Getting Along With Politics, Or: America Is A Democracy?

By the way the political machine is going, you'd get the feeling that the following things are going to happen by say, mid-June: 1) John McCain will win the Republican nomination and begin to unify a majority of prospective voters for the November election, and 2) Barak Obama will continue to gain support, win votes and delegates while Hillary Clinton will win the nomination. It's spooky.

I spoke with my brother, a good, solid independent-minded fellow. The Good Doctor was showing exasperation at the Democratic (Party) process of delegates versus super-delegates (should they be capitalized? Super-Delegates!) and that the Republican method, though supposedly better, is by nowhere perfect. Washington awards half of their Republican delegates to their primary and the other half at a caucus a week later? What?

How exactly has this country allowed this to happen for so long? It's obvious that you don't get every election cycle to take a close look at how these people win their respective party's nomination. Think about it: 2004 was a wash-out. 2000 might have been a chance but I think the Information Age is far more mature than it was then. And before that? 1992? I hadn't even surfed online once then. Call it the amazing metastasizing awareness of the interested public. Admittedly, more Americans spend more time trying to find a parking space that fits their Ford Behemoth than worrying about their leadership. Just today, something like 1.5million people in Iran showed up to hear their president speak. Of course, given my nice high school education in Cold War politics (thank you!), my first thought was, "how many were dragged there to fill the square?", closely followed by, "I wonder if they have to do the eternal clapping and cheering like the poor Russians had to do when Stalin made appearances because the KGB was in the crowd and would target the first people to stop clapping as opposition and then have them killed or pushed off to Siberia." But you get the idea. America has been asleep at the wheel of politics for nearly 30 years. There are a handful of moments since Nixon was booted from office (ok, 35 years), but in general "peace and prosperity" have led us to spend more time worrying about which of their shows are coming back this year than anything of vital importance.

But, with this (at least) Democratic primary season, there's a chance that the winds of change are in the air. That's the idea I feel behind those supporting Barak Obama. He's a chance for spring cleaning. Something that might not happen for another 8 years. It's hard to think in those terms, but that's the reality of our American politics. In 1992, when (Bill) Clinton won the nomination, the internet was barely out there and I was barely in high school. When GW Bush won in 2000, I had just finished college. And, after this election cycle, the next "real" chance to take a look at our supposedly democratic nation, I'll be 40 and probably be more interested in which school district is best.

In other words, when you got only one shot or chance, you better take it.

For a more concise, and slightly more humorous take (although I secretly loathe he makes his blog by finding stuff online when I spend my online surfing bouncing between a few sites over and over again), take a look at my friend's Ian blog.