I'm Curious, Purple

I was reading Jeanne Marie Laskas's Significant Others column in the Washington Post Magazine this past weekend. She talks about people's general unwillingness to argue and about polarization among red America and blue America. She muses towards the end of the article that she doesn't know where these fabled undecideds are.

Yoo-Hoo, here I am!

While I'm not interested in a political debate over the various virtues, or lack thereof, of the candidates, I will say why I'm undecided. I consider myself apolitical, in part, because I'm not all that interested in politics. This is because I pretty much don't believe anything that any of them say. Of course, this assumes they ever really say anything. Have you ever read political leaflets? Garbage, mumbo jumbo -- Candidate X is for all that is good and wholesome in this fine country. Or Candidate Y is not for all that is good and wholesome in this country, why, he's even a big, fat stinkin' liar. Well, based on this rhetoric, how am I to decide?

I suppose the honest truth was that I had just assumed I'd vote for the incumbent. I mean, there's a war going on, right? Only I'm not sure its a win-able war and I'm not sure we're doing such a great job. And look at the brutality its spawned among our own citizens and soldiers. Perhaps these are aberrations, statistically insignificant. But I can't shake the idea that we've got it all wrong.

I'm also getting sick of hearing Oz tell us not to look at the man behind the screen but that we must vote to protect ourselves and our right to worry about the this week's color level. I'm so sick of it.

Now, the flip side, then, is if I'm turned off by the red, then just go blue. Well, that's a reactionary stance, I'd prefer to have a real reason for casting my vote. Its the reds (ironic, huh?) that seem to want me to cast my vote based on fear, if its fear of red that makes me vote blue, I'm still voting based on fear.

So, for right now, I'm purple.