In which I get *deep breath* a bit political.

I’ve said it a billion times, but if there’s two topics I truly despise discussing, it’s politics, and religion. Both are matters people love to discuss all the time. But there’s a problem with that: both are developed slowly over time, by a combination of nature and nurture, and honestly, I have yet to see anyone, anywhere, ever change their mind on a topic after a discussion about god, or the lack thereof, or whether healthcare is a right, or if rich people make too much money.

But today, I’m breaking my rule. Because hey, why not? It’s election day here in the States. If you don’t live here, and/or aren’t particularly interested in our political process, might just want to stop reading right here.

This is the worst time every four years. This is the time where I sit back, and wish things were different, and wonder if we truly are the superior life form on this planet, or if all the sane people just go into hiding underground until the dust clears. It feels like every time an election rolls up, we draw a line in the sand, put down our laptops, our smartphones, and our brains, and go back to the third grade, where name calling and throwing dirt rule the day.

What side of that line do I fall on, you say? I’m going to give myself a rare moment of optimism and say neither. From my own personal experiences with people, this is how the political spectrum goes, and how people who fall on each side act:

Liberals: Super picky about what topics they’re particular to (see: Chick-Fil-A), and get righteously indignant if you disagree with their assessment on any topic, considering that they’re on the side of compassion, intelligence, and understanding. Believes that America is the land of free speech… as long as you agree with what they’re saying.  God ACLU help you if you don’t.

They also have this really, REALLY annoying habit of trying to be witty and not discuss a topic if they feel that they are obviously right on something, like they’re too cool for school. Sorry, all that succeeds in doing is making them look like douchebags that don’t actually know anything about the topic at hand, regardless of whether or not they actually do.

…I’d like to think I don’t really fall into those tendencies, but you never know. I might get called out on this later.

Conservatives: Believe strongly that God should have a guiding hand in decision making in our nation, despite the fact that in reality, if you believe in the whole god caring about countries thing (and I am NOT getting into this now, just doing conjecture), wouldn’t god be perfectly capable of doing his thing to the people in office all by himself? All too often, though, what they really want is for their blubbermouth pastors to have more of a say in what goes on in a country. Despite the fact that of most of the truly terrible people I’ve ever met in my life, I’ve met most of them in churches. Sad but true.

Honestly, that’s the big thing about conservatives that bother me. They think one standard, both in social and monetary issues, should be applied to everyone. Yes, I believe there are some moral absolutes. Killing someone is almost always bad. Raping someone IS always bad. Stealing is bad.

But can you imagine a world like what they want? Where everyone goes to church every sunday, goes out to dinner with their undivorced family every afternoon after, and watches rated PG movies at the theater, which of course never have any violence or especially sex in them? Where no one smokes, or drinks? Not only is such a world unrealistic, it’s also terrifyingly boring to think about.

People are different. Their lives are different. So of course, they’re going to be different, in their shades of gray. And that is beautiful to me. You can’t bleach everything white and not expect to burn the world. But this is exactly what most of them want. They want to tell everyone exactly how they should live their lives, because clearly their way is the right way. That’s just as arrogant as the liberal mindset, and perhaps even worse.

I know a LOT of people who think this way, too. I’m glad I’m not one of them.

So I’m not really either. I’m an independent thinker, and voter. Which means that my opinion is generally considered worthless.

But yeah. Laying all that out there.

My take on the candidates:

Barack Obama (D): If you ask me, he’s been a total train wreck. He was too simpy and non-liberal for the actual liberals. And of course, the conservatives hate him. What else did you expect? And don’t even get me started on the Benghazi incident. Either he is completely incompetent, or is totally fine with Americans dying, if it means him getting to keep on campaigning for his spot. Take your pick.

But really, the heart of the issue here is that through all the hubbub, I’ve not heard much of anything from him OR his supporters about what he actually wants to do if he’s re-elected. Other than, of course, his same tired line of taxing the exceedingly rich.

I’m sorry, but as much as ridiculously rich people bother me, as an average wage American, I know his whole line about taxing them is little more than a good line to ignite the lesser, more jealous centers of my brain. It’s not an actual plan. Sorry, Barry. You’ve yet to prove that you’re any good at this job, and guess what? Being President is a bit too important to merit a second chance. Blaming everything Bush got really old a couple of years ago, no matter how much your predecessor sucked.

Mitt Romney (R): He looks like a stereotypical president, yeah.

But he also looks a lot like this guy:

He talks a good game, at least, which is more than Obama is doing. But he does have a long history of flip flopping. And oh yeah, that Obamacare that everyone conservative hates? His model in Massachusetts was the model for it. Good luck getting him to repeal it like what you want so badly to happen.

Also, totally not a fan of how he shoved Ron Paul out of the primaries with some truly shady tactics. The delegates that voted for Paul weren’t even allowed into the national convention.

And this is the best Republican that can run? Sigh.

As South Park famously documented many years ago, too many elections come down to a giant douche vs a turd sandwich. Take your pick which one’s which in this case.

The worst part, though, is what it does to people. Those same people I just lumped into two categories earlier.

People get nasty. People get angry. They stop looking at people on the other side as people, and more like things that are in the way of what they want.

My favorite example is an old classmate of mine on facebook recently. She posted:

"If you are voting republican, I just don’t see how we can be friends in real life. No friend of mine would support limiting women’s access to reproductive health. No friend of mine would vote to deny equal marriage. Do I want to have a political debate about this? No. But if I distance myself, you know why. <span id=".reactRoot[71].[1][2][1]{comment901600698209_3311995}..

[1]..[1]..[0].[0][2]” data-ft=”{"tn":"K"}”>And at the end of the day if they aren’t a social conservative, but still support one, they are sending the message that money is more important than people. I can’t raise my son around people who think that way."

And on the other side, you have another friend who posts constantly insulting things about Obama supporters, like this: "Election day is tomorrow! Obama will obviously get the early lead, until the rest of us get off work!"

They’ve stopped looking each other as people, and more like the enemy. The enemy in a war that they’re fighting in the name of men who don’t care one whit about them, except once every four years.

I guess if I’m trying to say one thing with all of this, it’s simply this…

Regardless of where you stand, try and remember that you’re arguing with other human beings that probably have a lifetime of experience that explains their point of view. Please try and respect that, even if you’re convinced that they’re wrong. We’re humans. We own this planet because of many reasons. There’s no reason to devolve into monkeys because someone disagrees with you.

And if you hate the current system like I do, do something about it. But go vote. And vote with an informed mind.

Happy election day, everybody.