Speed Screed: Barack Star

Other than the fact that a presidential election is a de facto popularity contest, pretty much by definition, the appeal of Barack Obama has been staggering – so much so that people are apparently already attempting to scalp non-existent tickets for his inaugural address – the interest is so staggering that as many as 4 million people have already expressed a desire to attend this event live. This number is huge. Clearly, that many people can’t attend, but you can imagine the battle for attendance this might entail.

Of course, the GOP was essentially lambasting Obama for being popular, and his election has naturally intensified this feeling. The media has crowned him with “rock star” status. By “the media,” though, I am referring to political obsessives like Rachel Maddow and not necessarily the mainstream media. While I definitely think it’s undeniably a good thing that people are excited about are new president, and am relieved that we can look to our Commander-and-Chief as a role model rather than a national embarrassment, I do think it’s somewhat irresponsible of the supposedly disinterested media to jump on the frenzied bandwagon here.

We all love Barack and we wish him well. We hope he will be able to be accomplish much – he certainly has the intelligence and temperament to handle this job. But I do hope that the media will not once again hand over a free pass to any President (like they did with Bush on the Iraq War) on principle. I sincerely believe that close media scrutiny must be restored – not because I don’t trust Obama, but because it is an absolutely critical component of any functioning democracy. The media need to sharpen their teeth again. What better time them with a President who has promised transparency and honesty? They need to get their groove back so when a stonewaller takes office they won’t be cowed into submission.

So when the media starts hitching a ride on the zeitgeist, I always get a little bit worried. As I said, we all deserve to celebrate and feel joy and renewed zeal at this historic time. Even the media may not be able to hold back its excitement for a little while. But what I don’t want to see is Barack’s popularity interfere with the media from doing its vital work, because the press needs to redeem itself for eight years of jingoism and underreporting.

Sometimes I wonder if we need a new generation of journalists. This old one hasn’t done much to help my faith in the media along.

Today’s Rave: Smart-Guy Advantage

During Bush’s reign of error I would recall reading many informative and useful pieces by various staff of the New York Times. Not all the columnists necessarily make political recommendations in their articles, but a couple that do (most often Krugman, Friendman, and Kristof) struck me as being particularly useful. There are ideas being thrown around that are worth simply knowing about and considering.

Then I would recall that the chances of Bush reading it to be absolutely zero, or at least abysmally low, and even were he to read it, the chance he would use or absorb any of the contents were zero.

Of course, I’m not claiming that the New York Times columnists are particularly adepts at instituting policy recommendations. Their strongest ability is simply to promote awareness of an issue. But most of all they quite authoritatively use the lens of common sense (with the exception of Kristol and some Brooks).

I read a good article regarding moving hard and fast in regards to another stimulus package by Krugman. And suddenly it occurred to me that Obama probably read the same article, or if he didn’t, one of his people might bring it to his attention. Additionally, Obama may consider Krugman’s word carefully, since Obama would be likely to take things like education and Nobel Laureate status into consideration.

Refreshing, isn’t it? That’s the power of logical thinking. Oh, how I’ve missed it.

So whenever I read a good idea from any even remotely public source, I can be sure that it’s probably gotten to Obama’s ear one way or another.

Obama seemed to be dead-center in terms of political ideals, but if you think about the policies he wants to implement (universal healthcare, green energy) he would seem to actually be leaning quite a bit to the left. Unless, of course, he’s seeing those two things simply as what they are: two good ideas that are necessary to move this country forward, and they have no inherent political affiliation. That’s what we’d all like to hope, I’m sure. I imagine the real reasons like somewhere in between.

In any case, having a President who actually reads the newspaper (of course, he probably has a bunch of press staffers combing the news at all times, but that’s more for publicity control) is a real relief. I can be sure that Obama won’t exclude anyone simply because they don’t fit into his own political conception of what the world ought to be like.

