The semi-great debate...

I'm as informed a voter as the next person but I've never really been interested in watching the candidates debate on television. To me, debates have always been just so much talking heads spewing out the same rhetoric they put into all the incessant ads that have been playing for the past two years. I did tune in last night though just out of curiosity. I have to say, though I completely disagree with her, I am intrigued by Sarah Palin. As a woman, I had hoped to see an example of a smart strong female who could stand her ground and make sense. I suppose she is smart (though her references to the average American as "joe sixpack" just irks me to no end. I suppose she is even strong. I mean, you don't get to be governor of a state without having something. Oh wait...Arnold did it, didn't he? Yeah... well, nevermind then.

Unfortunately, what I saw was the same old, same old. It was just wrapped up in an updo and high heels. But the truth is, I kind of saw the same thing in Biden. Okay, not the high heels or updo but you know what I mean! Lots of talk, shades of a vague plan or too which are usually the things that fall away pretty damn quickly once the election is over. It was all there. Eventually I just turned off the sound.

The thing is, as much as we all say we need change, I don't know that we're really prepared for it. Don't get me wrong, I want W out of that White House yesterday and I sure don't want someone who will just proliferate his cockamamie ideas for the next four years to get elected. But real change is hard. It's not enough to change the names and faces of our leaders. We have to be ready, willing and accept some of the hardships and unfamiliar routines that must come will any real change. We have to be able to be hard on ourselves and accept personal responsibility.

Yes, the US is too dependent on foreign oil but, honestly, how many of us have started to car pool, take mass transit, bike, or walk to work. Yes, the US needs to take care of the homeland security issues but is it prudent (to quote George B. senior) to do it at the risk of losing touch with those people who live here on the economic edge of no return? How can we build school and educate children in other countries when our own school systems are being short changed and having programs cut left and right. And here's the big change...how can we realistically do any of this without raising taxes? The truth is, we can't. And the first honest politician who tells me that gets my vote. And that tax thing is the one thing that almost everyone I've talked to opposes. They do not want to pay more to get more and that's final! So, yeah, we can talk about change and how the government "should" do this or that and the other...as long as it doesn't have any affect on us. Unfortunately, that means more of the same.