This is slightly off from my normal blog topics, but it is election season. As I stare off with an uncontrolled dazed look on my face, pondering which candidate to vote for, a deep depression has set in.
I could choose Obama. At least I'll know what I'm getting, even though I disagree with his wealth distribution policies and bailing out too-big-to-fail companies that are sending us in a spiral of debt.
I could choose Romney, since I'm Republican, but I honestly don't like him as a person, and I feel he will serve money hungry people more than a strict capitalist agenda.
I could vote Libertarian, but, let's be honest, that will just take votes away from one of the other candidates. At this point, a vote for anything other than Romney is like voting for Obama.
My depression begins when I consider that the two primary political parties are only interested in preserving themselves. Considering that Democratic and Republican platforms have morphed every election campaign into what they think will get them voted into power, or attempt to separate themselves from one another, I can never be sure that the party I choose on my beliefs really fits who I'm voting for.
Every election it's the same thing: "Your problems are because of <insert opposite party>." Neither party will say "our platform allowed these problems to happen" or "the bills we voted caused a downturn in the economy, we'll revert that and try something else."
Let's consider this. Say you work at a company. You and another co-worker handle a particular product or service together. You work well together, bouncing ideas and patting each other on the back. One day, your manager quits, and since your company promotes from with-in, you know that you or your co-worker are going to replace him. You'll get more money, access to the executive bathroom, more vacation days, etc.
So during the manager's last couple weeks, you work your ass off. You make sure that the higher ups responsible for the decision see your hard work. You are basically campaigning for this new position. Your co-worker, being prudent, does the same thing.
Now, instead of working closely together, you are both trying to make yourself look more important and more manager-like. During these few weeks, arguments ensue, and instead of trying to build a great product or service, you are positioning, spreading distrust against your co-worker and generally being unproductive, all for the power of that promotion.
In the end, your co-worker wins out. You blame it on him bringing the top-shelf bottle of liquor to the Christmas party and taking the boss out to golf with some no-name NBA player that his cousin is towel-boy for. It's definitely not because he's better.
Now you stew in your hatred toward him as he becomes YOUR boss. At first, you continue to do your job, until one day he tells you that he thinks the product would be better if you changed one aspect. This doesn't sit well with you. "Who does he think he is?" It wasn't your idea, so it must be crap. You toss all logic aside and just hate his suggestion, regardless of the fact that it will save tons of money and is generally better at solving a certain problem than your solution would have been.
You do as you're told, but you don't have it in you to put in 100% effort. You don't necessarily sabotage the product, but the solution he asked you to implement is definitely half-assed and you don't care.
Now the product goes into production, and sure enough, the implementation falls flat, the one that you worked on. However, it was his idea, so you don't care. When the firestorm comes down from above, you blame the problem on your back-stabbing co-worker that took yer job. "He wanted it implemented this way, but I wanted to do it different." Sure enough, he's canned and now you have the manager job.
You got what you wanted. The power courses through your veins like an espresso hopped up on Redbull. You are the man. Now, two people work for you, one of whom was there when you did the poor implementation, and overheard you complain about your manager at the water cooler. He knows what you did, and has a distaste for how you got your new job. He thinks you are incompetent and undeserving: He is just like you used to be.
You get my meaning here? How can we expect Congress or the President to do anything useful if their entire intent is to make their affiliate party look good, not to mention, self-serve their lust for power? How is the President supposed to get anything done when his counterparts in Congress are trying to set him up for failure so they have bullet points on the next presidential election?
I wish I had some sort of proposal to fix this, but alas, I'm not a political scientist, so all I can do is bring the bad news.