I don’t know when pragmatism became so rare, but I’m oh so glad it’s back where it belongs: in government.

Today’s Rant: One Step At A Time…I Guess

I think I have “straight white guy” guilt.

As many newscasters have pointed out, the country did take a step backward in a few places during the election, astonishingly including my beloved California. It would seem that many of the minorities who voted for Obama also voted in favor of banning gay marriage just a few months after it had been fully recognized as legal by the state.

Now I know little about gay culture, and that which I do know involves white people, who generally are somewhat culturally blank. I know nothing about the interaction between latino culture and gay culture, for example. So I make no claims to say anything factual here; I’ll just be putting out a few ideas for consideration.

Consider the gung-ho masculinity of mainstream black culture (i.e. hip hop). You can be damn sure you’re never going to see a gay black guy in a hip-hop music video riding around in a limo with a bunch of gigolos with him, or whatever. I would guess that there would be a definite homophobia attached to hip-hop culture.

Also, though I’m too lazy to look up statistics, it’s probably a safe bet to assume that a higher proportion of these “minorities” (latinos are hardly a minority in California anymore) are Christian than whites hereabouts. Obviously a few sects of Christianity are fine with gay marriage (or at least the existence of homosexuality), but not the big obnoxious ones. And Catholicism? Fuggedaboutit.

So I would guess that a confluence of factors probably makes these minority groups more prone to vote against gays than they otherwise would. Keep in mind I’m not trying to make any assumptions here, I’m simply trying to reason out the numbers.

But it’s important not to confuse the issue and lump all equal rights as part of the agenda of a “progressive” voter. While all movement towards equal rights is progress in the literal sense, there is no reason to assume that someone who’d vote for a black man must therefore be committed to civil rights and therefore could not in good conscience vote to ban gay marriage. There are plenty of people who broke out in tears of joy that a black man finally got elected and then pulled out their “God Hates Fags” signs and got back to humiliating and generally making life hell for people who have no more control over their sexual preference than their shoe size. Well, hopefully not plenty. But I can posit there are enough of them out there.

Ultimately, all issues of equality are godawfully complicated. For example, we broke the color barrier, and to a somewhat lesser extent the gender barrier with this election. We can all generally accept the fact that a woman or a minority could be President at this point. But what about an atheist? Other than the fact than I’d personally want my politicians to be avowed atheists, everyone has to pander to McCarthy-era leftovers and be a Christian of some sort, or else kiss your prospects goodbye.

And how about a gay president? Even as I revel in our moving forward in terms of electing Obama, I feel like the opposition to a homosexual president at the moment would be so much more violent and horrible than it would be for a black person or a woman. I mentioned before that I think racism is going out of style, but sometimes I feel like the haters have simply picked up the banner of anti-gay rights. Denying gay couples identical rights under the law is public discrimination, and laws of that sort are inevitably struck down by any supreme court judge that has even mild respect for the Constitution. I think that eventually all states will have to come around, but it might not be soon.

The gay community probably sees the election as slightly tarnished by these Stone Age propositions. California will come around. Apparently the Mormon church donated some twenty million dollars (tax-exempt my ass) to make gay marriage illegal in California. When this news got out, people really started to get peeved (people generally do when the Mormon Church gets involved). Protesters are going nuts. As well they should.

Later.

Today’s Rave: Yes, We Can. Yes, We Will.

Man, what a great moment in history. The entire Republican hate machine couldn’t stop this tide.

