Blogocentric Formulations

The Election

I'm getting really sick of these election campaign ads. What's particularly driving me up the wall at the moment are the candidates who say things like, "I'm a successful businessperson and not just another politician. I don't need money from special interests." I'm sorry, wasn't that the Governator's whole platform when he was running? And that's worked out real well for us, with him stripping funding away from the education budget and other public works that he's never had a need to use. It's also driving me nuts that so many conservative candidates are jumping behind the new Arizona immigration law and saying they're going to close down the borders and kick all the immigrants out of California. Uh, first, governors don't have jurisdiction over federal borders. Second, I'm not sure if anyone's told them this, but California is more than 36% Hispanic/Latino. Alienating 1/3 of the voter base?

Worst of all, I'm sick of the fact that no one is actually proposing any solutions. Republicans are blaming "the liberal Democrat bureaucracy" and Democrats are blaming the "out of touch conservatives who are standing in the way of progress." Everyone's quick to point fingers and claim that they will be the ones to turn things around... but I have yet to hear one legitimate proposal. Illegal immigration didn't cause the recession. Liberal or conservative policymakers didn't cause the recession. How about giving people some real solutions they can consider?

Sorry, don't mean to get all political. I actually love politics, am fascinated by the process, and take my civic duty seriously. I just wish we could get a better bunch of candidates, who were more interested in actually fixing problems than slinging mud and pointing fingers.