It's easier to take the simple answer, than think

This really wasn't meant to be a political blog, but it seems that's what it has turned in to. And the majority of the people (all three) who read my blog on a regular basis seem to expect me to write about politics.

But I still insist this is not a political blog. This, as my banner states, is a place for me to write about anything not medical.

It's just that this election is so important to me and to so many like me that it's taken up 40% of my creative energy. The other 60% has gone to my med-blog the RT Cave and my asthma blog over at Health Central.

Still, once this election is over, it is my hope that I will be able to think of some other things to write about -- philosophical perhaps. Yet, if politics stays as hot as it is right now, then that is where my creative juices will flow. Who knows. And who really cares anyway?

People should understand that this blog is mearly entertainment for myself more than anything else. However, one of the main focuses of this blog is that it is far easier just to go with the flow of the majority than it is to think for yourself.

Not me. Even before the new media and the Internet and blogs came about, I still never really believed everything I heard in the media. My college buddies would often say during one of our debates, "If you don't believe me, look it up in the newspaper."

I'd say, "The newspaper is wrong."

They'd say, "Then prove it."

They had a good point. How was I going to prove they were wrong. Back then (this was in 1988 when I started college at Ferris State University), there was no way to prove the media wrong unless I knew exactly where to look up the information, and that took time.

So, it is far easier to join the ranks of the majority than to think for oneself.

Now, even though we have the Internet and all the information we could ever want at our fingertips, I think that saying still holds true.

My friend Glenna provided me with a good example of this as a comment to my last post, "Ignore polls, Obama & McCain still neck & neck." I wrote that McCain needs to show that liberalism is the cause of the financial crisis and he will win. Glenna wrote:

"I agree but part of the problem of the economic crisis is that most people don't seem to realize or want to realize how this all came about. At work the other night I listened to a room full of people excoriate Bush for "this mess". When I explained how Pres Clinton signed the legislation from Democrats for the loose loans, and how that all collapsed on itself I had a room full of stares and then questions. People always want the easy answers instead of looking at the history for what it is."

I wrote in response that that room full of stares were from people stunned at how brilliant she was. I get that a lot where I work: "Wow, I never would have thought of that," independents say.

Back in 1988 the truth that Glenna revealed to the people in that room may never have gotten out. By 1988 media standards, George W. Bush would be 100% at fault for this economic crisis, true or not true. By 2008 media standards, the other side has gotten it's story out. And I suppose you can add here: "Be it true or not true."

Still, both sides get the story out. I have been so impressed on many occasions during this financial crisis that I have not had to explain the true cause of this mess, because the people I've been discussing politics with TOLD ME INSTEAD.

MAN, does that impress me.

That's why we folks who are the purveyors of the truth get so many blank stares. Half those people are thinking, "Duh, Bush is the cause because he is president." The other half is thinking, "Doh, how did the truth get out. Damn the Internet. Damn the free press. Damn the blogosphere for telling the truth."

In the past, as I mentioned in my last post that I link to above, a president stayed in office until the economy went bad, and the sitting president was always blamed. Today, with the 2008 media, the truth is out there -- ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE AN EFFORT TO FIND IT.

A lifelong democrat is going to believe what the democrats and their surrogates in the media say every time. And a lifelong republican is going to believe the republicans and the new media when it tells the truth every time.

But those in the middle, those people who are really truly undecided independents (and not democrats in disguise) for some reason fail to make that effort. They don't have the time, or don't make the time to really truly understand the economy and politics. It's boring. It's too complicated.

And that is the exact reason why all the news needs to be told, whether it is from the liberal or conservative camp (note I did not say republican or democrat). The more news that gets out there whether you like it or not, the better America will be in the future. The better chance the right leader will be elected.

And that's why people like me end up blogging about politics, even though that's not our true intention. I'm more of a thinker than a political blogger. Yet politics is something really cool to think about, hence this post.

Even if you hear the truth and you give out those blank stares, the goal here is that even though it is obvious that you are taking "the simple answer" as opposed to taking history for what it is, when you go into the voting booth you will vote for the right man in the end -- anyway.

Likewise, what I just wrote is exactly the reason I don't think this election is over. All those people who have no clue who they want to vote for need people like me and you.

(and I still don't understand how people could have no clue, but I talk to them every day. It's irritating in a way when people like us take so much time researching and making sure we vote for the RIGHT PERSON).

So it's easier to take the simple route, it's easier to be an independent, than it is to think.

Regardless, as Pat Buchanan wrote, all those people who want to blame Bush and replace him with the most liberal candidate for president in the history of United States politics may be up for a little backlash. They may be punished for their own vote.

But if you make the effort and read the news (I applaud you if you just read the news) on a daily basis and really think about what you are reading rather than take it all in as fact, then you will not be punished for voting for the wrong person because you will not vote for Obama.

Still, it's easier to go with the flow of the majority that it is to think. And any person who goes to this blog is a thinker because otherwise you wouldn't be here.