Truth be told, the historical significance of this moment was a little lost on me at first, because I saw nothing particularly novel about an African-American being elected myself. My generation is much less likely to be racist because racism has to be taught, and racism is rapidly going out of style. But this morning it just occurred to me just what a huge step in the right direction this has been. We used to have an entire group of people who were denied practically all their fundamental rights in this country, and who were subject to centuries of discrimination,  but the “hold these truths to be self-evident” clause just got a little more accurate last night, as America took a major step in closing the book on slavery and racism and elected a black man to be President. It’s got great narrative sweep. I can never even hope to understand what this must represent to the black community as a whole, but I do know that internationally we just got HUGE bonus points. Except from Russia, who has been cranky recently. You know, I really hate these has-been empires throwing their weight around. Which is, I imagine, why much of the world hates us for Iraq. America was generally subtly imperial (that is, after we took an entire subcontinent and wiped out most of the native population) but still was creating banana republics and shifting “friendly” dictators into power in other countries. You know, like Saddam Hussein (we didn’t put him there, but we helped keep him there).

Part of the reason I despise politics so much is that the Bush administration and their mindless Republican cronies have been doing it wrong for almost a third of my life (and for another one-third of it, I wouldn’t have understood or cared much anyway). But Obama gives me reason to think that maybe we can not completely betray the founding principles of this country after all, and maybe we can actually work towards the stated goal of “a more perfect Union.” It will never get there, but that’s the point. Improvements can and must come. A huge one came last night.

The stunning electoral smashing McCain received may have had much to do with Obama’s huge amount of resources and modern style of campaigning, but what galvanized people into giving the money and volunteering is the positive message. If trying to run a campaign positively in a time where hope is rapidly being lost is pandering, then a) pander away and b) you’re too cynical for me. Obama brought and represents a unity that is sorely needed if we are going to undo the damage of nearly a decade of inept and corrupt administration.

I was, I must admit, very impressed with McCain’s concession speech. Who I heard was the old McCain: the honorable, good-humored, self-deprecating and patriotic veteran who loves his country first and has genuine respect for his opponents. If the Republican sleaze machine had tried to make use of these natural qualities of McCain instead of trying to fit him into their usual scumbag tactics, maybe they would have had a shot. It is dead obvious that McCain is relieved that he can stop being an asshole (his discomfort with this entire campaign has been apparent from the first debate and earlier) and go back to doing what he does best: sticking to his guns in the Senate, rather than sticking to somebody else’s guns on the campaign trail. McCain’s speech did much to repair my negative image of him that has built up. Especially when he made it clear that people’s mindless booing of the new president set an inappropriate tone. Perhaps there’s hope for him yet. Let’s all keep an eye on the Senate.

Obama’s victory speech was so great. I liked it better than his acceptance speech even though it had even less informational content. He skillfully put the moment in historical perspective, and generally just did a hell of a job making us think positively about the future, even as he noted that there will be no easy solutions and no quick fixes.

No easy solutions? No quick fixes? Thank God. Eight years of that attitude has done enough damage already.

Congratulations, President Obama.

Congratulations, America.

But be ready. There is much work to be done.

Speed Screed: Polling It Up

I’m off to be a poll worker tomorrow, a grueling day of smiling at people and collecting ballots for the tidy sum of $80. What with the massive influx of voters for this historic election, I expect we’ll be inundated with people. In fact, all you ever hear about from the media (who are continually conjuring up unlikely McCain win scenarios to keep people watching what is nearly a foregone conclusion at this point) is how crowded the polls are and what a problem it represents.

While this is indeed an issue that needs to be addressed, and addressed quickly, the fact that there are enough voters to keep the polls humming from open to close is an extremely positive sign. Assuming the proportion of voters is consistent throughout the day, lines that are backed up around the block are an extremely positive sign as far as Democrats are concerned.

Still, I have the greatest shock of my life coming tomorrow if McCain manages to pull this out of his ass. I refuse to accept it on a gut level, but I know it’s there, taunting me. What vexes me more than the simple fact that we’d be utterly screwed were it to happen, would be the utter denial of narrative causality and common sense it would be. The Republicans are to blame for this horrendous mess we find ourselves in militarily and economically, and had they any shame they would be apologizing to America on bended knee. Instead, they use half-baked attack ads and shameless diversionary tactics to attempt to hold onto a country that they must know, in their souls, deserves much, much better than them. They deserve to be kicked out of the country they have so ignominiously destroyed, and yet they have the balls to lie, over and over again, to the American public.

