidates-- IMO either candidate would make a fine president. There are differences, to be sure: one is young and idealistic, the other experienced and more cynical-- but otherwise both are good men.

My dilemma is the usual one of mind and heart: the business owner (and econ major) in me likes the policies of one clearly over the other, but I am excited over the prospect of the other-- whose altruism and charisma and inexperience could be a breath of fresh air after so many hardened seasoned politicians in that office.

So why am I happy? For the first time in years I find myself in the position of having to decide who to vote for, as opposed to who to vote against. That's neat. And whatever the result, it's a win-win for me. I likely won't decide until I an standing in the booth with the ink stamp in my hand.

There. That's my political burp for this election, except to say (WRT California propositions): "Kill them all...let God sort them out Vote no on EVERYTHING!"

*I totally apologize to Dia for bringing such negativity to her journal-- mea culpa, mea culpa!

Comments

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I looked at that and at the risk of offense I find that prop 2 has problems: it's all about banning stuff and nothing about suggesting pro-active things to do to accomplish their goals. Poultry biz will just travel over the border to Oregon, Nevada, Arizona...or the chickens will be kept in large, open buildings where the pain and misery will be equal or greater than separate cages (pecking order behaviors can get brutal). The veal and sow issues are already almost phased out in California.

Granted, a little good now could be positive, but if this drives those businesses out of the state I think that could be bad in the long run: California at least has -some- standards for the animals, whereas other states may have more lax regulations. I think just getting tax breaks for those who use humane techniques would do a lot more good, since when you come down to it-- farming is a business.

FWIW, I'm okay with Prop 12 (veterans' bond act), since it's for a deserving group of people and doesn't really cost taxpayers much.