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Presidential matters
I can't take it any more. After hours and hours of watching Election Day coverage, I've decided that it just doesn't matter. After being bombarded with statistics, percentages, polling numbers, county counts and "projections," I think I've just decided to be selfish. I did my part -- I voted, I discussed politics with friends and family, I followed the issues as closely as I was able to and I tried to be logical in my decisions. But after all of this, after my vote is counted, after the discussions are all over, what does this election mean to me, realistically, for the next four years? What matters of national policy are going to affect me personally? What is my country's president going to give me; what is he going to take away? Realistically, I feel like my future depends at least as much on me as it does on him. Topics of national concern: The economy: If I want a good-paying job, I'll work hard to get one. I'll look at my options, figure out realistic financial goals and then use all of my available resources to attain those goals. If things are too expensive, I will either have to save my money in order to buy them, or else not buy them. I can survive the economy, good or bad, Democratic or Republican. I just have to pay attention. The war: Still dubious, but far, far out of my control. There've been promises of no draft, so I feel at least semi-secure that the Man won't come get me. I can work that out with my conscience. Education: Sadly, children are being left behind, but I am no longer a child. Higher education funds also seem to be getting cut, but people like me who are in the "poverty" range still get funding for college from shadowy government institutions. Don't ask, don't tell, I suppose. And the list goes on and on ... . So it seems, now, the results of this election don't really affect me much at all. I feel like a selfish bastard thinking that way, but I'm uncertain what else to do. Though given the choice of who to vote for, afterward, I don't get the direct choice of what gets instituted on a national level. I feel effectually ineffective. Now, in a non-selfish manner, I wonder what difference the election results mean to other people, but only in a vague way, and I can only muster so much feeling about it. Come personal success or catastrophe, I feel as though I am the one mostly responsible for my own fate, not the political "leader" of my country of citizenship. I must note, however, that I dislike the fact that I can be disliked by people in other countries because of the national policy of my country, but the most that I can do to combat that is to behave in a personally responsible way. In fact, the most that I can do to combat anything viewed poorly about me is to behave in a personally responsible way. Imagine that. Today there is a definite discrepancy between my views and the official views of my nation as a whole, but with proper attention paid and a little selfish self-determination, I believe tomorrow must be better. |
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