If McCain was to get elected, I don’t know what I would think, say, or do. There is a blank spot in my mind up there in that possible future. I’m just glad it’s so unlikely.

But if I wanted to keep up the appearance of being “pro-America” (and not pro-America, like I actually am)

1) Put an American flag on every available surface.

2) Hide your college degrees. Frame your high school degree and place it prominently next to a picture of Ronald Reagan.

3) Purchase a firearm. Keep it loaded, you may need it to keep Mormons off your lawn, and Joe the Plumber away from your kitchen sink.

4) Pour yourself a nice, stiff drink. It’s about the only legal substance in God’s Own Country and you’ll be needing plenty of it while you ride out the next 4 years.

Remember, if people question your patriotism, you can quickly reaffirm it by hatefully and violently depriving someone “ethnic” or gay of their basic rights in the name of Jesus Christ.

The dark era is over. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, it’s about twenty years away.

Have faith.

Today’s Rant: Yes on Proposition 8??!!

I hate the Mormon church. I mean, the religion is Amero-centric Christianity that basically insults Jews and Native Americans via its core tenets, but my issues are not with the religion itself, but rather the church’s insistence on theocratic rule. The Mormon church is one of the most arrogant attackers of our basic freedoms, consistently throwing bad money after bad in an attempt to get the law to reflect their outrageously outdated (as if it was ever not outdated) moral code.

I want to make it clear that I do not hate any individual Mormon per se (except some of the assholes involved with turning the Boy Scouts into the publicly-funded discriminatory club it is today). But the institution of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints can go and crawl back up Joseph Smith’s ass, where it originated. As I speak, the Mormon church. based in Utah, is literally throwing money at Proposition 8 supporters in California so that we can overturn the state constitution and ban gay marriage which was only recently fully legalized here.

Other than the fact that these people are trying to warp our country to their insane world view, let us first look at the facts: the Mormon church is the most blatantly anti-gay Christian denomination, or at least the one with the biggest combination of hate and influence. They came up with such memorable catch phrases as “God hates fags,” possibly one of the most offensive, fatuous, and cruel three-syllable hate-mongering credos to ever issue from the putrid maw of this excrescent institution.

We have no place for fucktards like this in the United States of America, where people supposedly have certain fundamental rights like not having your neighbor cram his Book of Mormon down your throat. As far as I’m concerned, the right to bear arms should also include being able to point a gun at Jehovah’s Witnesses and other nuts who come to your door. You can’t shoot them, obviously. That would be murder. But I don’t want any of that mindless life-ruining brainwash within 100 feet of my property. If I can help it, no kid of mine is going to be gullible enough to fall for that crap, but I’m not taking any chances. Sign on front lawn:

EVANGELISTS WILL BE SHOT

I suppose I might be prosecuted for that. How about:

EVANGELISTS WILL BE MENACED SEVERELY WITH A LOADED KALISHNIKOV (COMMUNIST ASSAULT RIFLE)

I like that one. Anyway, every time I think I can finally leave religion truly well alone (pure fantasy, even for a straight minute) some other group decides its time that America got right with God, instead of its citizens. Can we at least tax these fuckers like every other America-raping corporation? With their blatant interference in politics, it is clear that spirituality is not nearly high up enough on the list to warrant any sort of free pass from the government.

