As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve tried to avoid this. It was inevitable that I would get angry enough to start ranting about the McCain campaign, and it’s leaked out a bit in the past few weeks, but I haven’t let loose with my full on crazy spewing yet. I suppose part of my reluctance stems from insecurity. I consider myself pretty well-informed when it comes to politics, but I’m by no means an expert, and it seems there is that exact expectation held up to anyone blogging about politics. The last thing I want to do is embroil myself in some politically-fueled flame war with a random stranger, so I’m going to tell you upfront that I most assuredly do not have all the facts. But my political affiliation is so rooted in my fundamental life philosophies that it seems futile and irrelevant to argue about it. I’m not going to explain why I’m a liberal, because although Barack Obama is a shining example of what I love most about this party, my reasons for voting for him go far beyond that.

Most of my family votes Democrat, but there is something more fundamental about the way I was raised that attracts me to this party over the GOP. First, foremost, and most essentially, I believe that paying taxes to support federal programs is not just effective, but the right thing to do. People cannot survive on bootstraps alone, and it’s absurd to assume that anything is possible if you work hard enough. People are born with different abilities and circumstances, and I think part of what makes this nation so civilized is that our government supports all of them—including those that can’t support themselves.

First, it doesn’t seem logical that hammering away doggedly for another 4 years with the same strategies as the last administration will do anything to improve the sad state of our economy, foreign policy, and civil rights. As the oft repeated Einstein quote about insanity goes… “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” My stapler has just as much chance of successfully leading with that strategy. Lucky for all of us, there is a third, infinitely better option running alongside McCain and my stapler.

Second, I should admit here that I’ve been a supporter of Barack Obama since the beginning stages of his senate campaign in Illinois. I have a bunch of friends who have lived in Chicago and their excitement and enthusiasm was contagious. I’ve been hoping this man might one day be our President for several years now, and early on when he denied he was considering a run, I was disappointed. He cares about civil rights and women’s rights, and his voting record reflects this. Yeah, he’s been gone a lot since his campaign, but so has McCain, and this isn’t the Maverick’s first presidential campaign, if you’ll remember. But when there’s an act in the Senate that matters to me, chances are Obama’s been there and voted the same way I would. Sarah Palin enjoys pointing to Obama’s lack of executive experience as a major failing. I can understand how this would make people nervous, but I’m going to enact my stapler metaphor again and remind you that McCain also has no executive experience (neither did JFK) and W had 8 years of it—the first Texan governor to be elected to two consecutive terms. So there’s that.

Third, Sarah Palin. I’ve never been a big fan of John McCain, but I guess you could say his choice of Palin as a running mate did lessen my estimation of him and his campaign. It’s really more of a really-really-terrifyingly-bad to even-fucking-worse kind of situation. Her interview skills aside, even when she makes complete sentences, she talks in circles. During the Vice Presidential debate, she referred to Biden as a Washington insider, referencing his many years in the Senate. She, on the other hand, is relatively new to the game (“[H]ow long have I been at this, like five weeks?”) and so can shake things up. [I’d like her to start with her bangs. Could really use some government oversight on those bangs.] McCain’s 26 years in the Senate don’t count because he’s a maverick, and wouldn’t win Miss Congeniality on Capitol Hill. [Whatever that means, I don’t know how this instills confidence in McCain as a team player. And let’s not forget that the Presidency is many things, one of the most important being a job. I like to imagine the candidates in a job interview. ‘My colleagues can’t fucking stand me. I’m wildly unpredictable and can’t be relied on for any support whatsoever.’] I’m not sure what’s scarier—the fact that Palin’s rhetoric is ridiculous, or the notion that she actually believes it.

I have some trouble understanding Republican women as it is—from social conservatism standpoint, anyway. As I understand it, one of the fundamental tenets of the GOP is that all people have equal opportunity—the only obstacle keeping anyone from succeeding is his/her own limitations. Hence, limited government intervention—hard workers deserve to keep their hard-earned money. And this bit I agree with. Hard workers do deserve to keep their hard-earned money. But having wealth doesn’t mean you worked hard for it—or deserve it—just as being poor doesn’t mean you didn’t—or don’t.

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find an American minority in this country who truly believes his only limitations in this society are self-based. Women are faced with inequality on a daily basis and supporting a party that justifies this is ludicrous. I don’t know how you can be a woman in this country and believe that there would be equality without government intervention. Maybe they just don’t care…

The original intent of this post was supposed to be an explanation of my support for Barack Obama, but it quickly devolved into a defense of liberal politics in general.