It irritates me to no end all these undecided independent voters who never pick up the paper, never watch the news, never read a blog, never form an opinion on politics. And then when it comes time to elect the president of the United States in a very important time in history, they have no clue who they want to vote for.

Ahhhhh. It's so frustrating. It's so easy to want to lecture these people. And it's not that they are stupid, it's just that they don't take interest in politics. They don't care about anything outside their own lives.

Then again, maybe they are the smart ones. Maybe life would be so much better if we just didn't care about anything. Maybe if I had no clue who the president was, then I wouldn't become irritated when he raised my taxes. No care, no stress. No mind, no matter.

So this is not a political blog. It's a thinking blog. And that's why I write about politics so much lately. Hopefully, though, I'll stop thinking about politics and something else will pop into my mind soon enough, like being a dad, like Socrates, like anything.

Speaking of dad, I'm going to be a father again soon. Perhaps thoughts about fatherhood will flow through my mind and I'll get frickin politics out of my head.

Blogging in the political world is not easy

I'm going to make another attempt at boosting my friend Nikki's ego by linking to her blog once again today, not that my audience is yet large enough to generate much of an audience for her. I wish it were different, but that's the way it is at this point in my political blogging career, and thus the purpose of this post. So read on, I have a good point to make.

Before you read further, however, I would like you to jog over to According to Nikki and read her latest post, "Political Bloggers," where she writes about how most bloggers tend to want to write and be read, but spend very little time, and may even have very little interest, in other people's blogs. She even comes up with a definition for such bloggers: blog poachers.

You know who they are, and they know who they are. They are the bloggers who go blog to blog making comments like "I agree" or "cool" just to advertise their own blogs. I have to confess, though, that I have been known to do this from time to time. And I have been known to make some very intelligent comments where they were due, and to not return to that blog again for another month or so.

I know she wasn't referring to me, however, sometimes I might give the appearance of a blog poacher. While I don't intend to do it, I sometimes feel that's what some people might be thinking.

I know there are many medical blogs I go to maybe once a month, most times to not leave any comment. If there's nothing worthy to comment on, then I read quickly and pass on. If the reading is not of any interest of mine, then I have been known to simply glance at the first few lines, and then move on. I don't mean to be mean, but that's life.

Occasionally there have been people who have made comments on a regular basis on my blog, and when I click on to theirs it's nothing more than a cooking website, something I have very little interest in. Occasionally I go there and hope to find something of interest, and when I do I try to drop a line. Does that make me a blog poacher on that site. I don't think so.

There are some blogs I will go to as often as I can, and because I have little control of my priorities in life, which are God, my wife, my children, other people, work, and then other things which include blogging, fantasy baseball and my other writings. If I were a fast reader and a quick writer I could probably read more blogs than I currently do, but that's simply not the case.

The way I like to write, putting great care in every word, I am usually unable to whip up a post in anything less than an hour. And, most days, by the time I fill that hour, my 4 year old wants to go outside and play soccer, or my son wants me to play catch with him. Now, how could a person in his right mind not put his kids as a priority over blogging? This blogger places his kids first.

And, unfortunately, that means that I usually don't get to as many blogs as I want to on a daily basis. In fact, many days I don't even get to my own blog, let alone the blogs that are among my favorites, such as Nikkis and respiratory therapy 101 and the other blogs I have listed on my two blogs.

Another thing of note is that I place my medblog as a priority over this blog, especially when I'm working. I think if I got caught on the Internet at work I don't think I'd have to explain away why I was going to medical blogs, which are work related. However, if I were political blogging at work, I might have to do some explaining. Not that I don't do both when it gets really slow at work.

So, I just want you to know, that while it might appear as though I'm avoiding your blog, that's not what I'm doing. All the bloggers that comment on my blog get a return comment, or at least a good thorough perusal of their blog. And all bloggers who I link to on my blog are on my reader, and when I finally manage to break free from the hustle and bustle of life, you guys might find that all the articles you wrote in the past three weeks have my stamp in the comments sections. That's how I blog.

If I had the time, I would sit here and blog and read blogs all day. My interest in learning is so great, I love to read just about anything. And I think that all bloggers have something interesting to say. It's just that I also have to keep up on the news, and, well, I have to spend time with my family. After all, even though I try to limit my time here, they already complain that I spend to much time on this darn thing.

I suppose you guys are the same way for the most part. You, like me, are simply respectable people who love reading and writing, and are taking advantage of this really cool opportunity we have hear on the Internet.

I stated this on my other blog after I reached the 10,000 clicks plateau, that when I started blogging I never expected I'd be writing to anyone but myself. So even if I had one person reading my blog, then I'd consider that a success.

Now I think I'm almost to the 20,000 clicks on my medblog, and the reason for that is probably because I spend most of my blogging time over there in the med blog world. Over here, in the political blog world, my blog counter says 2,138, which is a puny amount compared to Nikki's respectable 12,111. The reason for this is simple: Nikki is a far better political blogger than I am.