To date the Mormon church has thrown millions (at least four million) at idiots in California who make denying other peoples’ constitutional right to happiness their personal crusade, who have made spurious claims about gay marriage being taught in schools unless people vote to ban it, as if education has anything to do with it. I am unable to see why you would be against having an actual fact of life (i.e. the fact that gay people exist) taught in schools, but notwithstanding that, they don’t teach kids about marriage in school. They just don’t. But the commerical features this kid coming home with a book that’s entitled “The King and King” or something and saying something like “Mommy, Mommy! We learned in school today that boys can marry boys!” I doubt the kid is old enough to care or understand the implications of marriage anyway, but the idea that this in itself  is cause for alarm is unbelievably dumb. How is this an argument against preserving our fundamental rights? It isn’t, because it would never work if they said the truth: that passing this proposition is legalizing discrimination. Instead they obfuscate the issue by throwing children into the mix, which the other ads point out is just plain wrong. Like, morally and factually wrong.

The Mormons are also, as I implied earlier, the biggest donor to the Boy Scouts of America and are the main reason why the Boy Scouts eventually started making it a stated policy to exclude gays and atheists: God hates both of them, so if you hate them you’re doing God’s will.

What an awful message. What a terrible lesson to teach impressionable kids looking for role models. Sometimes I wish there were a God, so that He could come down and beat the shit out of people who use His supposed holy word to spread hate and intolerance. The fact that these twisted bastards aren’t smitten down for their blatant misuse of the Bible is proof enough there is no God, as far as I’m concerned. And if there’s a Hell, I know these self-righteous pricks are going to it.

And if I am too, maybe I’ll manage to get in a few chuckles at them between screams of agony.

Here’s hoping.

Today’s Rave: Religulous

If you haven’t seen Religulous, the more or less anti-religious pseudo-documentary movie by Bill Maher, I recommend it to you without qualification. It essentially points out the inherent and fundamental danger in allowing anyone with transcendental beliefs to make any real-world political decisions whatsoever. He does this by continually pointing out inconsistencies, holes, and generally just taking to task any arguments that religion is at all a good thing. While the whole thing is definitely comedic in nature, he drops the act at the very end and clearly and severely addresses the audience to cast aside their childish superstitions and “grow up.”

Bill Maher is my hero.

He is not an atheist as such, but he is an agnostic with an agenda. Sometimes I feel like people use agnosticism so as not to get verbally burned at the stake by religious people. In his case, his use of “I just don’t know” agnosticism gets religious people to open up to him because he seems to be a lost lamb rather than simply lost. That means at the end people pray for you rather than chase you out of the building.

Technically, I’m agnostic (I don’t care whether there’s a God since I consider the question irrelevant) but I usually call myself an atheist because I really don’t think there is a God, and I like to piss off religious nuts. I’m not adamant about the non-existence of God, I can conceive that there could be a God, but I think there isn’t one.

Doubt is the default of the skeptic.

In any case, the movie is a somewhat personal one as Maher describes his own religious background and how he eventually came to be the atheist that he is. It was, more or less, because his family just suddenly stopped going to church. Without constant indoctrination, most religions tends to fall apart as things like rational thought suddenly intrude on your blissful dream of life after death.

But of course, I don’t have any problem with religion as long as you keep it to yourself. But it is not only morally wrong to force your views into politics, government, or society, it is extremely dangerous, as Maher points out consistently. Keep your goddamn commandments out of my schools, your Christian worldview out of my Oval Office (it’s our goddamn office by the way, we’re letting the President use it) and your religiously zealotry away from my high-rise office buildings.

Only transcendental thinking could possibly result in someone justifying the taking of their own life and the slaughtering of thousands of innocent people. If you don’t believe in a God or an afterlife, the only reason you would do something like that is if you were absolutely insane.

Oh wait. As Maher points out, there is no inherent difference between schizophrenia and hearing the voice of God (as so many Christians claim to have done). But we get these people help because it’s religion, and you can’t touch religion.

The world would be so much better off if we would take out eyes off the heavens and start looking around us so that we can build a better world here and now.

It is this that Maher communicates so clearly. Watch this movie, you’ll laugh, and you’ll get angry. Maher says we need louder atheists. Louder and more pissed-off.

Sounds good to me.

