Post-Debate, Pre-Election venting

This has been a very difficult election for us to follow..

We hate both candidates so Deeply, it burns ulcers into our collective stomachs.

And when we say 'hate', its in capitalized, bold & italicized font

HATE!

There's only two choices..  that's it.

Like Coke or Pepsi...  Red or Blue?

And what are the two choices... we mean, Really?

A complete phony bastard of a President who's completely hoodwinked the majority of the population for the last four years, having them believe he's made life better and worked to fix the problems plaguing this nation.

Then the other guy--a super-wealthy, heartless Wall St venture (or 'vulture') capitalist who was the 'best' choice among a crapload of deeply evil, out of touch people seeking the Republican nomination.

So we're all forced to pick the lesser of two evils...

How much fun is That?!

What else can we as American voters do?

Vote for third party candidates like the Libertarians who are lucky if they acquire 1% of the total vote each election cycle?

Fill in someone's name as a 'write in'?  That kind of thing is funny in a High School election to determine Class President but otherwise, its quite corny...

Not vote at all?  We can't advocate that as much as we're tempted to..  Too many people in this nation's history have fought and suffered and literally died just to have the right to vote..  So we can't tell you not to vote just like we couldn't tell you To do so.

But someone is going to win.. Obama or Romney..  and either choice.. God..  Such misery and horribleness awaits no matter who wins...

2013 is going to be the year that whoever is President, is going to have to take hold of the economic mess we're living in and make severe, drastic cuts to the budget which are going to anger and adversely impact millions of people.   And trust us, the only 'cuts' that the wealthy and corporations will feel is that of tax cuts.. Both candidates said so in the debate.

And there's going to be little to no political recourse and thus no fear from either person Obama or Romney toward the populace, thus, the pain will be felt.  Obama will either be a lame duck never having to worry about elections ever again, or Romney will have a good 36-45  months before ever having to face the voters.

The only difference perhaps is the severity of the cuts to what politicians love to call 'entitlements' which are really social safety nets.

Its like the adage we use often to describe the difference between Republicans and Democrats.   Republicans will give your face a hard slapppp! and not say a word.  Democrats will give your face a hard slapppp! and give words to the effect they we trying to kill a bug.

And whether you're the type of person who prefers your 'truth' to be blunt or prefer a nice 'story', usually determines what side of the political fence you're on.  And trust us, the face 'slappp!' hurts no matter how its implemented.

Personally.. we don't like to get slapped, no matter what.  And the thought of voting for the manner in which we are to receive that 'Slappp!' is angering...

So why are we in this pickle?  Why do we have these bad choices?

Here's how we see it:

Starting with the Democrats, they did not possess the guts or courage to run a True, Sincere ideologically left candidate in the primaries who would have repeatedly called out Obama as the utter failure and complete liar that he is.

It had already been tried once-- 1980.  Many Democrats hated Carter, so they gave their support to Sen. Edward Kennedy.  And Kennedy was quite blunt; very critical..  Always on the attack accurately explaining why Carter was terrible and didn't deserve to be re-elected.

Kennedy was sooo good at portraying Carter in an accurate light that often during the national campaign, the Reagan/Bush TV spots would simply be visual 30-second soundbites from speeches Kennedy made about Carter earlier in the year.

So right or wrong, no way the Democrats were going to do That again!!  Rather have a lying piece of crap re-elected than tell the truth and allow the Republican to take office and as they see it, 'ruin' the nation.

So that's why Obama is on the ballot.

Now the Republicans...  Never in our lives had we seen so many rotten, wretched, heartless candidates stand on stage during the various party debates to see who would represent that party.

The more each candidate promised to slash and burn the budget... the higher the personal and corporate taxes promised to be cut..  the more "trickle down" economics was uttered, the louder and more vociferous the applause and more the die-hard fiscal conservatives drooled in excitement and anticipation...

And Oh those candidates!!  Where to begin--

Rick Perry, the governor of Texas who never met a man (or woman) he didn't want to fry on death row...  Herman Cain-- the Pizza CEO... um, yes but he also was Chair of the Kansas City branch of the Federal Reserve, a most EVIL institution..

Then there's Rick Santorum, an utterly moral bankrupt man who will passionately express any position if the political donation or lobbyist contribution is high enough...   John Huntsman-- former Ambassador to China who was so loved, admired and respected by the Chinese leadership that the thought of him President was enough to make any sensible person shudder...

On and on..

Gawd...

Then there's the 'winner' of the race among rats..

We actually liked Mitt Romney...  the Romney that was governor of Massachusetts back in the day; the Romney that was economically moderate (no way in hell a hard-nosed fiscal conservative would nor could ever win election for as much as dog catcher in Mass.)

The current Mitt Romney... ehh..

So..  what to do?   Sincerely... what do to?

We said this before and say it again-- where the two candidate do differ are on social and foreign policy issues.  The two candidates also have distinct and differing visions of America, its role in the world and the best way to move into the future.

In future debates, when questions get more specific to these areas, we will analyze and clarify as necessary.

Perhaps elections have always been this way and we just wax nostalgic, but we remember a time when Presidential elections were fun to follow... Yes, we meant it.. Fun!  You had two political parties who were genuinely distinct and it was exciting to hear the convention speeches and get emotionally involved in the battles royale which were the Debates.

The country overall was in a better place.. perhaps we were in a period when the economy was good and/or there were no ongoing wars our men and women were fighting and dying in..  And so maybe because of all that, President elections held a sort-of entertainment value.

Who knows..

Lately they're not fun anymore..  maybe its a post 9-11 thing.  The 2004 election was a dirty, mud-slinging affair, and 2008 was just horrible.... everything about late 2008 makes us sick inside to this day..

And now 2012...

So many people take such passion and zealous loyalty into the Election... "X" is 'My guy" and they other guy is a 'liar'...  People allow themselves to get emotionally invested as if rooting for their local sports team.

Do you think corporations do this?  Do you think Wall St does this? They donate to both candidates; both parties.  Everything is a hedge bet; everything is an investment to make sure their interests will be covered by whoever wins...

Ultimately, what the people want, the people get.

Democrats did not want their President's failings aired out for public scrutiny and Republicans did not want any candidates who even gave off a whiff of moderation or compromise.   And Americans altogether once again demonstrated their overall disgust and apathy toward any 3rd party or differing point of view by not giving any alternate choices the slightest listen-to or respect..

And so everyone should be happy little piggies..

Everyone but us.

Most of us here at 'A&G' know who we're voting for.. We're not going to say publicly but yeah, pretty much we know.. And we'll do it with frowns on our faces and most depressed walks to the ballot booth, but we'll still do it..

Then we'll swallow some yummy pepto bismol and lay in bed with heating pads on our tummies while the election results are given out on TV...  Then drink some more...