Advice from a small town girl

Thank God.

I mean that most sincerely, and it’s an appropriate sentiment to be sandwiched between Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving.

I’m actually grateful more often than that, usually every day, but I am compelled to share my joy that the blankety-blank elections are over.

No more phone calls from Mitt, Newt, state or national parties.

No more hiding from the incessant political talk shows on TV.

Or at least that’s what I thought.

I appear to be something of an innocent in these things.

Because they’re already talking about 2016, speculating on which potential candidates will be the first to go to Iowa.

After all, the caucuses are right around the corner in 2014.

It almost makes me wish the Mayan calendar was right.

Almost.

Not because I’m anti-political, you understand.

No, it’s because I don’t see the point in listening to a bunch of people who haven’t had a new idea in eons. Instead, someone in each corner of the ring comes up with a sound bite, and all the rest begin repeating it ad nauseum.

It’s because I absolutely refuse to support people who, instead of offering solutions to very real problems, grab hold of the nearest end of the rope and start pulling.

Poor, naïve me.

I was foolish enough to think that politicians who were not rewarded with victory would actually look at their positions and at least think about modifying them.

Apparently, that’s not going to happen.

Because of what they call values. Or ideals. Or an apparently completely inflexible belief system.

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and it might be a dangerous one.

I’m pretty much a live-and-let-live person.

I’m not afraid of legalized marriage for everyone, or legalized (and heavily taxed) marijuana use.

I would love to have the states decide for themselves how their citizens should be governed, if only it were really the people of the states making the decisions, and not outside influences, such as ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council.)

I would love to see less business regulation, if only there were not significant precedent for needing it.

I would love to see us be a self-regulating population, one that can recognize when we’re being either fed a line of you-know-what to keep us complacent or when we’re being manipulated into being angry instead of well informed.

I don’t want the government in my bedroom (or anyone else’s for that matter.) Nor do I want them in my kitchen, bathroom, garage or doctor’s office.

But I swear, I’d rather have the government there than the financial powers influencing it. At least we can see the government.

Besides, we all know just how effective the government is.