Campaign 2004

Once in a while I get the random e-mail from a Hotmail or Yahoo account that lambastes me for “my left wing views and support of all things liberal”. First off, I’ve never identified myself with either party and I’ve always welcomed open debate on whatever topic I happened to write about. I am fairly open-minded on a number of subjects, but a recent e-mail attempted to pin me down as to what exactly I stood for in this upcoming election year. Off the top of my head here’s what I think:

1. I believe in personal responsibility. While the chaos theory is in effect, YOU are ultimately responsible for the events surrounding your life. If you spill hot coffee on yourself it’s not the restaurant’s fault for making the coffee too hot, you’re just f#ckin’ clumsy. Sure Micky D’s has delicious cheeseburgers & fries & shakes & cookies, but damn man, put that shit down or you will get fat.

2. Family values come from family not the government. The thing I find most interesting about the Republican Party is while they tout a free market economy and less government control of businesses this doesn’t stop them from forcing their dogma on private citizens. If less government control is good for business then it sure as hell is good enough for consumers. It’s not the government’s responsibility to be the watchdog for family values, it is a family’s responsibility. If there’s a decline in family values it’s because families are less inclined to look at themselves first before passing the buck. You can’t control the media, the Internet, social peers, etc., but you can be a direct influence on your child’s life and their values.

3. Frivolous lawsuits bring damnation. As an amendment to Rob’s idea I say that the first offense to a frivolous lawsuit should be an immediately won countersuit, the second offense should be a public caning and finally if you just seem intent on being stupid the government simply deports you.

4. Of interest only to me. In a recent SprintPCS commercial a father complains that because his daughter’s nighttime phone minutes start at 9pm she prattles endlessly to the family (while braiding their hair). While it strikes a bit of funny seeing suburbanites decked out like Coolio I couldn’t help but wonder “What preteen needs a cell phone?” More importantly what kind of lifestyle do they lead? Maybe I’ve crossed that threshold into adulthood where I’m completely out of touch with the younger generation. I just recall simpler times as a kid. There were only four destinations as a kid – home, school, friend’s house and work (if you slipped passed that manager with a fake ID). It seems to me all these places still come with regular phones. And what about AIM? I’m thinkin’ Suzy/Sally/whatever would be chattin’ away online, typin’ in her blog, posting PhotoShopped love collages as a free technology alternative before gettin’ strapped with a cell phone.