Voting For Me Makes No Sense To Me (or, Is The Antidote for Identity Politics to Establish an Official Figurehead?)

I watched the presidential debate this past Friday night.

I found McCain to be semi-coherent, which impressed me, because usually he's a total boob. There was one moment where he got lost in his own words and mumbled about being a maverick. I thought he might be having a stroke. It was like he was falling asleep and his brain was randomly firing off its reflex synapses, his mouth responding with a ready-made cliche.

Obama wasn't as great as I usually find him, but still, he was sincere about making average American lives better, he had ideas (not all of which I agreed with) but he spoke about the struggles of most Americans, while McCain stayed closest to lofty abstracts about war without any concerns for concrete reality.

My impressions of the debate overall? BORING!

Which led me to consider the mystery of why some people are inclined to vote for someone because they allegedly have a lot in common. It's a phenomenon known as "identity politics" and I don't get it.

I don't ever want a president that's like me. I want a president like Obama, who is willing to study the data, talk with world leaders and work past knuckleheads like McCain. I want someone who knows the details of financial markets, or at least is willing to learn and discuss all that crap without resorting to abstracts like "free markets" and "victory" and "no taxes" while failing to connect those words to anything in the real world.

I would hate to have a President like me, a person who puts an abnormally high priority on playing Xbox, sleeping and eating Cheetos. I want a scholar, an intelligent man with a calm, tough, practical temperament, willing to read huge documents filled with legalese. Count me out!

Sometimes an identity voter reveals itself by statements like this: "I'm voting for [whoever] because s/he's one of us." I always find that funny. The one saying it is usually much less wealthy than the person they are voting for, who is allegedly one of them. "Sarah is one of us!" They say. No. Sarah is rich. You're not. "John McCain is one of us!" Um, no. John has seven houses and thirteen cars. You got jack.

Among thousands of other reasons, identity politics is exactly why I cannot vote for Sarah Palin. It makes me cringe to think her and I have anything in common, however, she did do exactly what I would have done Friday night. Facing the responsibility of attending a stuffy debate, I would have found any excuse to bail. Debates require sober and serious discussion for an extended amount of time, and who wants that right before the weekend?

My motivation was boredom, if Sarah had a choice, her reasoning would likely have been an arrogant but plucky, "I can figure that stuff out with my fierce independent grit!"

Really, it's likely she didn't have a choice. The Whacky Mac team bosses kept her away because she's become a liability. She reveals how clueless she is every time she talks. Whatever Republicans have to do to keep Palin away from serious questions, or serious situations, or even the cameras, they do it. The only reason I knew where she hid Friday night was because she snuck into the Philadelphia Area and the local media here made a big deal out of it. It seemed even the national media wasn't sure where she was.

She was in Philly. In a pub. On the night of a debate. Unavailable to any media. I guess we don't even know if she watched the debate.

Meanwhile, Biden was being interviewed by almost all major networks to talk about issues like a VP should. Anyone remember how much mocking Dick Cheney deservedly endured for hiding in his "undisclosed location" repeatedly after 9/11? Seems Sarah is already of that attitude, that she doesn't have to answer to, address, or even acknowledge her bosses, the American people.

Sarah and I are worlds apart. Even so, I would have gladly accepted the sequestering she submitted to. Her desire to avoid a formal event (leaving out beauty contests, of course) seems matched by mine. I'm not voting for her because I wouldn't vote for me. I wouldn't vote for anyone who ducks a debate. Such a person wouldn't make a good democratic leader.

The fact that identity politics is a phenomenon that threatens to put cheerleader-type people in serious roles of power, makes me think we could all be a lot safer if we elected figureheads in the USA. Let's look at the UK. They have a Prime Minister, who cares for the serious stuff, and a royal family, a collection of physical representatives of the country with no real power, who cheerlead their nation and the average folk can gossip about.

The identity voter could be satisfied, I think, if they could elect a Prime Cheerleader. Then electing someone like them wouldn't threaten to put dopes near the nukes. Hell, I might vote for Sarah Palin and Whacky Mac for such a role, because that's what they're good at: rah rah rah and not much else. For serious stuff, I'm voting for the serious candidates, Obama and Biden.

To put a person with a cheerleader mentality in charge of serious stuff is a recipe for disaster. I hope humanity's end is a little less stupid than that.

