I hate politics.

So, reading through all the various news sources (Reuters, Post, Times, Fox, Slate, Salon, BBC), I realize that I hate politics, and that it makes me sad. Again, you will note that I am heavily leaning towards the idealist "we can make this work" mentality (you have to have this being a public servant/teacher to make it through, or, you cannot have it, and then you just get really bitter)- I wish I didn't have to feel this way. I do, however, and not much is going to change.

Case in point- why do so many people feel "excited" that they have the choice between a woman or a black president? Who cares? If you were raised to believe that sexism or racism were bad things, and that you should never judge a person by their race/gender, why is it a huge factor now? Does it only mean that we can judge them on their race or gender, only when they do "good" things or make "progress"? Isn't that a little pejorative? Good -insert gender/race- person! You did it! Good for you! It sounds insulting to me, and I am one of the genders in discussion.

I think, given the times and situations we live in, that the choice for president should be the best one to handle the major issues. I don't mean every issue, because, as I posted before, you can't please a majority of people, no matter how hard you try. I don't care about the "historical" nature of this race- I suppose that this is where I am not the idealist of the earlier paragraphs- I am more concerned with the reality of the world right now. We are at war (married to a man who was in the war makes it more real- and the fact that we get the Army Times, and they list the American dead with their pictures each week. That should be done in all newspapers [and I don't give a shit if that isn't the sort of thing that "sells"- journalists need to go back and reassess what their role is, outside of money-maker], so that maybe the millions of Americans who aren't related to a soldier and aren't really effected by the war could at least remember that there is one) and our economy/internal affairs needs some work. Talk about those issues, and I don't care what you look like! Electing a woman or black man for history's sake is a weak argument. If they are qualified to deal with the big issues, bring it on!

Also- why is it in the best interest of the world to promote liberal, pluralistic democracies? Pluralistic= various religious/tribal/racial groups living together. I know partition is a bad idea, but is it any better to force people with deep-rooted hatred to get along? Can you, or will it erupt every now and then? I mean, in the US, while we tend to get along among all of our different groups, we all do tend to live among people who are similar to us, either in race, religion, and income. I guess this is in response to some of what I have been reading about Kenya and Iraq. Okay- enough of this post. It is rather disorganized and rambling, and maybe I will fix or expand later.