Days of Future Past

I’ve been asked what I’m going to do with myself (actually, with this blog) after Tuesday’s election.

In spite of whatever intentions I may have had, this blog has become (mostly) a liberal anti-McCain blog. I can’t much help that; the news is mostly about the election these days and most of the news favors Obama.

In one sense, I’m following national trends. In another sense, I am a commentator and not a reporter. I am under no obligation to be impartial, and feel only a moral obligation to be honest. Having looked at some other blogs lately (most of which run to family snapshots or ads for computer services, but focusing on the political blogs specifically) very few "bloggers" appear to be interested in doing the "fair and impartial" thing. Blogs, or "web logs" as they’re properly called, are inherently biased one way or the other, according to how the owner(s) see the world. And, frankly, I’ve found a hell of a lot more right wing blogs than left wing blogs. Or maybe it’s that the right wing, conservative blogs tend to be more vocal and draw attention to themselves better.

But I’m not a conservative. Never have been. And since I’m the one running this blog, it’s not going to be a conservative blog. It’s going to reflect my own opinions and bias. And yes, like most human beings I have a bias. I make no apologies for that.

None of which, of course, answers the question, "What am I going to do with this blog after the election?" Well, it kind of depends on how the election turns out.

Obviously, it’s a two horse race and only one can win. ("In the end, there can be only one.") If McCain wins, and it’s still at least possible, don’t expect much to change here. I’ll still be griping about the party in power, still gripping about the man in charge, still speaking my mind even if it’s not much of a mind to speak of.

And if Obama wins, as expected, what then? Pretty much the same, I expect. Whatever happens, I don’t expect all that much to change. Washington has a way of dimming hope as newly-elected candidates run their good intentions headlong into a wall of red tape, inertia and lobbyists that stands in opposition to actually getting anywhere.

How well I remember the early days of the Clinton administration, when Bill Clinton tried to make good on his campaign promises to reform health care. He placed his wife Hillary in charge of the operation and she tried, oh how she tried, but in her efforts to change a fundamental way Washington worked she found that there was far too much Washington to change. The Clinton health care effort met so much resistance in congress that it was abandoned and never saw the light of day. And we still don’t have proper health care.

Washington is like that; the road to hell, the one paved with good intentions, starts in DC. The stone steps of the Capitol are where many hopes have been dashed. The city has seen many a tired metaphor breath it’s last gasp of...oh, hell, I can’t keep this up.

The point is, hope dies in Washington. Or at least it gets real damn sick.

But back to the future of this blog...

It’s not like I haven’t tried other topics besides politics. I’ve done pieces on technology, books, atheism, survivalism, Medicaid, historical reenactment, the Internet, and my late brother. So I’m in no danger of running out of topics, even if (and I find this highly unlikely) politics ceases to be something worth blogging about.

In other words, people are dumb and will continue to do dumb things, and I expect that I’ll be there to chronicle all of it. Human nature will continue to give me material, even if the political well runs dry.

The Blues Viking

The opinions here expressed are mine and if you don’t like them you can get your own damn blog.