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Larry Nocella is the award-winning author of the novel Where Did This Come From? available at Amazon and Xlibris and other fine online book stores. Where Did This Come From? is also available as an eBook. For more info, visit Larry Nocella's website at http://www.larrynocella.com/.

Has Trickle Down Economics Finally Jumped the Shark? (or, What Happens If a Country Goes Broke?)

I remember when I was a grade school kid, President Reagan was constantly mentioned in the vicinity of the phrase "Trickle Down Economics." I tried to understand what the big deal was with this economic policy, but I really couldn't.

I personally always disliked the phrase, "Trickle Down Economics." It reminds me too much of, "shit flows downhill," it makes me annoyed that in the great pot of U.S.A. money I'm only entitled to a trickle, and I don't like the idea of something trickling down to me as if those who are richer are above me. Lastly, I hate the notion that I should be thankful for the scraps that fall through to me, either by accident or because the rich simply can't hold it all.

So I hate "trickle down economics" even before getting to the reality of it, which was explained to me in two succinct ways:

1. It is helping the poor by giving money to the rich. (This was said very sarcastically by author Paul Fussell.)
2. The theory is that the rich who get the money will invest it and create jobs, but it doesn't work because the rich just keep the money. (This was how my father put it.)

Here I am a few decades later, and I see that those two explanations have been borne out as correct. I have been watching trickle down economics for my whole life, watching it help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Very few of the policy's hucksters (either the rich, their talking heads or their dupes in the working class) still call it "trickle down economics." They've at least gotten that wise. Now they call it "bailouts" or "stimulus" or "tax cuts" or "supply side economics" or some other crap, but it's still the same thing.

That's why I've been phone-banking for the Obama campaign lately, because in his DNC nomination acceptance speech he actually challenged this now-proven-to-fail model. Quote, "For over two decades, [McCain has] subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy, give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else… It's time for us to change America."

I like it. Let's try something else, something radical, like say, helping the poor by giving money to the poor. Wow! I'm curious to see how "demand side economics" might work. Give us working class people money, we'll spend it! We have to in order to survive!

We can't keep on with this trickle down plan. I don't want to find out what happens if our entire country goes broke because the rich got so greedy they tanked their own system. Can a country go bankrupt? Maybe, but I would think the debt would just be passed on to the next generation, until they were simply paying off debt and not paying for anything of their own.

I can't believe that could go on forever. At some point, the creditor (China? Europe?) is going to come calling, and either we'll have nothing, or we'll have to go to war. Let's try to avoid that.

* * *

Back to the campaign trail, I keep getting a kick out of Team Whacky Mac. Whenever they screw up (which is often) they cry that the media is unfair to them. This complaint reminds me a lot of Bill O'Reilly, who complains that people are smearing him when they simply quote him directly or replay clips of his show.

Here's a lesson Team Whacky Mac and Bill-O never seem to get: if repeating what you said amounts in your mind to a smear, then all you have to do is watch what you say. Simple!

Another comment on the horse-race election coverage: pundits keep saying "Palin fired up the base." Apparently the base is a bunch of people who accept arrogant ignorance in place of ideas. I'm not entirely sure this translates to success, because a fired up vote is equal to a hesitant or even a reluctant one.

Of course, that's assuming the digital machine counts the vote at all, but that's another story.

Palin fired me up as well. Her loony religious beliefs, her small-town corruption and arrogant ignorant approach to life is what led me to start making calls for Obama. I fear for humanity if she (or Whacky Mac) gets anywhere near the nukes.

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Larry Nocella is the award-winning author of the novel Where Did This Come From? available at Amazon and Xlibris and other fine online book stores. Where Did This Come From? is also available as an eBook. For more info, visit Larry Nocella's website at http://www.larrynocella.com/.

Sarah Palin for Vice President … of the Taliban! (Or, Sarah Palin vs. The U.S. Constitution)

I really don't understand why Sarah Palin has ambitions to rule the USA. Why would she want to be Vice President of a nation that is based on ideals so different from hers?

For example, she doesn't like freedom of the press, as shown by her curious interest in banning library books. She doesn't like the press at all, as shown by her running scared from the media. She scoffs at community organizing, which is to say, she scoffs at freedom of assembly. If she had any real respect for unions (as she claimed in her one speech) she wouldn't dare be a Republican, since that party has spent so much time working against unions.

