Factions?

I get asked sometimes what 'side' I am on. Honestly, I have no idea. Isn't that sad? But there is so much crap going on in politics all the time, I don't really want to league myself with one 'side' or the other. I suppose I fall down some crack in the middle, leaning one way or the other depending on the issue. My dad always voted Liberal and mom was Conservative (PC back in the days of my youth). I remember having two signs on our lawn or our fence and it was always humorous to me. But now, when it comes to voting, I am always stumped. Perhaps it is because I don't believe a damned word that comes out of any of their mouths anyway and sometimes I don't even know why I bother voting. So far I have only ever voted Liberal and maybe I am secretly waiting to see if Justin Trudeau makes it higher up in another decade or so - and no it is not because of aesthetics lol. It is because my father always raved about Pierre Elliot Trudeau. I was too young to really remember much besides clips of him wearing a mask or something and giving the audience the finger lol. Is that memory correct? I don't even know anymore! But for some reason my dad loved that guy and one of these days I will look it all up. It seems to me that a lot of people did not like him but I respect my father and he was a very well educated man who stood up for people and wanted the best for those around him. So I guess I want to see what his big deal was about Trudeau and I wonder if his son will carry on some of that fervor. Okay, maybe not flippin' off Canadian citizens...?? lol.

Honestly though, I really have no clue. Looking at the US election and the pre-game, post-game, and future predictions has lit some fire under my ass to get my head around politics and understand it better. So far, I do NOT like what I am seeing. For every news report listing offences by Republicans, there is another place to find gorey details about Democrats. It is really starting to piss me off. Is there any single honest politician out there anywhere? And no, I am sorry, but I do not think Barack Obama is the one I am looking for either. Will he be better than others in the past? I am having a hard time putting him on any sort of pedestal right now. It is hard to say if he will be easily influenced by his fellow party members (aka Strong Armed), or if he is forcible enough to hold his own. It's also hard to say what his actual views even are anyway. I hear so many things and it is hard to know which end is up. I am hopeful but I also know it is completely impossible to just waltz in and fix the disasters that have been going on for decades and decades. One can blame Bush and he certainly had his fair share of bad decisions, but it does go way back. I have heard repeated mentions that Bill Clinton's adminstration is actually the one that put the Lending Practises into place that have caused so much havoc now. Making it easier for people with lower incomes to get loans, basically forcing banks to lend to these people and smile and say "Congratulations" on their new home the banks know they cannot afford, blah blah blah. I have no clue how to check that info for myself and post it here, but I have heard it repeatedly from many sources and have yet to hear anything to the contrary so far. My point is that each government leaves behind a mess in some form or another. It doesn't matter what party it was, it happens every time. Has there even been a new presidency that came into rather calm waters?

I also hear stats like how it is pretty normal for the US and Canada to cycle from a strong economy to a near recession or recession every 10 years. So if money was so awesome when Clinton was in power, that was about 10 years ago, for example. I also heard that no US party has won 3 nominations in a row for 70-80 years so this wasn't a surprise to many people, and so on. Is that true? I don't even know where to begin for finding this information. See previous post-rant about that particular topic!! Germany and other European countries have either announced they are in a recession or they are on the cusp. Did Bush do that too? Did Clinton? Canada has been bailing out left and right and we only learn of it by watching blurbs on the news or reading a surprise ticker on the Stocks channel. So I imagine we are next... but was there not some sort of recession in the mid90s? I did not live in Canada at this time so forgive me for not remembering, I was overseas for the better part of 1992-1998. Anyway that is another 10 year-ish mark. Just a random, useless idea to toss into the fray.

Okay so back again I go - I'm not happy with people being left to their own devices in a region where it is completely impossible for them to afford even the bare essentials. But I am not happy with having government slowly getting larger and larger as the years pass and more programs are implemented. We literally have NO say these days. Who the heck asked us if we wanted to spend $25B on bailouts one day, $10B the next and hey, throw in $15B the next day after that. Maybe I don't pay enough attention to the world around me but I had NO idea Canada was forking over cash in bailouts too. Well over what it would cost to give every single Canadian a billion dollars and say 'Here you go, go buy a house, a car or three, hit the Brick and pay cash for a housefull of furniture, and buy a trailer, summer home, motorbike and a boat while you're at it". Whoo! Now wouldn't that be something? But of course that would not work forever. The money would eventually run out and some idiots out there would still manage to spend more than their billion and end up owing money somewhere. It's a nice thought though. Why not give the people that money, have a massive freaking shopping spree that also bails out those companies because of the amount of homes and cars they sold, yadda yadda. Yes I know it's a dream world because the capitalist side of things would immediately up their prices by extortionate amounts to soak up that money. But really, does the more liberal 'let's share' work out that well either?

Homeless in small cities ( and towns for all I know), unemployment, bankruptcies, foreclosures - that still goes on no matter who is at the helm. I believe Chretien was in for 10 years or so, and his time ended with some scandal gossip and more taxes for certain provinces, and general bad vibes. I guess I could list every single Prime Minister we have had and come up with a dirty laundry list in mere seconds of Googling. It is very disconcerting. I can see why some people don't even bother voting anymore. You don't 'get what you paid for', and our local reps have never ever asked me or anyone in my family or any of my friends what we think of certain issues. I am not even sure how they make up their mind when they head to Ottawa and tell the goverment 'what the people want'. Sure we could go to council meetings but I know of people who went down there and were well in the majority of citizens who opposed some plan and the councils still went ahead with it. What is the point of that really? And it is not just conservatives of course. It seems to be almost everyone. It is ridiculous and I don't see how Canada is any more special than anywhere else just because we have a few more social programs to help people. There is a homeless family in Medicine Hat right now who have been living on donations from the people in town. They have been homeless for months and I know this because their kids go to my kids' school and I see them every day. That still goes on and it's not just because it is heavily Conservative alberta. It goes on everywhere no matter what. To get anything done these days you have to go through miles of government red tape and I guess that is my concern for the US. They have a hell of a lot more people than we do, how are they going to sort through this giant mess that all of the past presidents have contributed to?