Last weekend my wife and I, with our daughter in tow, took a road trip to the depths of Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The reason? After months of searching the web, filtering through all available options, checking all the current pricings, weeding out all the scams in order to find exactly what she as looking for, my wife finally picked out her new baby....a seventeen week old Pomsky that we have named Belle. That's right, my fellow Observers, we now have a new dog to add to the zoo that has become our house. With this newest addition, I have come to realize that our animals are just allowing us to live here only to feed them and attend to their needs. It reminds me of our children.... without the petting.
What amazed me the most about this whole process was the abundance of information available to they consumer when it comes to acquiring a new four legged friend. When I was growing up we went to the pound to get a dog. There was also always some friend or relative that was trying to find homes for a litter of puppies that their dogs just had. And, if all else failed, there was always the classified ads under "Free". Yes, my loyal reader, times have certainly changed. Not only can you use the internet to find exactly what doggie delight you are looking for, you can also visit hundreds of sites that are set up to narrow down what pet would work best for your living or home situation. Whether you live on a farm, in a house, an apartment, urban or rural area, kids or no kids, single or couple, these search engines will find the perfect match when it comes to your individual search for canine companionship. They are also surprisingly accurate as one of these sites helped picked the breed of our first dog for us. A Bernese Mountain Dog that we call Dizzy.
What fascinates, as well as nauseates me even more than our potential perfect pooch pursuits, is that more of us seem to spend significantly more time researching what particular dog that we would prefer wetting on our carpets or chewing on our slippers rather than what politician we would care to have pissing down our backs and gnawing at our wallets. I mean seriously..... This is the best we can do? Out of the hundreds to literally thousands of politicians at the local, state and federal level we've decided, collectively, that these two idiots is as good as it's gonna get come this November?.... Really??!?! This is all that we are being offered as our choices? A former first lady, who carpetbagged her way to a senate seat, that lead to an unremarkable stint as secretary of the state, who is so disconnected to the common working American that she turns down lecture offers that pay less than $150,000.00 a clip and still can't seem to figure out how to work that new fangled, email doohickey thingamajig. Or..... An egomaniac, racist, chauvinistic, overbearing, crass, crybaby billionaire that has absolutely no political experience whatsoever, who sidesteps his taxes, refuses to pay for services rendered to him, sues anyone who looks at him cross eyed and could care les about the people he wants to lead no matter how much he tells us he loves everybody. Hmmm...... let's see...... this is a tough one.... I sincerely can't decide which one I want to get screwed by more. Anyone got a coin?.... No?....Ok....Eeenie, Meenie......
And it's not just the American individual voters who are facing the dilemma of dealing with these two substandard choices. The parties themselves can't seem to make a unified choice. I was waiting for the conventions to either solidify the candidates or contest them as they should have. We didn't even get close to either outcome. With former candidates not endorsing the presumptive in one party to another convention in disarray at it's opening with their party members yelling out the name of the guy who lost. Both parties screaming volumes about change, yet doing nothing to obtain it. So over the last two weeks we all just sat and watched as both went through the motions and nominated two perfect examples of mediocrity. Does anyone else find these circumstances disturbing? Maybe I'm making too much out of it. After all, we're only talking about the presidency.... What could possibly go wrong in four years anyway?
Although they claim to be fonts of completely different facets of political platforms, both (I suppose we have to call them candidates) have more in common than they want to admit. Both have criticized each other about their business practices since they've both been accused of fraud. They jab at each other over who they have supported in the past. Oddly enough, he supported her wholeheartedly and she accepted his support..... with public gratitude. This certainly lends credibility to each of their judgment and consistency since now neither would give the other a glass of water if they were drowning. I wonder what could have caused that kind of change of heart?.... Curious. Each of these nimrods have also decided to choose a running mate that no one has ever heard of, let alone cares anything about, which shows exactly how short sighted they both are. Both have brought up the others scrapes with the law. Her about his questionable business practices that he keeps sliming his way out of and him about her not being indicted by the attorney general for treason. Both of these examples I blame on our legal system. What does this ignoring behavior imply about it and what kind of president are we going to get due to that inaction? Either way, I fear it's the majority who will ultimately lose as the select few gain with either victory.
My wife said it best. One day while discussing the upcoming election she stated that no matter who wins it will mean absolutely nothing to people like us. We simply don't matter enough to make a difference. They court us for our votes. Flirt with us until they get what they want and forget us and their promises when they get it no matter what party they represent. For as much as our intricate search for the perfect pet has evolved, I remember a time when choosing our president meant a lot more than it does now. A time when it reflected our collective needs and wants. When it emulated the national opinion of the people as we used our vote to produce change. What does it reflect and emulate now? I will say that I do agree with one of the candidates who stated that the system is rigged. Yes, I will concur that it is, however, I would add that it is not just rigged for one as he suggested, it's rigged for all. Especially for the ones who can afford it. When a system can be manipulated for one and remain uncompromising for another it will eventually fail due to it's own unbalance and corruption. Maybe that's the reflection this election is casting. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, I have to walk the dogs.
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Dizzy and Belle
