Thank goodness that's over.....

well, kinda.

I've never liked election years.  They bring out the worst in people who are usually very loveable and kind.  They remind me just how jaded the whole system is, and how it's unlikely to change in our lifetimes.  It makes me understand all those movies about future generations fighting against the capitol, for lack of a better way to put it.  Fighting the higher powers that wish nothing more than to squash them like little bugs.  Sometimes, election years seem like that.  It's one party against another, claiming they are the better choice, saying whatever they think you want to hear to get you to cast your vote for them.  When in reality, the one voice really never matters as much as people seem to think.  Past generations have known this, yet nothing ever gets done.  The country grows more and more corrupt, and less and less nurturing, and people wonder why so many live below the poverty line.  The amount of money that top 1 percent make could pay for 10 years of living at the level of someone below the poverty line. 

The thing I think that bothers me most is the month leading up to the election, and the month after it's over.  The month leading up to it, you can tell that politicians are getting desperate.  They start changing things they'd said earlier in the campaign to try to gain more votes.  They deny every saying something that upset people in the first place.  Or they get so desperate, that they dig themselves into one big hole they can never get out of (Ex - Legitimate rape) because they aren't thinking straight.  They are blinded by the belief that THEY are the only right choice for that position, and they will do whatever it takes to get there.  Sometimes to a fault.  And people just believe whatever they spew.  Which, to me, is incredibly stupid.  We live in a country that prides itself on freedom of information, meaning you can do research and find out the TRUTH behind someone.  How they've handled previous offices.  Where they stand on key topics.  How they've voted in the past.  Etc.  Yet people believe that just because the newspaper posts something that it's true.  News channels and newspapers are more jaded than the average American.  They have their opinions (usually the opinion of one person - the editor) and to hell with anything else.  Yes, they have the opinions column, and they allow different points of view there.  But they will only cover things that fit with their beliefs most of the time.  And people take that as the only true fact.   And it's stupd.  You can google (or bing, or whatever search engine you use) their name, and it will bring up HUNDREDS of articles and pages about them.  And while it's hard to sort through sometimes, the truth is there.  Look for unbiased pages - not news websites but legit third parties.  Government pages, for example, will have a record of the votes and how a person stands, etc.  Find those, and you'll find facts.

Instead though, people take everything at face value. 

Now, not everyone is that way.  I've got a HUGE group of friends on Facebook.  And some of them are like me: Always hungry for fact and truth and willing to take the few minutes to research.  But there are some that are NOT that way.  Some that just believe the things they are told like good little children.  And THAT pisses me off.  The info is out there.  Stop being a lazy fuck and look it up. K?  Thanks.

Now, the month after an election pisses me off too.  It's full of hateful and selfish comments.  People pissed off that their candidate didn't win.  People bragging because theirs did. People saying things that, if you dug a little deeper, aren't even based on fact.  Just opinion.  And only said to hurt the other side.  And that is sad. 

Once the votes are counted and a winner is decided, that's that.  LET IT GO!

Grow the fuck up people.  What's done is done.  The winner is chosen and the loser(s) lost.  There is NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO CHANGE THAT NOW. 

Don't like who won president?
Wait four years and change it. Don't spend the next two gripping about that fact. 

Now, that being said, I do have opinions.  And they are things based on fact. If you don't wanna hear them, sign off now.  I don't care.  I just want to esplain my choices

I am happy Obama won.

He came in at a time when our country was broken.  Battered and beaten down to the point that nobody thought we would ever be able to get back up again.  And yeah, the first term didn't go nearly as planned.  He made a lot of promises, and wasn't able to follow through on most of them.  BUT NOT FOR LACK OF TRYING!  The few things that he did manage to get before congress weren't passed because it was congresses goal to stop him at whatever cost.

He did accomplish some things.

Namely the health care reform.  And while I know that a lot of people disagree with the fact that our healthcare will now be in the hands of the government, I think it's a good thing.  For too long insurance companies have had the run of things.  Denying coverage to those who need it most, or dropping coverage when someone that has been paying their dues comes down with something they deem too expensive.  People with pre-existing conditions were almost always denied without even a second look.  Prices went through the roof for procedures, and even preventative care was looked down upon because it meant they couldn't make as much money from a healthy person.  Putting it in the hands of the government means that people will be able to get health insurance.  Means that they will be able to afford to go to the doc BEFORE it becomes an emergency.  Because, really, who do you think was paying all those unpaid emergency bills?  It wasn't insurance companies or the doctors.  Charities would SOMETIMES cover them.  But most of the time, those bills were paid by TAXPAYERS!  Means, YOU!  So having insurance that prevents them from ever having to go to the hospital in the first place is actually going to save you money.