Speed Screed: We’re Not As Think As You Dumb We Are

In case you haven’t noticed, I often “borrow” topics from the New York Times columnists and reiterate them here, or take them in a new direction. I do this most often when I either see something inspiring or asanine, or, more often, when I can’t think of anything to write about. I’m doing this now.

Elections are a tiring process. I’m tired of listening to McCain lie about everything and accuse Obama of stuff that has been factually rebutted. No one’s buying your crap McCain. I would have thought the polls make that abundantly clear.

But for those with a lingering sense that closet racists will tank this country for good, take heart: Frank Rich has written a dynamite column in defense of the modern-thinking white guy. In it, he basically states that while McCain and Palin rail on about “real Americans” they have no idea what a real American is anymore, and the “real Americans” know it.

Rich basically says that the press has essentially been assuming that white people are inherently racist and that a “Bradley effect” necessarily exists, when in fact there have been no signs whatsoever to confirm that in this case, and also faults the press for drawing a false dichotomy in the Clinton/Obama Rust Belt state battles that swung overwhelmingly to Clinton. Race was assumed to be too much of a factor, and the press was often giving the impression that these people would vote McCain or stay home.

Rich thinks this is far from the truth. And in fact, he mentions an interesting phenomenon which occurred to me a few days ago, that of the existence of “racists for Obama.” Even a somewhat racist person might clearly see that Obama was the better choice, misgivings from skin color aside, and vote for him anyway. After all, race is only one factor. The way that Rich describes this though, is as someone who might be against blacks generally might like specific blacks upon getting to know them, as Obama became more and more clearly the superior choice for president.

The last point that he makes is that there simply aren’t enough hardcore racist whites left to make the difference a divisive campaign tries to utilize. Consider that the angry idiots at McCain/Palin rallies represent a minority of a minority of a minority, and the rest of us “liberal elites” and our good, hard-working friends down there in the South are on much more common ground than either the media or the McCain campaign would want you to believe.

On Election Day prepare for a sea change. Virginia is going to vote Obama. Florida is going to vote Obama. Colorado is going to vote Obama. Michigan is going to vote Obama.

McCain doesn’t have a prayer.

Today’s Rant: To Win, At Any Cost

Think about all the fatuous, delusional people who are actually gullible enough to believe that Barack Obama has some sort of connection to terrorists.

First, let me say that these people are especially delusional because if there was any credence to the connections, don’t you think every branch of the government would be up in arms investigating his so-called “connection?” If he had a dubious background he never would have made it to Senator in the first place! The insularity of these people is so astonishing; they just believe whatever they’re told/want to believe, and cry out “Terrorist!” when everyone else with a grain of reason sees this McCain garbage for what it is: a dangerous and even more outrageous campaign than the swift-boating of John Kerry.

This win-at-any-cost policy causes me violent nausea. Who cares who they step on to get into the White House? They are disgrace to democracy, to America, and to every right-thinking citizen who believe in the democratic process. For all the Evangelical nonsense about common decency these mudslingers like to pretend they have, they sure do a lot of judging, despite the fact that they might be judged in turn. Of course, the Christian Wrong finds it easy to look away when it suits them. None of these really, really loud bastards are Christians in any meaningful way (other than the most superficial aspects, such as going to church five days a week). Any true Christian would deplore McCain’s sleazoid tactics, lack of compassion, and unabashed hunger for power. While these so-called “Christians” believe Mr. Obama is a literal “plague” that God has sent down to punish us for allowing gay marriage.

I got off topic a bit, but the point I’m trying to make is that when Obama wins, there’ll be a small but significant proportion of the country who will actually believe we elected a terrorist to run the country. These tiny-minded morons have had their whole life run by fear because apparently they are unable to reason their way out of a paper bag. It was easy for them to carry their fear of terrorists back home into the arena of politics, and so it suddenly seems feasible that these insidious Arabs (ah, racism at its finest) somehow managed to get a Manchurian candidate in place.

