Tag: #elections

  • Politicians Suck, But Don’t Hold That Against Them

    We are down to the final two weeks before election day on November 3rd. I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but even in Very Blue New York City, the political campaign ads are now running full steam ahead and nonstop. I will say that the ads do make me wish that the election was over, so we can just move on.

    Political ads have never made me want to vote for or against anyone. But they must work, right? I mean, why would anyone spend this much money on something that doesn’t work. Honestly, I have never known a person who was swayed by a political ad. Then again, maybe these ads are meant for me, or the people I know.

    What I do know is that they have had an effect on my kid. Not that these ads have made her for or against a candidate. No, these ads have made her create a “politician” character that she rolls out when one of these commercials comes on. She tells us how she’s not a rubber stamp for Trump, or that the will stand up to Trump. How she’ll help lower or electricity bills by stopping data centers, or stopping the war in Iran to lower out gas costs. The kid takes on this weird serious tone when she plays this “politician” character, and defiantly lets us know that she approves this ad.

    I would like to say that this political season has caused me and the kid to have conversations about the state of affairs in our city, state, and our country, but that would be a lie. The wife and I have tried to instill in the kid the importance in voting, and we have taking her many times to our local polling location so she can see us vote, and see what the process is like. That voting is out civic duty, one of our fundamental responsibilities as Americans, and how the right to vote hasn’t always been extended to all Americans, and thus we must be the stewards so that franchisement remains extended to all Americans.

    Politicians kind’a do suck, and there are very few good ones out there. This time of year, it seems like all of them are just the worsts and will do the worst if they get elected. But, I believe that the kid is getting it, you know. Figuring out that the ads are kind’a stupid, but elections and voting are important, and a necessary part of being an adult and a citizen of this country.

  • Missing the Joy of the Holidays

    I have been trying to get in a Christmas mood, but it just isn’t taking. It’s a bit easier when the kid is around, but I think every parent would give that answer. We have done all the things that we normally do. We have decorated, made cookies, and gone out shopping. We have watched Christmas movies, wrapped gifts, and made our plans for Christmas-Eve.

    But it’s still not taking.

    Last year was weird, don’t get me wrong. The first Christmas under Covid wasn’t great, but it did feel a little like we were stealing a piece of normal back. That, out of all the awful changes, this was one old thing that was good to be doing. I think it also helped that Trump lost the election, and the first vaccines were going out, which made it feel like the world was getting better.

    I did think that by the time we hit December 2021, that we would be putting Covid behind us, the kid would have a vaccine, and no more masks. That’ll teach me to be optimistic.

    But, I don’t think I want to be a person that stops being optimistic. That today can still be a good day, and tomorrow can be even better. That I don’t have the answers but I know it will work out.

    It’s the old theatre adage; A shitty dress rehearsal makes for a great opening night. Today might be bad, but tomorrow it will all come together.

    Anyway, kind’a got off subject there. I was talking about Christmas and the Holidays.

    Let’s focus on the positive, as that is what I tell the kid to do.

    We are going to see a movie in a theatre this year. We’ll get lobster rolls on Christmas Eve, and Mom and Dad will toast a martini, though it might be a bourbon this year. Christmas coffee cake will be made, and the kid will not be able to sleep, anticipating Christmas morning.

    And we’ll be together. Which is what really counts.

  • Election Day

    It’s Election Day in NYC. It’s sort of a holiday here, in the sense the schools are closed… sort of. There is no in person learning happening, but the kids are remoting into for their lessons. So, the whole family is together today. The wife is working, and the kid and I are on the couch working on our respective computers.

    And, sadly, I’m not excited about this election. We are voting for Mayor in the City, and I really don’t like either candidate. Silwa is a character from New York City Past, and just seems out of touch for the current NYC. Eric Adams feels like the new “conservative” Democrats. You can’t win an election in this town running as a Republican, so most moderate Republicans became Democrats, and that’s Eric Adams. Again, not excited about either one.

    I quote Desus and Mero when it comes to being mayor of this city; It’s the only job where you are hated by everybody on day one. Seriously, what kind of person wants that job?

    It has left me with this feeling of dread in my stomach this election. I was anxious in 2016, 2018 and 2020, as I did feel that Trump and his allies were a threat to this country. This time around, I feel like it’s going to get broken no matter who wins, and things will get worse. I know that this is a dangerous mentality to have. It’s very close to the feeling of hopelessness.

    And that’s what makes me very uncomfortable with myself.

  • Who’s to Blame For the 2020 Election?

    This seems to be the big question that is going around liberal and Democrat circles; whose fault is it that they didn’t win more? Democrats won the White house, but didn’t take any State legislatures, lost seats in the House, and at best will have 50 seats in the Senate. The Blue Wave never showed up, and 70 million people voted for Trump. Someone has to be blamed for this! What Democrat fucked this up?

    Republicans are to blame, but not the way you think.

    Here’s the thing; Biden won by 5 million votes, and Biden also got enough votes in the swing states, just like Trump did four years ago, to win the Presidency. What that says to me is that very few minds were changed in the past four years, and those who did change their minds were Republicans. I would argue that those Republicans who voted for Biden, made a point of splitting their ticket to keep Biden in check.

    But doesn’t that reinforce the idea that Democrats failed to do a good job at selling their platform to Americans?

    No, because that platform wasn’t the reason people were voting. Democrats voted to remove Trump, and Republicans voted to keep him. That’s it. It doesn’t get anymore complicated than that.

    2020 was not an issue election, and it wasn’t a traditional change election. It was a referemdum on Trump.

    It wasn’t about BLM, or Defunding the Police, in the sense that those two issues are being pointed to as why there wasn’t a Blue Wave, but that’s all horse shit. BLM and Defund didn’t turn off Trump voters. That logic is like saying the racists and white supremacists were going to vote for Biden/Harris, but damn it, The Squad said “defund the police,” and now all those Trump voters went back to Trump?!?! Like I said, it’s a horse shit argument. Trump voters were always going to vote for Trump, no matter what.

    Remember the 5th Avenue comment? Trump killed 250,000+ people, and he still got 70 million votes. They weren’t voting out of a logical selfinetrest.

    Where Democrats get it wrong is that they keep bringing logic to the emotion fight, and that’s why they don’t do better.

  • And in the End…

    Biden flipped Arizona.

    I guess Trump shouldn’t have gone after John McCain so often, even after the Senators death.

    It’s like McCain got the last laugh, again.