Youth Politics

There’s a pretty serious non-issue (in my opinion) that has gotten quite a bit of media coverage over the last couple of days, even with the conflict in Gaza getting out of hand. The Blagojevich scandal, which was about the man himself, the governor of Illinois, being convicted of selling Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder. Now Blagojevich has appointed Roland Burris to take the Senate seat, and the Democrats are trying to block this action.

Here’s the problem I’m having with this: while it is true that Blagojevich is being convicted of a serious crime, is he still not the governor? Where in the law does it say that he no longer gets to perform any of his duties? Do we ignore the law because of a “special circumstance”? I thought that is what courts were for, to challenge the law. If that’s the case, someone needs to bring this to the attention of the courts.

As far as I’m concerned, the only person this punishes is Burris himself. Burris is completely clean and I think would be a perfectly good senator. It seems to me that Obama’s team’s only motivation to block Burris’ entry into the Senate is purely political, and that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I understand the arguments against this act, and I also do understand that Blagojevich pretending that nothing’s going on is a serious lack of judgment, but isn’t he still governor and isn’t he innocent until proven guilty?

As a lot of you might know, Valkyrie came out in theaters today. I loved watching the trailers for it on TV because of the fact that they didn’t stress that it came out on Christmas day, only saying that it will show on the 25th. Seems like bad timing to me, even if you’re trying to target non-Christmas celebrating audiences. I can’t think of a better thing to do to celebrate the holidays than to watch people try to assassinate Hitler, can you?

It has been brought to my attention that people think the Holocaust was caused by a bad German economy. I cannot stress enough how wrong this “fact” is. Hitler was really the only reason for the Holocaust. He took advantage of the terrible German economy to suit his political agenda and to more easily persuade his audience to follow his cause. Because let’s face it, when you’re desperate, you’ll listen to a lot more people who promise a way out of misery. That’s exactly how it happened. It wasn’t caused by a bad German economy, it was caused by a lunatic.

There’s a lot of power play in politics, and this fact should be blatantly obvious to anyone. Hitler took power with ease and then put himself in absolute control via manipulation. Could anyone really have stopped him? Yes, they could have, but they didn’t want to. Hitler claimed he needed to do what he did to save Germany from total economic collapse, so he was left to do whatever he deemed was necessary.

I’ll probably watch Valkyrie, but certainly not today. I’m in too festive a mood to watch a serious movie : >

Merry Christmas everyone!

I’m starting to become less and less interested when yet another politician is discovered to be having an affair. At the current rate of discovery, we’re bound to hear of the next latest political affair scandal within the next four to six months. Elliot Spitzer was the last man to fall, and now John Edwards has taken center stage. Granted, John Edwards did not have much going for him politically, but now I’m certain he won’t ever have much going for him politically. It seems like again and again politicians are falling for the same trap. They aren’t learning from others’ mistakes. You see John Edwards giving shame to Bill Clinton then turning around and doing the exact same thing. What is it going to take to get this through their thick skulls, that they can’t have a secret life and get away with it?

What is it that makes these politicians feel like they won’t ever get caught. If you’re important enough to be on TV and to be followed, then you’re not safe. Period. I’m not saying that you’re particularly safe otherwise, but it seems like if you’re an important person, then you need to stay away from having an affair. Period. Everyone should stay away from having an affair, but to most people, an affair ruins those people’s personal lives. With politicians, an affair can ruin their careers, and it has on various occasions. I’d love to just be able to ask these people, “was it worth it?” Nothing beats the embarrassment of having to tell the entire American public that you were having an affair. Hell it may even be worse than simply telling the family.

The funny thing is that I know that some of the people reporting the story are also probably having an affair. It’s even worse with commentators. Some of them cheat; I’ll bet plenty of money on that. These people are the biggest hypocrites of all. Edwards made a mistake, but to shame him while doing the exact same thing is inexcusable. It’s actually worse than just having an affair because its been acknowledged that its wrong. So for any of you who are cheating or having an affair, look at John Edwards as an example. Yes, you may not be television worthy and your career may not be on the line if you get caught. But you have no idea what the consequences of your actions may be. Don’t think you wont get caught, because you have no idea who’s watching. Most importantly, you get no say when others are discovered to be having affairs. You can’t shame them at all until you demonstrate that you’re not turning around and making the exact same disgrace.

A topic that is always brought up when a new affair is discovered is if the people should care what politicians are doing in their own private lives. It depends I think, on what a person values. Does having an affair affect a person’s ability to lead and to take charge? No. Does that make someone less capable? Does it affect someone’s decision-making process? No. However, does it give us a better picture of how this person thinks? Most definitely. To me, someone who cheats has the mindset that nothing bad will come to me, and worse yet, that I can get away with things without anyone else noticing. Is that someone I want to be running the country? I’m not sure I could sleep at night knowing that the people at the White House can get away with doing things I don’t want them to do. I mean I know it happens all the time, but if I get advanced warning that a particular politician thinks in that manner, then well, it’s going to be very hard for that person to get my vote.

So remember folks, don’t have an affair. And if you do have an affair, don’t lie about it. Otherwise, if you are having an affair and haven’t been caught (yet), don’t shame others for the same acts that you yourself are committing. And moreover, if you believe you can get away with things behind other people’s backs, then do not run for office. Period.