I’m downright ashamed to admit that when we moved, I completely forgot to re-register with the County Clerk to vote, so I am not registered to vote in Solano County. I may still be registered to vote in Yolo County; I’ll have to call the Yolo County Clerk and check with them.

This is very important to me. While I have very little faith in the competence of the people who claim to run our country, I believe it is of the utmost importance that every citizen of our nation actually gets out and votes. It is, after all, the very basis of what our country has been based on: the right to choose our own government, and to be governed wisely by the people that we choose.

On the other hand, those who know me probably won’t be surprised to learn that I am extremely cynical about the state of our political system. I used to be less so; but then Clinton was impeached, and I realized that within our system, partisan viewpoints are much more important than what is just and true. I frankly think that is a sorrowful state of affairs.

I don’t really know if either political party really knows what it’s talking about when it comes to domestic policies. Republicans seem to subscribe to a myth that if government funding for public programs is cut, then people will somehow generously give money to charity to make up for the decimated social programs (but let’s think about this: if you had five bucks more in your tax return, are you going to give it to a charity or buy yourself a burger?). Democrats, on the other hand, seem to subscribe to a myth which says that the government has some level of competency in distributing funds. Personally, I have a little bit more faith in the second myth, which is why I tend to vote Democrat, though I rarely register as Democrat OR Republican. On the whole, I find the party system rather absurd.

My cynicism has expanded of late. While I used to maintain some faith in the political processes in some other countries, I am now of the opinion that, in the face of all of the troubles in the world, there are people who simply don’t want solutions. For example: I honestly believe that neither Israeli Prime Minister Sharon nor Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat want a solution to the conflict in the Middle East. I base this on the observation that none of the proposed settlements have even been worthy of consideration in their estimation.

I don’t believe that the British or the northern Irish really want a solution to the problem of Northern Ireland. And I don’t believe that Colombia wants a solution to their troubles.

I certainly don’t believe that India and Pakistan want to settle their dispute.

I’m beginning to doubt that the government of the United States really wants a solution to terrorism. If we did, then I think we’d be focusing more energy on the conditions that foster the terrorist mindset than we actually do.

I guess I’m not entirely cynical. I do believe that there are people within the government who are honorable and courageous and unwilling to compromise their principles or their sound judgement for what’s popular and trendy. It’s possible that such people have even made it to the national level, though I think that such people are probably weeded out by the time they reach the state level. I believe that the last President with anything resembling honor, courage, or moral character was Jimmy Carter; too bad he was such a poor politician. I had some faith in Clinton’s ability to lead (I honestly don’t believe that his transgressions had any bearing on his leadership abilities), but I find President George W. Bush sadly lacking in character. I’ve been impressed with some of his domestic policies, but more impressed with his willingness to piss off the leadership of other nations to make himself look good at home.

I try to be optimistic about the future of humanity, but I’m finding that it’s more difficult to do that these days. The corporate world offers no refuge, of course (not that it ever did). The Enron scandal is only one sign of what I see as a deep-rooted and ultimately deadly trend within American business to sell out principles and honor in the name of a buck. I believe that companies which prostitute their technology to sell censorware to totalitarian governments such as China and Saudi Arabia represent the very worst in American business, and are a disgrace to our nation’s ideals and principles.

I am a very firm believer in principles and honor, and standing by them no matter what. I believe that, as a nation, we have improved in our ability to stand by the principles that we believe in, but I don’t believe that such ability has come from the top; it has come from the bottom, from activists and people willing to sacrifice everything but their integrity. And I believe that if our leaders had such integrity, we would be an even stronger nation and a stronger role model for the rest of the world. But as long as we insist on racial profiling in the name of "security"; as long as we believe that money is more important than true American values; and as long as we believe it’s okay to play fast and loose with international cooperation; then our integrity is not visible and we are not worthy of the principles and values we claim.

Whew. That’s quite a rant. Normally, I loathe talking politics, and will avoid the subject whenever it comes up in conversation; but I’ve been listening to the news and becoming more and more distressed over what I’ve been seeing, I’ve finally had to get it out of my system.

It’s out now. Thank goodness. Now I can get back to normal stuff.

But the point is: get out and vote.