Politicians In My Eyes

     It's that magical time of year again when we should all fill out our mail-in ballots or head to our assigned polling place to cast our votes.  Given the emphasis that is always placed on the primaries in the Pittsburgh area, it always feels like people might not show up for the general election.

     With the amount of yard signs that I'm seeing around town for everyone's racist uncle that decided to run for mayor, I am feeling rather paranoid about the outcome of that race.  I keep thinking of that episode of The Simpsons where Bart ran for class president and lost because all of his classmates thought he was going to win so no one bothered to vote.  If that happens we could end up with a racist cop that doesn't seem to know much about anything as our mayor and that is chilling.  So, please, don't be complacent and throw a vote toward Ed Gainey.

     If you live in Pittsburgh's Council District 4, which is in the South Hills, you might see Connor Mulvaney on your ballot for city council.  He's running as the Green party candidate against feckless turd Anthony Coghill.  Coghill only seems to show up for ribbon cuttings and photo ops.  Aside from not really doing anything for his district, he has publicly shown himself to be quite the bootlicker when it comes to reigning in Pittsburgh's violent police force.

     With the immense amount of judges on the ballot, it's important that we start building a firewall against a potential Republican governor that might be elected next year.  Building up the state's judiciary will be one of the last possible protections that we'll have.  And I did notice the judge that presided over the Michael Rosfeld trial (the cop that murdered Antwon Rose) was up for retention so he was an easy “No” vote along with every other judge on the back of my ballot.

     As much as the Democratic party has been a much expected disappointment, they are the only buffer between lunacy and the people.  With the Republican party embracing authoritarianism and white supremacy while attempting to rewrite history in real time, I see no other option than to vote against them at every opportunity.  They are flagrantly coming after abortion rights, voting rights and attempting to destroy education with their ginned up fear of history.  I really don't want Pennsylvania becoming the Texas of the north but it feels like we are heading that way.

     If you've seen any political ads on television this cycle, you may have caught the new buzzphrase that goes something like “My name is so and so and I'll protect the Constitution.”  That seems to be the new dogwhistle for people that think preventing the spread of a deadly airborne virus is less important than the ability to go to Applebees or going to a sportsball game.  They were somehow appalled that the Governor would use his powers as the Governor to try to protect people from dying and that covering their dirty mouths while out in public was violation of their rights.

     Either that or “I'll protect the Constitution” is code for “Friends, Romans and fellow white people, I will protect your made up bubble of bullshit and keep you safe from the coloreds and the gays.”  If I were a betting man, I'd say it's a little from column A and a little from column B.

     In years past, you may have thought that it doesn't matter who you vote for and that all of the candidates were the same.  That bit of nihilism has been proven false because this shit hits everybody.  The local and state levels have been rotten for years because of low voter turnout and that's where the bulk of our day to day interactions are.  If you want cops to be held accountable and have a few of their dollars spread around to services that will actually help and serve people, then you have to vote in those ever so boring off year elections.  I know it sucks to have to pay attention to this stuff all of the time and I would love to direct my brain power elsewhere but it's when we look away that these pigfuckers start getting aggressive and cross lines that they have no business crossing.

     “We keep us safe” has to extend beyond punching Nazis in the street and into the voting booth.  These scumbags are running for every possible office at every level, from local school boards to governorships, and they must be stopped.

These Vans Were Made For Walking

     Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?--Hunter S. Thompson

     After twenty one years and eleven months, I have walked away from my day job.  I could no longer access that thing in my head that said it was okay to continue working for a multinational corporation.

     Five days a week, I would clock in and be a good little cog in the machine for eight hours.  There were always times that I felt like life was passing me by but eventually those feelings would pass.  Especially when it came time to pay the mortgage.  In recent months, I was unable to shake that feeling and would either end up having a panic attack or balled up on the couch.  It was time to go.

     Yes, I would be walking away from half way decent benefits and a union wage but at what cost to my sanity.  A false sense of security was no longer worth being in an abusive relationship with my employer.  I became completely incapable of plastering a fake smile on my face in order to plow through my daily tasks so I could be paid almost enough to live a life.

     After losing one parent and watching the other go through what will eventually become long term health issues, I could no longer bear the thought of having an office job.  People who did the “right thing” and worked their whole lives did this for what?  It looks like they were doing nothing but working to die and I could not accept that for myself.

     I know they would rebut that argument by saying “Well, that's what you're supposed to do.”  But why? No one has ever explained to me why we should all suffer through endless bullshit from the ages of eighteen to seventy.  There might just be a different way to go about things and I think I'll give that a try for a while.  There will always be shitty office jobs.

     This will either end up being the best decision I've ever made or the worst but there's no going back now.  The “American Dream” never sat right with me and always seemed like a trap that people fell into. It felt more like being in service to Capitalism than some sort of ideal to strive for.  Racking up an insurmountable pile of debt by going to college, getting married, buying a house and having 2.5 kids may be fine for some people but I no longer have the capacity to find that acceptable.

     The people that I know that have gone that route all seem to have ended up miserable and freaked out after a few years because they figured out that they fucked up their lives and were stuck.  Or they became oblivious to their situation and drone through their day to day.  I only brushed up against that kind of life on a few occasions and, luckily for me, it blew up in my face every time that I did.  I have learned my lesson and won't touch that stove again unless my hand is forced.

     I sometimes envy people that are able to go through life without noticing how awful their surroundings are and are able to work an office job and live a low impact existence.  To have a brain that's not filled with so much noise that I can't function in the “normal” world.  Then I remember that maybe I'm not the one with the problem.  It's not my fault that I saw through a capitalist society's conditioning and rejected it.

     I don't know what I'll do with myself between now and when I fall over dead.  It will either be very quiet or very loud.  Maybe I'll try to do this writing thing for real and see if anyone will give me money in exchange for my pithy thoughts.  Hopefully there's still a market for the opinions of a rapidly aging punk with a low tolerance for ignorance and bullshit.  The media landscape has been fucked beyond recognition by tech bros and venture capitalists but let's see if they'll let loose a few dollars for me to buy ramen and keep the lights on.

     All I know for sure is that this is the first time in my life that I have stepped off shore and subjected myself to the storm of an uncertain life.  Merely existing and having a mind numbing day job to fall back on was making me sick to my stomach and I could no longer carry on.  I have learned that stability cuts both ways.  Yes, I was able to solve some problems by throwing money at them but that comfort and security made me soft and complacent.

     That being said, if you happen to know anyone looking to hire someone to write something or take some pictures, my schedule is wide open.