Political musings

So, I have become totally and completely politically cynical during this internship. As interns in the PA House Archives, we got to sneak up on the House Floor and watch session a few times, including right around budget time. For those of you not experienced in PA politics, the state budget hasn't been completed on time in forever as a result of many things...sometimes because someone is unwilling to negotiate on some element of the budget (which sometimes threatens school operation, leading several school districts to think about shutting down schools until the budget was actually completed) but this time, it was because leadership in the House had waaaay too much control over what went on in the budget. The rank-and-files didn't even see the budget until after the due date this year...even though the Governor and the leadership had reached an "agreement" on the budget long before that. And they say the US Congress is even worse! It just makes me wonder how "important" these elected figures are. Even if they want to "reform" the process, they have something like 200 other members who want things to stay the same, especially when it comes to retaining their perks -- tax-free per diems, car lease reimbursement, 3 session days each week, summers pretty much off. It's cushy, there's no question about it, and they make a hell of a lot of money.

Even worse, I've been keeping up with the election news for the president...and I have to admit, it's getting more and more ridiculous. No one's talking "how's"...both Obama and McCain have a lot of things they'd like to do, but it seems like each plan they come out with either gets changed within a week due to media criticism or at the very least, a majority of "experts" say that said plans are just not feasible--especially in what I see to be the most important issue in this election: the economy. McCain wants to balance the budget...but he doesn't quite have the means to do so (and has a ton of people who feel 'entitled' to programs that might need to be cut). Obama, in my opinion, has no freaking clue. I don't know...hopefully, come November, something remotely relating to real policy will come out, be it in debates or speeches, whatever. I just don't feel comfortable voting for someone that is extremely talented in attacking the other candidate but unwilling (or unable) to articulate their plans to solve problems in this country.