Fighting off generation apathy

A little bit of everything today my people. I got back in from DC yesterday afternoon, bleary eyed as hell after 4 days of arguing, debating, and staying up too late. No, it wasn't a flashback to York Hall. Nope, I was engaging in the political process. Every year, representatives of the programs I work for come from every state, and many islands, to DC. We meet for three days, combing leadership training with political analysis (by actual experts, not me.) On the fourth day, we go to the hill and meet with our legislators, bringing alumni from programs, as well as key issues affecting us. It's an exhausting yet rewarding experience, that in my case gives me some much needed faith in the political process, while still souring me on parts of the process. I talk enough about the politics of things that bother me though, so today is going to be in the vein of John's Notpocalypse.

The visits
In Maine, we are lucky when it comes to the programs that I work for. All of our members of Congress are big supporters of our programs, especially Senator Collins, who has been a big voice in maintaining our status after the budget cuts of the past few years. This year, she is co-sponsoring a letter once again, this time asking for an increase to help make up for the flat funding of the last years. During our visit she was on the floor, defending a bill. Her staff brought us down to the little room adjascent to the Senate Hearing room (this is the room you see in C-Span as you channel surf), and she took the time to come in and talk to us for a bit. Say what you want about any legislator, but it's amazing how fast they have to shift gears. Within 15 minutes, Senator Collins was having detailed conversations about rights for Firefighters, education issues for low-income students, and immigration rights. (Coherently no less.) Needless to say, I can't ever write a three paragraph blog entry coherently.

One other thing that was impressive about the visits was how relatively easy they were to schedule. In Maine anyways. Some other states tell of getting the run around, or having never met with their legislators. For us, it was simply a matter of calling up the office and asking nicely. When they weren't as familiar with us, they asked for more information first. That seems fair. The whole time we were in the offices, there was a constant stream of people. Some were basically lobbyists, like us, but others were families visiting from Maine or aides from other offices. Without fail, everyone was dealt with at the least politely.

The Aides
One of the most impressive things about visiting the offices of any legislator, is the aides. Generally, they range in age from 20 - 25. There are usually an aid or two that are a bit older, like the Chief of Staffs and that sort. Still, the average age has to be under 25. They work crazy hours, and get paid next to nothing. (Especially when you take into account that they live in DC, one of if not the most expensive cities in the US.)

And you know what? They all seem to love their jobs. Sure, it looks good on a law school application to have worked in a Senators office. But that alone couldn't explain it. Most of these people excelled in college, and could most likely get any job or into most schools. Many, I'm sure, are interested in eventually running for an office themselves. In talking to one of the aides, it was very interesting. She was talking about how she liked working on the education issues, because it was exciting. Exciting to work on important issues.

Could it be that it's not our whole generation that's suffering from apathy? Watching the aides in the offices, and the other young people that were out, like myself, lobbying for education issues, while on vacation time, I felt, for just a moment like there might be some hope for our future. Not a ton of hope maybe, but even the slightest glimmer of hope is an improvement for me.

Handicapping the candidates..

Has there ever been an election, even at the early state of this election, with so many legitimate candidates that would be precedent setting? Feasibly, in January 2009, we could be introduced to our first woman President, or the first African-American president, or the first Hispanic President. (Hey, we've even got a Mormon running this time! How cute.) This in a country that has only had one president who wasn't a male, white, and Protestant. (That would be JFK, the only Catholic president we've ever had. And it's not as if he was an outsider.) We've had female candidates before, and we've had black candidates before. Hell, we've even had black female candidates before.

So this must be progress, right? Is this another of John's notpocalypse's? I'm just not sure. Race has certainly been an issue for Barack Obama. Oddly, he has been accused of being "too white." It's not a big stretch to see that what he is really being called is an "Uncle Tom." I'd hardly consider that a sign of any sort of progress.

So is it progress in gender relations that Hillary Clinton is a viable candidate for President? Possibly. There have been powerful woman politicians for some time. (For example, Margaret Chase Smith, whose portraits are all over the Senate House, and, by the way, who was also a candidate for President at one point.) I think in evaluating Hillary Clinton's candidacy as progress, you need to look, at least in part, at the way she is covered in the press. In my mind, Hillary gets a tough go of it in the press, especially in regards to her personality. Hillary is often referred to as cold, or vicious; i.e. bitchy. Male candidates with relatively similar personality issues (driven, stubborn, bad temper) include, well, most of the candidates for president. Still, Clinton has managed to at least somewhat be seen on her own as a political figure. No small achievement considering the size of the shadow cast by her husband. This alone should probably be considered some progress.

So does the makeup of the candidates serve as a sign of progress in this country? Maybe. Real progress will be seen when it's not newsworthy that we have minority candidates or female candidates. Color me as one person who will still be shocked if we end up in 2009 with anyone who doesn't fit the standard of straight, married, upperclass protestant male.

You know what? I think I'll run for president too.

As of February 12, there are 17 candidates for president who have filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). This list includes: Joseph Biden (D), Samuel Brownback (R), Hillary R. Clinton (D), Christopher J. Dodd (D), John Edwards (D), James Gilmore III (R), Rudolph Giuliani (R), Mike Gravel (D), Duncan Hunter (R), Dennis Kucinich (D), John McCain (R), Barack Obama (D), Bill Richardson (D), Mitt Romney (R), Tom Tancredo (R), Tommy Thompson (R), Thomas Vilsack (D)

This list doesn't include some people who are thought to be interested in running, including: Al Gore (D), Wesley Clark (D), Al Sharpton (D), Mike Huckabee (R), Ron Paul (R), Newt Gingrich (R), and Chuck Hagel (R).

This list also doesn't include 19 other candidates from other parties, including candidates from the Constitution Party, Green Party, and Libertarian Party.

This makes for a total list of official (or close to official) presidential candidates totaling 43.

I repeat. As of February 12th, there were 43 candidates for President of the United States.

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So what's one more? I think I'll run for President.

Problem Number 1:
My primary problem that I am facing, as I see it, is this (approximate) statement from the chairman of the FEC: To be taken seriously, a candidate must raise $100 million.

Holy Fuck!!!!

If you took the grand sum of the yearly salaries of everyone that I have ever met in my life, I'm not sure it would total $100 million. According to preliminary estimates, this election will cost over 1 billion dollars! No wonder many people feel like we have a government of the (rich) people, by the (rich) people, for the (rich) people.

Problem Number 2: Campaign slogan.

I think I've got this down. My campaign slogan is going to be simple: No more fucking up.

If elected, I will not bang any interns, and I will not bomb any middle eastern countries unless they really, really, deserve it. I will not increase the national deficit to the point where my children will owe an unpayable debt.

I will not be bribed, I will not sleep with little boys. Or little girls.

Sounds simple enough right? I think I've got a winner here.

Oh there may be more problems, but never feel my people. I still have a year and half before the election.