Aye? Nay? Well, It Appears, the Eh's Have it!

Alright. First shot at this blog thing. Just a brief one tonight, mainly to say hello. My goal is to put up a posting once a week, every week, no matter how brief and inane or long and involved. We'll see how that goes.

The first thought - the election. I have to say that I am proud that my team won on Tuesday. This country has about 280 million people. Figure that 210 million of them are of voting age. Bush got about 59 million. Kerry got about 55 million. Nader got about 12 votes. That means that my team got the rest of them, about 95,999,988 of them. That's right. Indifference wins! Here's to everyone who didn't go vote!

In all seriousness, I strongly believe in the necessity of democracy. I love how this country is a forum for voices to be heard, and I love how time and time again, the voice of the people speaks. I love how gay rights activists can put forth their ideas, pushing their causes. And I love how the majority can show up to the polls and refuse to be bullied by special interest groups, and crush the gay marriage movement in 11 states. What this system claims to do, it does well. And I salute it.

However, I do have a bit of an issue right now with the state-federal dichotomy. See, I'm definitely a state's rights sort of guy. I think that people on the ground have a better feel of what's needed for a specific situation better than the command central. Big picture things, I'm OK with Washington DC taking the lead on. But local issues? I have a suspicion that states are often too big for their own good.

Why does Chicago's voice completely dominate that of the rest of the state? Why does NYC do the same? Why aren't they their own separate entities? Wouldn't that seem to make sense? If people in a large population differ greatly from the rest of the state, shouldn't they have laws that suit their needs? Shouldn't they have Senators and Representatives that will speak for them?

Ordinarily, I'm all for voting and the democratic process, but this time I stayed home. Why was that? My vote would not have mattered. I'm in Illinois. Kerry won by 11 points. He probably won Chicago by about 30 points. Chicago completely overshadows the rest of the state. My vote is negated by the huge mass that is Chicago. Does that speak for me? Not at all. How would I have voted has my vote mattered? Probably Bush, mainly because he seems likable and Kerry seems stiff. Probably because I'm used to Bush, and unfamiliar with Kerry. Probably because Bush is entertaining, and Kerry is the opposite of entertaining.

Issues? Eh. Iraq? Neutral. Economy? Seems okay to me. I'm making more money than I was 8 years ago under Clinton (of course, I was making $9/hr at a summer office job before my freshman year in college). Terrorism? Bush seems to be doing fine, though I'm a little upset that things take longer at the airport. Morals? Both seem like good enough guys. I'm not a big fan of Kerry's wife, though I really dig her 57 sauce. That stuff is awesome.

It just seems that both candidates are so darned similar. Rich dudes, either inheriting wealth and power, or marrying into it. Either way works for me. Not much different. But Kerry's party opens up a huge Pandora's Box. The Republicans have a good sense not to go too overboard to the right, lest they offend their slightly right-leaning base. However, the Democrats do not. They know that the majority of people stay in the central, yet their agenda seems overwhelmingly left. And that scares me. There are already enough people who don't share my views speaking for me.

In case you're still reading, this blog has no rules. There's no editing for content. I'm just letting it rip, and not really going back to check the integrity of my logic. I could very well be wrong. Tonight was politics. Probably won't see politics for another 4 years. You'll hear a good amount of sports. Maybe some social commentary. I'm sure that you'll hear about my personal life. Probably about my professional life, too. Either way, this is one of my contributions to the mundane lives of those who would choose to read.

Enjoy.

-Chairman