Politics! How... Fun™!
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Politically I lean left. Just enough to piss off both actual leftists/marxists (for not going far enough) and right-wingers (for being a pinko commie). That's not to say that I particularly identify with the current crop of democrats. They're just as infested with lobbyists -- in fact I would almost say they're worse because they say one thing and then do another. At least you can count on the republicans to openly wear their contempt for capital-O Others on their sleeves.
I've come around a bit on the universal healthcare front. I'm in support of it, but I also know that being what we are, a nation of compromise, we'll find some way to screw it up if we ever even get around to implementing it. We can do it, we just... probably won't.
As for immigration, it's clear something's got to be done. What that something is, I'm not qualified to decide. I don't think we should just be kicking people back out when they were desperate enough for a better life that they're taking the risk of being caught, but we clearly can't just let everyone in, either. One thing is for damn sure, we shouldn't be keeping children in cages. I'm aware this practice started long before Trump even ran for office. And as long as we are, I think I can say with confidence that whatever we're doing, we're doing it wrong.
I am firmly pro-choice. Women's bodies are their own. I see absolutely no reason why old white men in congress should have a say. Or me for that matter. I don't care, what you do with your body is your business. Unfortunately with the overturning of Roe v. Wade by an institution that's supposed to be apolitical (and as much as they'll kick and scream otherwise, the apolitical thing to do would be to let precedent stand) we're looking at very dark days ahead for reproductive rights. And here I thought I had a hard time getting a date before! Just a little gallows humor, don't mind me. Anyway, the second a male contraceptive is developed that actually works as it's supposed to, I'll do my part -- not that I find myself in the position where it matters anyway, but I'm told the thought counts.
On the other hand, I can entertain the argument for being pro-life, when they're actually pro-life and not just anti-women. Not that someone like that actually comes by very often -- typically, they don't care what happens after the baby's born, just that it is. But who gets to define when exactly a fetus becomes a baby? That's a sticky question, and if you have a definitive answer, you're doing better than me. At the same time, it's not like the government cares what happens to the babies after they're born, until they're military age anyway -- Carlin said it best, they want live babies so they can become dead soldiers.
My stance on LGBTQ+ people, is that it's absolutely pathetic that it's something to even have a stance on. As long as you're not hurting anyone, do what you will, I just don't care at the end of the day. If I misgender you, please have some patience -- it's coming from ignorance rather than malice. In short...
While I'm not Biden's biggest fan I did vote for him and I'm happy to see him get in over another round of the tangerine. I moved to Florida after the inauguration without thinking about the fact that I'd be in the same state as the ex-prez and the thought kinda makes me wanna puke. Another four years of ineffectual leadership I can handle, it'll just be Obama 2: Electric Boogaloo, but I don't think I could stomach much more of the circus that Washington'd become under Trump.
Thankfully net neutrality seems to be making a comeback after an executive order got signed (note: used to be an MSN news link, joke's on me for thinking they keep permanent links I guess...). Here I was starting to get afraid that the damage Ajit Pai and his crew did was permanent. That said, I do find it worrying that something as important as this can just be immediately rolled back the second the other side gets in office. On the other hand, this also makes it easier to fix their screwups, so...
We've got to, got to, got to work on reducing carbon emissions. We're already past the point where we're probably screwed anyway, but if we want to be able to live on this planet in anything approaching comfort in the future, things have got to get really sustainable, really fast. How we're going to get there, I've no idea. We've been watching the storms get bigger, meaner, and faster for too long. Remember, the danger isn't from the temperature change itself though that's bad enough in and of itself -- it's the severe weather exacerbated by it. And again, we're probably already too late -- I believe we've reached the point where the polar icecaps melting is turning into a feedback loop with all the methane trapped beneath them being released. That doesn't mean we should sit back and do nothing. We've got to figure out how we're going to survive. Nuclear power, specifically that made with Thorium, I'm told could be a very good tool for at least stepping us off of fossil fuels -- not exactly the most renewable thing out there, but it's ridiculously plentiful and compared to what we're doing now, relatively clean. Thorium is also apparently much safer than traditional Uranium or Plutonium reactors, since it can't really do anything on its own. While I'm at it, ban all nukes. No nukes are good nukes. Mutually-assured destruction is abbreviated M.A.D. for a reason.
Overall I miss how things were before things got so polarized. I know there's quite a lot to blame for this; between the news media becoming increasingly more like an echo chamber, where you stay with what you want to hear and everything can be explained away by smooth-talking news-anchors, and social media also making it easier to again only hear what you want to, so no one even hears the other side of a story anymore, and constantly hears them mocked and belittled. Both sides are guilty of this and it needs to stop. Bring back the fairness doctrine if you've got to, but something's got to be done.
(Probably) ill-informed rant over.
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This page is dedicated to Keith Kress in his memory. May he rest in peace.