Passion vs. Pragmatism

Aside from the obvious ideological differences, which are relatively few and mostly minor, the most glaring inequity between Democrats and Republicans is a matter of personality.  As a whole, Democrats are more passionate, and Republicans are more pragmatic.  Of course there are exceptions on either side (John Kerry is the polar opposite of passionate, and current Republican foreign policy is hardly pragmatic), but for the most part I think the definition stands.

Think about it.  Democrats are often described (by themselves and by their enemies) as liberal, bleeding-heart, activist, etc.  Republicans are better known for being conservative, stodgy, stingy and numerous other elderly adjectives.  Democrats are young.  Republicans are old.  So goes the joke, "What does a Democrat grow up to be?  A Republican."  Democrats treat their candidate like rock stars.  Republicans view their nominees more like CEOs.

Democrats will crowd stadiums in frigid conditions to attend rallies.  Republicans would rather watch on TV.  "Sorry, Mr. McCain," they would say.  "It's cold and it's past our bedtime.  And you shouldn't be out there, either.  We can't have you catching the sniffles and going all William Henry Harrison on us."

And while I believe each side can produce intelligent, informed and articulate people to debate important issues and produce meaningful solutions, I am confident this election, like all the others, will be decided on Election Day by stupid people.  People I wouldn't trust with a pair of scissors.  People who will vote judging by how they feel at that exact moment.  People who get their information from email forwards.  People who may not vote if it is raining or if there is a line at the polling location.

They will drive our country this year.  Racists who would vote for a guy who slept with their spouses before they voted for a black man will give McCain a boost.  Inner city black residents will be bussed to polling locations on the party dime to vote Obama.  This Sunday, churches across the country will temporarily void their tax-free status as political sermons sway the uninformed believers.  Last-minute ads will shamelessly slander the candidates and celebrities will throw out their endorsements to sanctimoniously support policies that sharply contradict their public lifestyles.  The race to the finish is less a race and more of a boxing match, a final round where the only acceptable finish is the TKO of the opponent.

And so goes the democratic process.

The Squirrels are running on Wall Street

Okay, so I lied.  It turns out starting a new job is a little bit busier than I had anticipated, and I was not able to get posts in for the first two days of October.  My bad.  From now on, posts every day.   Except maybe weekends.  And holidays. 

It seems like most people today are watching this bailout vote.  And they should be, considering each and every one of us has a $2,000 stake in it.  I won't pretend to understand the mechanics of this bailout, but it seems to me that we (as in, US) will borrow $700 billion dollars (from China, the Middle East, etc) to buy lots of bad debt from our large banks and investment firms.  So when our neighbors default on their sub prime mortgages we will default on our loan from China.  The way I see it either we'll have horrible credit in a couple years and be forced to borrow from shady countries like Malawi or Finland, or we'll all be speaking Mandarin when the Chinese repossesses our country.

Anyway, back to the point at hand.  Like everyone else, the stock market is watching the bailout vote closely.  And it cracks me up because our markets, which are usually ascribed macho animals like bears and bulls, is acting like a squirrel.  That's right, the market is a tad squirrellish today.  We have brokers sitting on the floor right now timidly bidding the market up, like a squirrel trying to snatch an acorn in an open field.  "Do I want the stock? oh I want the stock. can I have the stock? I'm gonna get the stock."  Right now the market is up about 200 points, fueled by wishful thinking.

I guess we'll see what happens.  If the bailout is rejected, stocks will drop precipitously once more as the bears eat the squirrels.  If it passes, the squirrels have already spent their wagers on optimism and the resulting climb won't be nearly as exciting. 

Damn squirrels.