Do you see the value of education now? Frustration and horror!

The fact that the McCain may have formed a small cadre of people who believe it would be their civic duty to kill our next President is quite possibly the most horrible thing any person could do. I like McCain so much less than Bush despite the fact that he hasn’t done anything yet. You see, Bush never had any principles to sacrifice. He didn’t really have anywhere to fall, and I still believe that he is merely the crest of a wave of Neoconservatism that he only believed in because it was all he knew. I’m not absolving him of culpability, but I’m saying that the rot was so much deeper than simply the Presidency. McCain, on the other hand, previously known as a senator with some decency and principles, has thrown them away whole hog in a pathetic grab for a presidency that he has conclusively proved he doesn’t deserve. Bush was a tool his whole life, but McCain wasn’t, and that’s why McCain pisses me off more than Bush.

The new “pro-America” rhetoric that Palin has busted out is manifestly pathetic and once again dangerous. Yeah, I’m sure certain parts of America are “anti-America,” like, none of it. We all live here, bitch, we all pay our taxes, and we’re ALL pro-America. This is our country, and I’ll be damned if some moose-hunting governor from Alaska comes down here and tells 80% of America that we’re somehow unpatriotic because she’s never lived in a town with a population bigger than 40,000. The Republicans have stopped calling being against the administration unpatriotic – now simply by living in places with large number of electoral votes makes you unpatriotic.

This has been the darkest chapter in American politics and perhaps history, and the GOP has decided to cap it off in an orgy of sleaze, hatred, and division. Obama’s message of unity is so much more than an empty slogan. It is an absolute necessity to move past these fear-and-hate mongers and leave them far behind.

I’m so glad that no one except a tiny group of idiots is buying any of his crap. The era of win-at-any-cost politics is coming to a much belated end. At least until the country is doing well again. Then we’ll get resentful that we’re paying money for things like roads and schools, when we could use that money to buy Dancing With The Stars Season 3 on DVD. Then it’s back to the ‘Pubs.

Let’s hope that, by then, they’re not the same assholes they used to be.

A person is smart, but people are stupid.

Speed Screed: Campaign Donations

You know, McCain once pointed out (I think during the last debate) that Obama had spent more on advertising than any campaign to date. He meant this as some sort of ham-fisted indictment against corruption via spending of money. But actually it must scare the hell out of him, and not just because he’s being outspent.

Think about it. Americans barely get involved in the political process as it is. Analysts are expecting something like 67 percent of the country to vote, which is sadly supposedly a record of some sort. However, when people really care about something, they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is. So when people look around them and see what a dismal state this country is in, and they look at Obama, they think to themselves, “Jesus, we’d better get this guy elected.” They actually throw money at Obama because they care enough to spend money on him. That’s how badly they want him to win.

So when Obama collects more money than anyone in history, what it actually means is that the “free market” of politics has suddenly pointed Obamawards. It’s indicative of huge and fervent support that exists beyond simply the money. You can be damn sure anyone who gives money is going to to vote on the 4th. And McCain should be quaking in his boots as a result.

This is sort of weird thing for me because campaign finance reform is a major issue that needs to be addressed, but private financing for elections seems to be, in my opinion, a hugely libertarian. After all, if you want to just let the free market go to work even as far as political candidates are concerned, and people will not only vote for the candidate but “dollar vote” for him, as the term is used.

Like everything else about libertarianism, it would be lovely, but sadly I think people are too dumb and greedy. So instead we have to remove the temptation and abolish private financing for public campaigns and I certainly hope that Obama is going to rush some anti-corruption stuff into law with a quickness, especially if we get an unstoppable Democratic House. Even optimists are keeping their fingers crossed that he doesn’t sit on his hands once he gets into the Oval Office. He needs to set the tone for several administrations (probably as many as three or four) that are too important to simply be “caretaker presidents.” They need to actively undo the damage that was done over the last eight years.

And that is a huge job.