Second, while unemployment hasn't gone UP, it also hasn't plummited like so many thought it was going to.  Bush had 8 years to fuck the country up.  Yet people expected Obama to fix it in 4?  Really people?  Since when is THAT ok?  And I got a kick out of Romney saying he had a "Plan to get the country out of debt in the next 8-10 years" but he still had the nerve to rag on Obama for not getting it done in 4. What a hypocrite.  And that pisses me off too.  You can't expect something of someone that you yourself couldn't do either.  So when people start complaining that we are still in debt, and unemployment is still where it's at, etc. and then say Romney would do a better job, i just want to slap them.  Give the man a damn chance.  Stop fighting him at every turn, and let him actualy get to work.  Just because you don't like him doesn't mean he's not going to be a good leader. 

Another thing that I think I hate most is that people choose their candidate based on their religion.  I know I've said it before, and I will keep saying it. 

RELIGION HAS NO PLACE IN POLITICS.

PERIOD!

This is a country founded on freedom.  Freedom of religion.  Freedom of speech.  Freedom to be whoever we want to be, so long as it doesn't actually harm anybody.  Yet so many are ready to jump on board for a candidate because they have the same religious beliefs as they do, despite what else they have to say?  The bible should not run this country.  The are HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS of religions in this country.  Who are you to say yours is the one and only right one? 

You can worship a rock for all I care.

Just don't throw it at me!

People should be allowed to worship whatever higher power they see fit, and leave the judging up to whatever higher power you see fit.  It is not your place. 

For all the bible thumpers out there (you know the ones I mean. The ones that would shove it down your throat for breakfast lunch and dinner if they could get away with it) Does the bible not say "Judge not lest you be judged"?  Or something along those lines at least?  "Let he among you without sin cast the first stone" - and not a single one of you can say you are without sin.  Hell, we are all human, and sin every single day of our lives.  If you say you don't, you're lying not only to me, but to yourselves too.  So lets leave religion out of things.  K?  Thanks.  When the world comes to an end - whenever and however that might come to occur;  When our lives cease; it will not be up to us to decide what happens.  Rather we go to heaven or hell, if that's what you believe.  Rather we are reincarnated as a rat, or a beetle, if that's what you believe.  Rather we are all resurrected on a paradise on earth, as some believe. Or rather was just cease to exist, if that's what you believe.  That is not up to us.  That is up to whatever higher power you claim to serve.  Catholic, Jehovah's Witness, Baptist, Pagan, Athiest.  Religion doesn't matter.  The PERSON matters.  How they live their lives.  How they treat others.  THAT is the thing that people need to look at.  Not what church they attend every sunday.  Cause no offence, I know a lot of people from a lot of different religions, and a lot of people that don't go to church at all.  And there are some church goers that are way worse people than some that don't go to church.  Just because you attend a church on Sunday  morning doesn't mean you're a good person come Monday.  I wish it were so, but it's not.  It's about the choices you make every single day.  The choice to do what is right and good instead of what is selfish and harmful and bad.  THAT, dear friends, is what we need to take into consideration when we are looking for someone to lead our country.  Not what church they go to, but what kind of person they are.

(sorry, got off topic for a second, but it brought itself about there at the end, lol)

At the end of the day, once the votes are counted and a winner declared, it is out of our hands.  Once you cast your vote, and walk away, there is nothing else you can do.  You just have to hope that everyone else feels the same way.  But when they don't, and there is always SOMEONE who won't agree, don't use it as an excuse to become the kind of person you hate.  Saying hateful things about those who voted differently than you.  Calling them names, or trying to make them feel bad for having their own opinion.  That makes YOU look stupid, not them.  Be the bigger person.  Accept that you lost.  Make it a point to change the outcome when the next time comes around.  And get on with your lives.  We all have so much going on already.  Raising families, or building careers, etc.  We don't need to add the stress of arguing about something that only happens once every four years to the mix. 

OK.  End rant, lol.  NOW, back to your regularly scheduled lives.