Year: 2008

Rachel Lucas has a very thought provoking post on the election, and says she understands now why people feel they can’t vote for McCain.  I can understand why people feel that way.  I swore a number of times after McCain took this position or that position that could never vote for the guy, but Obama’s success sobered me up on that count really quickly.  I also don’t think Rachel’s analogy between kids using pot and voting works quite neatly.

The reason is that the goal of a parent that doesn’t approve of kids taking drugs is to keep them from taking drugs.  There is a chance that the parents buying pot for their kids, so they have control over it, underestimate their ability to influence the behavior of their children.  They are essentially abdicating their responsibility with no strong evidence that they actually can’t keep their kids away from drugs, and I suspect you’d find a lot of these parents actually don’t have a problem with kids experimenting.

Except for the rare nail biting election, your individual influence over the outcome of an election is infinitesimal.  Elections are acts of collective expression, not an act of parenting, where a significant measure of responsibility and control over the child is maintained.  Either Obama or McCain are going to be taking up residence in the Oval Office next year.  There is no possibility of a different outcome that’s in the space of reality due to the collective nature of the process.  If an analogy to parenting is to be made, it’s a choice between your child dying of cancer, or having to undergo painful treatments that may or may not save their life.  The responsible parent would opt for treatment, because standing back and letting the cancer kill your child is not something a responsible parent would do.

We may not like the choice, but the outcome is decided.  Obama or McCain.  Take your pick.