Fear and Loathing Every 4 Years

I have to admit something up front. The first two presidential elections I voted in, I voted Republican. The first time I ever voted, in 1984, when my Senior Government class went to the polling place to observe on election day, I took that opportunity to vote (much to the surprise of my fellow classmates). At 18, I was too naive to understand what exactly Ronald Reagan stood for, and part of why I wanted to vote Republican was because my parents (at least my dad) were Democrats. In 1988, I voted for George HW Bush because I didn't think Michael Dukakis was strong enough to be president. Even in 1992, I wasn't convinced Bill Clinton would be an effective president because of his personal life...he just seemed too glib by half...so I voted for Ross Perot( I know, you don't have to say it). In 1996, I voted for Clinton and have voted Democratic in every election since then. But throughout that time, up until the election of 2000, I didn't fret too much if my candidate lost. Walter Mondale had been Vice President, I figured if Reagan lost the world wouldn't end. Even when I voted for Perot and Clinton won, I figured he would somehow not ruin the country. Bob Dole wasn't my candidate, but I didn't think he would fuck things up too much if he won. But in 2000, that all changed.

I didn't like George W. Bush when he was governor of Texas. This was a guy who was born on 3rd base but thought he had hit a home run. If his last name wasn't Bush, he would be a mid-level manager at a Midland business. Here was a guy who ran three oil companies into the ground in Midland, TX, where you can barely dig a flower bed without hitting oil, telling us he would be the best person to run the country. We all see how well that worked out. I loathed Bush and feared for our country. When he won re-election in 2004 I was even more depressed, although now I realize just how ineffective John Kerry was as a candidate and a leader. In 2008, I was seriously afraid for our country if John McCain had won, because not only does he not have the personality to be president, his first major decision as the nominee was to select a beauty queen from Alaska who three years before had been the mayor of a town no one had ever heard of. I figured Obama would win, but I feared for our country if he didn't. I didn't have the same confidence that if McCain won that our country would be in good hands.

I'm starting to get the same feeling this year. Mitt Romney is the type of person who has no moral grounding and will do whatever he feels is most politically expedient. As the saying goes, a man who will stand for nothing will fall for anything. Rick Santorum is so far to the right he makes Hitler look moderate. Ron Paul is a racist and a kook.

You have to ask yourself, does a party who will put forth these types of people to run the country really deserve to govern? When (if) the Democrats win this election, they should work to split the republic party into little parts and make them irrelevant. Because the republics themselves have begun that process.