2012...OVER and OUT

I’ve never been so sick of anything in my life. I will elect to take on a month long flu, a canker sore and a yeast infection, all at the same time, just to have it over with.

Please, please election…BE OVER.

Let me get to the inside of that cramped, well constructed voters booth, with that beautiful red white and blue curtain sewn by somebody’s grandma, before I SCREAM.

Quickly…let me vote for the lesser of two evils, let me get to that crisp November day were I get to cast my vote AGAINST somebody instead of  FOR somebody.

The worst part for me, is not listening to the candidates, but the public reaction to them. We could go around and around forever. Our tongues falling out of our mouths, shriveled, dehydrated.

In a nutshell, they are both wrong. They both lie. It is Hollywood folks. Not real politics any more. Running for office used to be a pain in the ass, not a privilege for the wealthy.

Designer dresses, the ‘right tie’, prescreened questions, millions of dollars wasted on advertising. These are not campaigns. They are public and privately funded scripted documentaries of two men, with large, stroke thirsty egos, who have more money than the rest of us.

The casualities of these types of performances are visible in all of us. We slowly want to choke the life out of each other. We, as human beings, have become less and less tolerant of each others beliefs, feelings and needs because how on earth could someone not have the same views as our own?!

As a registered independent, I have to say, I hear the most shocking side of this coming from the Liberal community. Insinuating that someone is literally unintelligent, dumb, because they would check a Republican box is devastating to me. To hear someone say, if you vote a certain way, then you have no right reaping benefits from the opposing side is simply ridiculous. We ALL reap benefits from each political party. That is what we have here in America. It’s called a Democracy. The more that we exhibit less tolerance for the other side, the quicker we wind up in the shitter. So smarten up.

In addition, associating conservatism with racism or sexism, is dangerous. Not all people who chose to vote republican are old, white, intolerant men. If you think this, you are ignorant.  

On the other side, Conservatives need to advance their views on social topics and it’s time to really, really, truly separate church and state. It is unconstitutional to deny anyone the right to marry. Go ahead, argue it with me nicely. It is simply unconstitutional. I don’t care what your religious beliefs are. This is not church. Reactions and interpretations to religious beliefs are responsible for more of the hatred in this world than any other belief system. And please, please never tell me again that a single mother, two mothers, or two fathers can not raise a loving, intelligent, caring and responsible child into adulthood.

When I was a young mother, like a lot of young mothers, I became an at home sales representative. Pampered Chef, Bath and Body Works, Tastefully Simple, etc. became a monthly entry on my calendar for attending at home parties with my friends. As a representative selling home goods and wares, every year during the month of October, we would give away starter kits (normally it cost $99) to those who were interested in becoming at home sales reps like myself. We would have a serious increase in the amount of those joining us, because of the free starter kits, but those women would have the lowest success rate. That was because they had no monetary investment in their “business” so it was easy to walk away from. Sometimes a hand out is not the answer.

Our government has to stop the hand out. Welfare is great when it works. But when it is abused, it hurts everyone.

I have worked in the healthcare field now for over 15 years. I am still to this day astounded by the number of people who present proof of state or federal aid to pay for their visit after watching them park a luxury vehicle in the parking lot and walk in holding (with their perfectly manicured nails) a venti cup of Starbucks, the kids passing their time in the waiting room playing around with their very own iphones. You would think I would get used to it. But I don’t.

That is a broken system.

I have stood in line at the grocery store and at convenient stores and watched many patrons pay for alcohol and cigarettes with a card that our taxes pay for. Broken.

When you experience financial hard ship, what do you do? Keep spending? Bail out your friends? Send donations to other countries? No, you tighten your purse strings, stop eating out, shut off the cable, no more coffee at the drive through. If you don’t bother, than you can’t cry about it. And the last thing I as the person in financial hardship should expect, is for others to bail me out. Learning and working through hardship creates strength, innovation, perseverance. 

Those that are born into situations that are not on equal ground with the ‘rest of us’, deserve the tools to help succeed. Proactive tools, not just reactive tools. Help others to help themselves. Stop supplying and start teaching. Stop the act of teaching and learning  to rely on the supply (hmm, that rhymes).

For those of us fed up by all of the back and forth and not embedded in one party or the other that will probably never serve us to the fullest, get motivated. Change comes from within the soul of a person who is frustrated with their surroundings, do we really want to pigeon hole ourselves into only believing one set of principles or the other. How narrow minded. Make change happen, don’t just wish for it.

And more importantly, what about friendship? Does anyone out there really want to insult or hurt a friend because their views on politics are not in line with their own? There is a reason that many of us don’t like to talk politics and religion with our friends. Or even strangers. Don’t hurt the people who are your lifeblood over something so insignificant as a candidate for President. Instead of badmouthing, log off of your computer world and get out there and hold a sign for your favorite candidate, bake some cookies, or go for a long walk.

So come on November 6^th 2012, let’s get here and be done.

 Just in time for the world to end.