We haven't even gotten past the first amendment and already she's opposed to it in every imaginable way through action and word. What about freedom of religion? She surely believes in that. Well, as long as your religion is the whacky kind that claims you can "pray away the gay." How many times do I have to tell my fellow Americans, freedom of religion does not mean freedom of Christianity? A lot, apparently.

What about the second amendment? She's all in favor of guns. True, but how will a well-trained militia even know who to shoot if there's no media? How are we supposed to organize a resistance if we can't organize at all?

I haven’t even mentioned the really lunatic stuff, like being anti-abortion even in cases of rape or incest, a stance that would make Osama bin Laden complain, "Now that's a bit extreme." She even whined that "Obama wants to read terrorists their rights." More American principles violated! (See amendments Four and Fourteen or the principle of "innocent until proven guilty.") How are we going to know who the terrorists are if we don't put them through due process?

I really don't get it. She's against freedom of speech, doesn't like the media, doesn't respect the ability of a citizenry to organize. What about America does she like? Why doesn't she just secede from the USA with her husband? Check this out, I'm the hippie and yet I'm the one screaming, "America, love it or leave it!"

Can Sarah Palin even be called American? She has more in common with the Taliban: banning books, power inaccessible to the press or the people, no organizing allowed, no dissent permitted, women are incubators and nothing more. This is the person some Americans are juiced about?

Sadly, it is, and that's what's really scary. It's The Handmaid's Tale. It Can't Happen Here? Oh yes it can.

What's really disappointing is how many people think Ms. Palin is groovy just because she showed contempt and nothing more in her (as of this writing) one and only major public appearance. Side note: if she's such a pitbull, why has she yet to meet with ANY reporters? (Q: What's the difference between a chicken and Sarah Palin? A: Lipstick.)

Her speech reminded me of a ditzy high school girl whining, "OMG! Look what she's wearing!" except she said, OMG! Obama was a community organizer. Side note: I can't help but think "community organizer" is code for "urban black" but leaving that suspicion aside, my main question is, exactly why should I "OMG"?

What is so bad about being a "community organizer" that it deserves contempt? This is a nation where organizing is a right. The first of our fellow Americans died fighting the British Empire for the right of Americans to organize. To hold that right in disdain is not what I would call "supporting the troops."

So did McCain make a good pick? Sure, if his only goal is to get elected (which apparently it is, followed closely by starting wars with Iran and Russia.) Did he choose someone good for America? Absolutely not.

For those of us who want to put an end to racism, an end to poverty, an end to war, an end to supporting terrorists with our oil money, contempt does jack. There is so much to dislike about Ms. Palin, who embodies everything about the term "Ugly American," I'm going to have to stop here and write more later. I just hope those of us who value freedom outnumber those who value something else.

p.s.
I've written a joke that is much funnier than Sarah Palin's pit bull and lipstick zinger. Here goes:

Q: Do you think Sarah Palin will withdraw from the race?
A: No way. She didn't even teach her daughter the benefits of pulling out early.

Is this a violation of Obama's edict that the families are off limits? Maybe. But: (1.)As McCain would say, if it offends you, it's just a joke so please get a life. (2.)Sarah, I'll stay out of your family if you stay out of mine. In other words, if a woman I know is raped and becomes pregnant, she should have the right to an abortion. (3.)Truth hurts, don't it?

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Larry Nocella is the award-winning author of the novel Where Did This Come From? available at Amazon and Xlibris and other fine online book stores. Where Did This Come From? is also available as an eBook. For more info, visit Larry Nocella's website at http://www.larrynocella.com/.

If We Were Them (Or, WWKD? What Would Karl Do? Karl Rove Would Say Ms. Palin's Daughter Is "Fair Game")

So Ms. Palin's teenaged daughter is pregnant. Obama says, leave her family out of it. Of course we will. Who does he think we are, Republicans? Or worse, Conservatives?

People should be approached with compassion, that's been the Progressive point since the beginning. Imagine if we were Conservatives, or part of the Republican Echo Chamber, we'd be calling Ms. Palin's daughter all manner of nasty vile things, when really she's just a kid who got pregnant like thousands of other kids.

