This is a collection of things that are just kind of ever present in my mind and bother me.
Apathy = Idiocy
Idiōtēs the ancient Athenians came up with this word to describe some one who was uninformed or didn’t care about the political proceedings of Polis. In recent months I have seen more and more Apathy ’08 bumper stickers on cars, including belonging to my own family. I sort of understand their reasoning but I have to disagree with it. They seem to think that since the candidate of their choice is no longer in the race then electing one of the remaining people will amount to choosing the lesser of the evils, and they believe there is something wrong with this. However I believe that you should intentionally choose the lesser because it is less likely to long-term major damage to the country. I feel that if you don’t vote, or vote for a candidate that has no chance in hell of winning then you should not be able to complain about what the eventual winner does. Of course both of my family members were probably Paulites, so if that’s the case than even in the primary they wasted their votes.
Democracy
It is interesting to me how people always seem to think that America is a democracy. Then again I also tend to believe that many people are uninformed idiots who believe anything that people will tell him. We are a Republic, we elect people to speak for us and we vote for them based on how we think they will stand on issues. If we don’t like how they did then we should vote them out of office. However even with Congress’ low approval rating there will probably be little turnover. Democrats being the majority party should suffer most but they will try to find a way to shift blame to the Republicans.
The Role of Government
This is one of those things that kind of irritates me. People like to say that the government should do this or that for them, the government should pay for their kids to go to school, or should pay so that their kids can have food. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me break it to you this way the only jobs that the government should do is to provide for the national defense, aka the Military, run a court system, and conduct foreign policy. There are several rights that should extend to everybody except felons. What are these right you might ask, well let me explain them to you.
1) The right to defend yourself, this means you should be able to own and carry a gun, knife or sword with no need for licensing, because an armed society is a polite society, and in a truly free society you should be able to defend yourself without worrying about what the court will say.
2) Freedom of religion, this means that you have the freedom to choose any religion you want and should be able to practice it anywhere you want and if someone is offended then they should GTH.
3) Freedom of speech, this means that the GOVERNMENT can not tell you what to say and what not to say, instead you are free to say whatever you want, however people are still free to take exception to what you say and sue you for libel and slander.
4) You have the right to find a job and work. You work or you starve. I think that pretty much explains it, I mean you could get charity from individuals or private charities but you should expect nothing from the state. It is not the job of the people who are actually out earning money to support you in your laziness.
5)The State can not agree to any treaties that will violate the basic rights of its citizens. So none of this crap about the UN outlawing guns, or mandating certain things that the US has to do, NONE OF THAT.
However that is just my ideal version of government I am to much of a realist to believe that it will ever work.
D.C. Gilbert 
Really I should say that it will never work in this world, now if a group of like minded individuals were to settle on a new planet far away from Earth, then it might have a chance.
Welcome back, Darren. We’ve missed your commentary.
Apathy, 08??? Is this a real bumper sticker? It could have been designed by the Dems themselves. OK, so we don’t have the best of choices, at least we ought to avoid having Obama or Hillary in the Whitehouse at all costs. I can’t stand McCain but I’ll hold my nose and vote for him on the day because the opposite prospect is just that bad. And if that’s not the best or the right reason to vote, it’ll have to do.
Democrats are experts at shifting the blame for their ills to the Republicans as you say. We’re dealing with a wily, crafty enemy, more sophisticated than most of us are.
I think what we thought we had in democracy has ended up something very different as the evil present in our society has found loopholes and ways around it like manipulation of the media etc.
Now it’s up to us to hold those ideals in our hearts and to pass them on. We’ve lost power in the public area for now, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone in the wider community.
Aurora, yes that is actually a bumper sticker, several of my family members have it on their vehicles, I don’t know where they got it, but they have it.
I have no doubt that most of the Democrats are more educated then I am I can’t compete with that I’m just finishing up a bachelors in history, but I think I am probably wiser than they are, though I don’t give two hoots in hades for sophistication.
I do think you’ve hit the nail on the head we just need to bide our time and hope that people realize what the Democrats and people of John McCain’s ilk truly are, they will come back to the path of America the Great.
I remember reading “Useful Idiots” or something of the sort a year or so ago. In it, this interesting thought: Democrats cheat (read: smear and intimidate) and win. Republicans see this and figure they have to do the same to compete. The Dems are probably still much better at it.
Hannah, for my final college class on the evolution of conservatism and liberalism in American thought we had to read several book, the final one being The Conservative revolution by Lee Edwards of the Heritage foundation, in that book he frequently used the phrase “Me too Republicans” to describe republicans who thought they had to be like Democrats, both in politics and in presentation. I believe that true conservatives need to distance themselves from these fools take back control of the party do what Reagan set out to do, shrink the federal government and cut taxes.
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Hi William. Yes I am a “Paulite”, and proud of it. Have you read his book? If you are a true conservative you should have supported him, none of the others are conservative. My vote/money were not wasted, they may not have accomplished my dreams. But someone/something needs to tell the American people that both parties are running the US into the ground. Therefore I am Apathetic for the ’08 election.
I never said I disagreed with all of what Ron Paul said, personally I like some of his stands on individual rights, especially the Second Amendment. However in watching him in several debates he came across as not altogether there, there was one debate in particular I believe it was in December, in which the candidates were asked a question about an incident involving US Naval Vessels and an encounter with Iranian speed boats. Most of the candidates gave the same general response, that the Naval commanders on the scene had done the correct thing, however when the question got around to Ron Paul he started ranting about how we shouldn’t condemn the Naval officers since we weren’t there, when no one at the debate had condemned them. That and his idea for “Letters of Marquis and Reprisal” I don’t know if he actually thought that idea through before he proposed it or not, but to my mind it’s just not a valid idea. The theory being that if we put a reward on Bin Laden’s head that the people wold turn him over to us, except that we have put a price on his head, and I have yet to see Bin Laden dropped on our doorstep. I have some borderline libertarian beliefs, however I have trouble with the no foreign intervention policy espoused by the Constitutionalist and Libertarian parties. Under their theories even though we have the capacity to prevent a great evil, say genocide, from befalling a people we should sit peaceably back and let them resolve it themselves. Why should we do this, we are the biggest kid on the block, we are the Hegemon it is our job to protect those who could not defend themselves. I’m not saying that giving them money is the right thing but if we can help these people learn to defend themselves then we are making the world a better place.