This is new for me. I don’t think I have ever posted an official political or religious stance on my blog before. I suppose some quick political opinion and other notes are in order for some perspective:
- I am not a registered Republican nor am I a registered Democrat.
- I have voted in every major election since I turned 18, our country is too important not to care.
- I believe in a liberal social policy, mostly around states rights and less federal government interference (regarding your sexual preference, recreational drug use, etc. move to a state with supporting laws. Also the war on drugs == broken).
- I believe in conservative fiscal policy mostly around paying less taxes. I work hard, so did my parents.
- I subscribe to the founding father’s policy of isolationism to a point (see: Hitler 1933, radical Islam/caliphate 2001)
- I believe in the separation of church and state and the textual interpretation of the Constitution
- I am totally OK with my tax dollars paying for both green fuel development and badass boondoggle military weapons
- The education of American kids and the future of entrepreneurship is more important than most everything else so we can kick more ass in the next 100 years
So obviously I don’t fit into either party. Unless there was a Hunter S. Thompson party, I would totally register with them.
I was up in the air about who to vote for until recently when I hit a mental wall at 300mph. I realized that of all the things I care about technology is truly important to me. I mean this blog’s tag-line is “Waiting for a technological singularity.” I have deep discussions with friends about how do we do ethics in the era of nanotechnology and are we human if we upload?
Now the U.S.A. is a true democracy where whoever is president doesn’t matter in the sense that in some crappy 3rd world country the president could have a life or death impact on the population. Our system is robust enough to suffer the occasional fool (re: George W. who I voted for). In the end it really is a values decision for the voter. The country won’t implode but what is the right direction? What is the extra awesomesauce we can apply to our nation?
The correct answer is: Barack Obama. Now before you say anything else I am not an Obama cheerleader. He has a positive and inclusive message but perhaps a bit naive in some areas. I disagree with many of his views on expensive government programs (my tax dollars want to be elsewhere). Regardless, this is the mental wall I hit:
McCain: Town Hall Meeting 12/29/07
Holy crap, McCain hates bloggers? He was probably referring to the liberal bloggers right? Cuz nobody who is not a liberal blogs right? I’m still getting a weird feeling, holdon…
John Mccain Admits He Cant Use a Computer
Oh God, at 0:33 the old bastard says he doesn’t know how to use a computer, he actually says it. My grandmother is older than McCain and she checks her email every week. If a bill were to be introduced on his desk as president regarding technology he would have NO FUCKING CLUE what it said. Like a nanotechnology restriction bill. Or a 4th amendment (amendment) to privacy of electronic data. As much as I hate swing issues I think I finally understand how important they are. Thus there is no way I can consider voting for McCain unless I see him demonstrate intelligently under debate conditions that he can hack it in the post-1960 technology space.
edit: John Scalzi (brilliant author) has some interesting posts 1 2