Can you imagine if one of Obama's daughters were a pregnant teen? Ann Coulter would even skip her female hormone injections just for the chance to be the first to call the poor girl a crack whore. Rupert Murdoch would pay Jerome Corsi to write a book about how the Obamas were pimping out their children. Rush Limbaugh would be screaming about "Where are the parents? Where are they? W-w-w-where are the parents?" Bill Kristol would insist the USA immediately launch a military strike against China. (That's because Bill always gets it wrong and is always focused on war.)

The usual herd of dickheads at Faux News would be immediately spitting out the talking points they were faxed that morning by the Republican leadership, and nothing would be off limits. No vicious insult against a young woman's character would be too far. Karl Rove would declare the young girl is "Fair Game."

So yes, Ms. Palin and yes, all you suddenly respectful-of-others'-misfortune Republicans slash Conservatives. Young girls not running for office should be left out of campaigns. They should be free to live their lives.

That's exactly why, Ms. Palin, I am pro-choice for a woman who is pregnant, unlike you, who are against choice even in the case of rape. That’s exactly why, Ms. Palin and Mr. McCain, that I support a party that doesn't make a habit of pandering to the most violent anti-gay bigots.

Ms. Palin, your daughter's life has no bearing on why I think you'd be a heinous VP, because what a person does with her life and the decisions she makes is her business, not yours or mine.

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Larry Nocella is the award-winning author of the novel Where Did This Come From? available at Amazon and Xlibris and other fine online book stores. Where Did This Come From? is also available as an eBook. For more info, visit Larry Nocella's website at http://www.larrynocella.com/.

Dear Cindy McCain: I'm offended that you're offended. (or, Chances are the McCains are not Theoretical Multi-Dimensional Sub-Atomic Particles.)

Cindy McCain says she's offended that Obama called out her husband for not knowing how many mansions she owns. (Link.) Cindy, I'm offended that you're offended. People the world over have no place to live, no food to eat, nothing, all for want of a few bucks. Yet you have seven homes. SEVEN. In a world crying for pennies? That's offensive.

Unlike theoretical multi-dimensional sub-atomic particles, human beings can only be in one place at one time. So really, you only need one home. However, I'll even permit you two, a main home and a vacation home. Beyond that, you're a couple of out-of-touch jerks, as Obama said (though he said it in much nicer words.)

I find it sinful that you don't give more of that money away. If you don’t remember how many houses you own, you're not going to miss a few bucks here and there.

(Okay intelligent readers, please pause a moment here while we wait for the knee-jerks to break out their labels. Let's see, "communist" and or "socialist" will do nicely but for the really rabid knee-jerk, why not dust off an old classic and call me "un-American?" Side note: If you define American as keeping seven houses while other people starve, then yes, I'm un-American.)

Yawn. Let's skip the unproductive tags and the baggage they come with. Let's focus on the only two labels that really matter: good or bad.

Is it good or bad that we have a country where two people can have seven homes and they are not compelled in any way to share that money, or even a larger proportion of that money (via taxes) than the people who have nothing? I know, I know. Principle. It's their money, they earned it (if by "earned" we mean by being born or marrying into it) so why compel them to do anything with it? Okay, fine then. Is that good or bad, that people who own so much are not compelled by any law or by a conscience to help others?

I think it's bad. I think it's monstrous. It doesn't go just for the McCains. It goes for any ridiculously wealthy person who maintains more properties than they could possibly ever use. To not share when you have so much, it's an offense against humanity. It's an offense against the best parts of American society. I'm not asking that people not be wealthy, I'm just asking that they help out a little.

So how much would satisfy me? Well, the Catholic Church may be a joke in a lot of ways, but I like the goal of the tithe: ten percent. If you make a dollar you give away a dime. If you make ten million, give away one million. Etc.

I know, I know, the internet people are buzzing with how much Cindy gives to charity. I'm a little skeptical of such claims because if they were true, the McCain campaign would be screaming about it, since when did politicians stay silent about the good they believe they do? If true, then that's great, I'm mostly wrong here. Still, seven houses? That's excessive and wasteful.

Look, Cindy, I know John just learned about the internet, so please tell him to click here: http://www.kiva.org/. It's a place where you can make loans directly to the poor. I've done it myself and I don't have half the money you do. Thanks.

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Larry Nocella is the award-winning author of the novel Where Did This Come From? available at Amazon and Xlibris and other fine online book stores. Where Did This Come From? is also available as an eBook. For more info, visit Larry Nocella's website at http://www.larrynocella.com/.