I really cannot stand what politics has become. I recall once when I was in college and there was a race that was meant to be close, I honestly don't remember which one it was, I think Clinton was involved, and we were just inundated with advertising all day, every day. The mudslinging was getting nasty and every time you opened your mailbox (a physical one, it was a while ago) there would be some flyer from some PAC or another.
North Carolina was considered a battleground state at the time (I think it still is) and our vote all of a sudden was the most important in the world, even though the government doesn't really pay all that much attention to us the other 90% of the time.
Then we had the very courageous door-to-door volunteers and people that would approach you in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Many of these people would be sternly told, with a gun in the background, to get the hell off of the property. I didn't go that far. I was polite but whoever it was at my door I just told them I am voting for the other guy. It doesn't matter who the candidates are ya'll, I just want to be left alone.
If the national news bothers to talk about it at all they will mention Roy Cooper vs. Michael Whatley as being some sort of super-important race that will control the world of something much more critical than it actually is. Depending on the lean of the publication in question they try to make it sound like this is a close race but it is NOT. While Cooper is a Democrat he was the governor of North Carolina despite the fact that the conservative population tends to win in NC. He was never nearly voted out of that job either and concluded his max amount of terms that he was allowed to have. People were ok with him because despite the D next to his name, he didn't try to turn this state into California or Vermont. I dare say that he may actually be a decent human being. Even during Covid when conservative counties, like my own, were intentionally violating state rulings, he never attempted to intervene and force people to his will. He did his job well.
Also I can't name a single fucking thing that actually changed during the 8 years he was in office as is often the case with politicians. I'm sure his personal wealth went up a great deal.
Anyway, this race is not close and much of this has to do with the fact that the Republicans chose a guy who looks and talks like he would find your wallet and then not return it to you. He seems like a slimy politician and he probably is one. He is going to lose, you can bank on that. The last I got information about this race against my will Cooper was 10 points ahead. you don't come back from that. This race was over months ago.
It isn't just this race that I don't care about though, it is all the rest of them as well. I loathe election season because we are just bombarded with this sort of information for half a year and then the big day happens and both sides complain for a month and then we get back to the business of the government accomplishing nearly nothing other than grandstanding.
If the Dems win the House and Senate, they are just going to bitch even more than they already do about Trump and all things are going to stagnate while the one side points the finger at the other. The R's have been in control of both for a while now and nothing meaningful has passed. Do you think it is going to be different once (and if) it flips? If it doesn't flip, isn't it reasonable to presume that things are just going to remain the same that they have been?
There are some local offices up for grabs this time around too and as usual, people aren't really paying any attention to them and they should. None of this circus affects your life as much as your local officials are going to be capable of doing, yet it seems that almost nobody even bothers with those elections.
I am going to vote if the line isn't too long, but I am not going to bother to vote for anything that involves someone outside of my county line. I really wish more people would pay attention to what is truly important rather than what their Instagram told them to believe is important.
