Saturday, April 18, 2009

All left behind.

Here's a morose post. After listening to and reading a lot of news over the past few weeks, I've come to the conclusion that, as a voter, I don't exist unless it's election time. That's true for all voters. We're just a means to an end, an entity that ceases to exist once a politician is elected. We get politicians, whoever they are (Republican, Democrat, Other), elected to an office so they can fight amongst themselves autonomously of their voters' wishes, almost like Greek gods fighting in Olympus, having long forgotten about us mere mortals here on earth. They remember us when they need us and promptly forget us when they're distracted by something more important like who said what.

I think the abortion debate is a great example. If you look at the statistics, most people fall about in the middle on abortion. Most of us would prefer that it wasn't needed; however, most people are also realists and think it should be a decision between a woman, her doctor and her conscience. But if you ask a Republican politician, all us liberals want to be out killing babies; if you ask a Democrat politician, all the Republicans want to force women to carry to term, regardless of the consequences. Each side has so demonized the other. But if you ask a person on the street, it seems like the most common answer is, "Well, I don't like the idea, but it should probably be legal or at least up to the state to legislate."

It's that type of disconnect that bothers me so much. It seems like virtually every elected official has completely lost sight of the people they were elected to represent in the first place and now must fit some caricature of one side or the other. I hate that. It tells me that I can get someone elected, but it'll be pure luck that results in a country that more closely resembles the one I want to live in. And that absolutely sucks.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Crazy? Or really, really crazy?

My dad, his girlfriend and my husband ganged up on me this morning and now I'm all excited. They're pushing me hard to start a new business. Can I do it? I already did it once, but this would be different. Should I do it? Well, businesses have a remarkable tendency to fail, but my previous one was successful.

I'm spurred on by a few things: in my field I'm considered an expert. Yes, that sounds snotty and arrogant, but somehow I learned enough about a really boring subject to be considered knowledgable. Which isn't too hard - it just takes time. Also, I hate my boss. I've never had such a terrible boss. I try not to talk about it because that tends to bring things down. But it's safe to say that, compared with my previous terrible boss, this one looks like Satan. Additionally, the company I work for as a whole sucks and the CEO is a git. Yes, a git. I've heard him speak and I don't think I've ever sat through such an unprofessional, disjointed, repetitive "speech" in my life. I got one concept out of it. And that was that he was a bad speaker.

Cons: I need health insurance. It could fail. I may need money for a designer and will eventually need other employees if I'm sucessful. It's also freakin' scary.

Hmmm. But the pros: I'd get to work from home. I wouldn't have to drive to the armpit of the world every day. I could make a hell of a lot of money. Most importantly, I could spend more time with the kid.

So far, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Crap. Hold me, I'm scared.