The Audacity of Dope(s)

I don’t know how much more I can take. I think I’m in the early stages of over-dosing on politics, and everything even remotely associate with the colors blue and red. I’m angry, disillusioned, disgusted, devastated, exhilarated, vindicated, and justified by turns.

But most of all, I’m just exhausted. And over and over again, the mantra repeating itself inside my befuddled brain is: How can so many people be so completely blind to what’s really going on?

Or, the version that crops up when I’m particularly infuriated: How in the heck can so many people buy into such utter fear, contempt and hate? How can so many of us be so ignorant when the facts are so clear as to be irrefutable?

And that’s the edited version, believe me. Ok, so I get everyone is more than entitled to their own opinions. That’s what part of belonging to a true democracy is all about, right? What I don’t get though, is how so many can base said opinions on RUBBISH like racism, lies, deception, fraud, and the most disgusting display of political propaganda and smear tactics I ever did see.

The hate-mongering being lavished upon the mobs gathering in support of McCain and Palin is downright rotten, and I’m only surprised that this hasn’t been as big an issue as it ought to be. Sure, Powell and any number of Republicans have come out and criticized McCain’s ever more desperate attempt to win the Presidency at all cost, but where’s the outrage from the people?

I keep hearing the counterargument to this typcially Rovian Repuplican smear campaign, which is no real counterargument at all — well, the “other” side isn’t innocent either!

Really? No kidding. No one’s claiming that the other side is as untarnished as a newborn babe, all I’m saying is that the other side isn’t playing nearly as dirty and dangerous a game as the red right (redrum?) side of the dirty nickel.

And frankly, if I wasn’t a supporter of Barack Obama’s before this mess got messier, I, like many other Independents it seems, would be running in his direction now with the only other option being Mr. Maverick and his sidekick, Princess Pallin-Around-With-Terrorists.

It is inconceivable to me too how distracted we have all become by this political side-show. The economy is in absolute shambles, there are wars being fought on foreign soil, there are citizens of this country who are battling for their rights to equality and the pursuit of happiness, and we’ve merely glazed over all these (and many, many more) important, real issues in order to focus on hate and fear and race and divisiveness and, basically, everything we should be fighting against by concentrating on what’s important.

We’ve nearly missed the fact that Palin was found to be completely and utterly guilty of abusing her power as Governor of Alaska, we barely hear about how McCain himself has questionable ties to shady figures (Keating, anyone?) or any of the other things that the right, while accusing the left of wrongdoing, are guilty of themselves. The hypocisy is enough to make me scream.

For once I’m in agreement with the Democrats who, it seems, are trying for the most part to keep focused on the issues at hand, which is perhaps a reason why the mud-slinging coming from their side has been kept to a minimum. And that’s a smart move. Let them focus on the horrors of our economy, and by extension the global economy.

A big part of the reason we are in the financial mess we are in stems from the laissez faire policies of the Bush Administration, whom YES, McCain has voted with time and time again. Voted to deregulate corporations so that their profits