Turning Off CNN

So I openly admit that I can, on occasion, exhibit some rather misanthropic tendancies, it’s not something I’m necessarily proud of, in fact I actually fight it most of the time. There are though alas times that I suffer from “I’m rolling my eyes so much they are going to get stuck in the back of my head” syndrome, alright for the sake of honestly, let's admit I suffer from at least one moment of that syndrome almost everyday. Unfortunately, I seem to be suffering from it a lot lately, and I wasn’t sure why, but on my way to work this morning, I think I stumbled upon the answer.

It’s the National Elections; it’s making me want to poke my eyes out. I don’t really want to get all political in my blog, don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with political blogs, and most of the time I’m up for a good spirited political discussion, it’s just not really what my blog is about at this point. Going from “my 5 year old loves Zac Efron” to “so what do you think about the state of the nation” is cheesy even to me. Plus most people that know me have listened to me ad nauseum for the past oh, 20 some odd years, and know where I stand. I’m sure being a liberal LDSer (yeah I know I’ve heard the oxymoron or oxymormon jokes) might mean I have a fairly unusual perspective, but I’m sure someone somewhere is already doing the liberal mormon blog thing better than I could do. Sure someday, at some point, I might actually make a few interesting blog entries about my views, I was thinking of waxing poetic on such popular ward party topics as:

I get the whole “the earth will be renewed and receive it’s paradisical glory” thing, but can we back off fast tracking that, I kind of like it here; and no I don’t actually think global warming was heaven’s way of keeping Al Gore busy and out of our hair.

I know that we need jobs, cars, and nice houses, but um immigrants are our brothers and sisters, trying to do what my ancestors already did, so can we not make them the enemy, it scares me.

Marriage is sacred, I know that, and further homosexuality is a difficult issue, but our gay friends are people (and are friends). I love a lot of them, and I see how much they love and cherish each other; so there has got to be some kind of solution to this marriage issue that works for everyone.

There is nothing inherently wrong with being a feminist, and one doesn’t have to believe that women need to be exactly like men to recognize that in a whole lot of places in this world, right now as we speak: women get the short end of the stick, and in a very bad way. Those women are a cause worth fighting for and identifying with as a woman, any day of the week; and yes I'm proud to adopt the feminist label to align myself with those sisters.

O.K., so I really don’t discuss this stuff at ward parties (although if I ever get called to be ward activities chair again, I’m going to start, I wasn’t a big fan of that particular calling, I think bringing up a few of those at the ward Christmas party could take care of that issue right quickly), but yeah I have what I have found to be a rather interesting perspective (though not unique, I find quite a few like minded LDS friends, we’re just rather quiet about it).

But that is not where I’m going today, today I’m just sick of this whole election, and it’s only March. We are standing on the brink of what could be an incredibly important chapter in US history, as we look to possibly elect either the first woman, or first black president if this country. This country isn’t perfect, but I love it anyway, and changes that have literally happened almost in my lifetime in civil, and human rights are coming to fruition, and that is awe inspiring to me. Well that is to say it would be if we didn’t have to sit and watch these two people both of whom I think would be fine leaders, poke each other’s eyes out first.

I don’t think either Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama are perfect, they don’t perfectly represent me, my political beliefs, or everything I would like in an ideal leader. I don’t think they hold a candle to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or FDR, none of whom were perfect either. I don’t actually think Senator McCain is a bad guy, in fact I think he’s probably a very good guy, he’s just no “my” guy here; and neither was the Mitt Romney, despite the whole LDS connection (although I admit that Brooke White and David Archelata are my favorite American Idols because of the LDS connection, I'm not made of stone here). I guess this is just a moment of history I want to savor, a moment of history that I wasn't sure I would live to see. This is getting ugly, and I hate watching it, and reading about it, and knowing how divisive everything is right now. I can’t wait for this primary process to be over; heck, I can’t wait for this election to be over. I want at this historic time to cast a vote for a candidate that I'm proud to vote for, and honestly I think Obama or Clinton could be that candidate. At least I used to think that, now I just want one of both of them to stop the ugly, and be the bigger person.

I wish one of them would.

So this has been today's instalment of "how the soap box turns" stay tuned for my next regularly scheduled entertainment when everything gets back to normal, and I can mundanely post about "Easter with the Cranes".

Oh and by the way, in case anyone is wondering, deep down I’m a Hillary girl, but um don’t tell my husband (ha ha).