The Case For Insanity
Three weeks ago, I met with a therapist for the first time in my life. I'm a very happy guy -- great family, great job, great girlfriend, tons of Facebook friends -- no problems that a glass of scotch couldn't fix. But ever since the beginning of September, I've gone 100% batshit crazy. Why? Because come next year, John McCain and Sarah Palin might be running this country. I can't concentrate at work. I can't hold a normal conversation about anything besides politics. At night, I'm afraid to go to sleep because I know that Sarah Palin is waiting for me in Dreamland, like Freddy Krueger but dumber and more evil.
I was hoping the therapist would listen to me lay out this situation, nod sagely, and hand me a bucket full of pills with a creepy name like "Uplift" or "Happiness 4000." But what he told me, surprisingly, was "Get more involved."
"Haven't you been listening, you dumb shit?" I thought as I smiled and asked him to elaborate. But what he said made sense: by getting more involved, I'd spend more time talking with like-minded, highly capable people. I'd feel like I was helping Obama directly. And I'd have less time to be furious at Steve Schmidt.
So I got more involved. I made phone calls to voters in my hometown in Pennsylvania. I donated. I signed up to canvass in Nevada. I set up a fundraising page on Obama's website with two friends. We set an ambitious goal of $10,000. After two weeks of bugging and pleading with our friends, family, co-workers, and bosses, we had raised $26,000.
But as satisfying as all those things are, I'm still crazy. And the more I think about it, the more I think that everyone should be crazy. Consider all the meaningless shit that we become obsessed about -- ex-girlfriends, neighbors' dogs, celebrities' vaginas -- and now think about this: a 72-year old liar with anger problems might become the most powerful person in the world. And if he dies, he'd be replaced by a babbling, evolution-doubting, Supreme-Court-case-not-knowing woman whose knowledge about the world comes from a 3-week cram session. This deserves one month of your obsession.
Think about how proud you would be to have Barack Obama as your President. How proud you'd be that you're an American. If John McCain wins after what we've been through these last eight years, we'd be telling the entire world that we're perfectly content with being hated and ridiculed. We'd be Pam Anderson who dumps Tommy Lee, complains about wanting to find a nice guy, and starts dating Kid Rock.
The contrast between Obama and McCain could not be greater. This is like choosing between an orgasm and a punch in the throat. The fact this is a close race is a terrifying outrage, and every single person should be doing everything they can about it. Stop clicking refresh on Mark Halperin's The Page. Go knock on some doors. Make some phone calls. Make a donation. Recruit your friends. You only have to do it for a month. This shit makes a difference, and with the country in such a bad way, the stakes could not be higher. If you aren't going crazy, there's something wrong with you.
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I AM SO RELIEVED TO know that I am not alone! I have gotten to where I want to ram into any car that has a McCain/Palin sticker on it. Or at least pull them over to tell them what idiots they are.
Whatever I do to become involved in the Obama campaign, it's not enough. My donations, my phone calls for MoveOn.org, the seemingly favorable polls that grow wider every day aren't enough to assure me. I keep waiting for that Rovian bomb to fall two days before the election that's going to throw the whole election into the hands of the two biggest misfits ever in American politics- McCain & Palin.
Please make it be over- with Obama in by a landslide!
Great article! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one having nightmares about Palin. The other night I dreamed that she planted a cupcake bomb at PTA.
LOL. That's funny. I do nothing but talk about, read about and think about politics and plan my move out of the country if McPalin win.
I moved out when Bush won his 2nd term. If McC & Pal win, I'll never be back.
I am serenely calm. Why? Because it became obvious to me a couple months ago that Obama was going to win this election and that the election would spell the end of the modern Republican party. When I calmly tell my conservative friends this, they stare at me, jaws agape, and start sputtering nonsense about Obama's socialist and communist agenda (really). When I calmly tell them that the Republican party have brought this debacle upon itself by betraying every principle it presumably stood for (balanced budgets, smaller government - you know the whole litany) they respond by blaming the Democrats who, I then calmly point out to them, controlled the Executive Branch exactly 8 out of the last 28 years.
So, my friends, remain calm. The national nightmare of the Bush years is soon to be relegated to the history books. We will have a President who actually speaks the English language and even though we face difficult times ahead we will be led by someone who is thoughtful and deliberative and who will surround himself with advisers sharing a similar outlook.
We were incredulous that w won in 2000, baffled by his 2004 win, and anxiously wonder what wars and poverty would be initiated if the nightmare of McSame-Palin were in the WH.
It's strange. They slander the working man by calling him "Joe sixpack." They've increased his taxes, increased the likelihood of his being unemployed, diminished his healthcare, and gambled away his pension and his economic future...but they claim him as their model voter.
rjarja
Yes. This is the highest calling there is. We haven't felt this in a long time. The game is clear. The alternatives are stark and deadly in contrast.
We are feeling the pain and anticipation of the future of the world- together!
This is a realization that we, the ones who are here right now, hold the future of this nation in our hands the way the founding fathers (and mothers) did.
Overstatement? I don't think so. This kind of outpouring isn't an illusion. It is real. The choices are clear and real.
This is what we used to call the "collective consciousness." Remember that? You only get to feel it a very few times in your life. The good news is that if we do succeed and move on, we get to feel it as a real part of our lives. Wow.
We get to explore a whole new consciousness of working together at the highest level ever. We get to change our whole society and economy to save the planet and learn to work together. We get to put away fear and hate and help those who can't do that yet by breaking their chains and setting them free.
That is our reward. That is our destiny.
I hear you dude. Same here. I have become so obsessed with this election. When I am home, at least one TV is on 24/7 non stop news, and when I am not watching it, I am surfing the net from blog to blog discussing this election. I continue to donate, canvass and man phone banks(virtual also). I am glad you posted this because just as others here, I thought I was the only one going crazy. A few weeks ago I actually asked my mom for one of her Xanax pills because I was unable to sleep solid through the night. She gave me four. I think my family has become really concerned about me. My dad has threatened a family meeting to discuss intervention. I want to believe he is joking, however he never laughs when he says it. For the sake of my health (physical & mental), I need this election to be over. However, with that being said, I too will go back out there and keep fighting this to the end. I do not want to wake up Nov 5th and look in the mirror and ask, "What if?"
Great article. And I feel exactly the same way. I had to lock myself out of HuffPost in Firefox browser just to get some work down, but now I just get around the lock out by using Internet Explorer! I've made a few calls at SF Obama HQ, but need to go back and make more. So thanks for the advice.
That said, please leave Pam Anderson and her personal life out of your analysis. She's a very strong Obama / Biden supporter and (despite her image, her "brand") a very smart, genuine, big-hearted perrson who stands up for and donates money to a lot of liberal causes. More people should listen to her and heed what she says, instead of just going all knee-jerk over her sexy persona. Go Pam! Whatever it takes to get the message out!
Pamela Anderson would make a far better VP than Sarah Palin!
"The contrast between Obama and McCain could not be greater. This is like choosing between an orgasm and a punch in the throat. "
Thank you. That is the best line I've read about this election. Ever.
true that!
my sentiments exactly!
co-sign
I too consider myself crazy. I am in a family of all republicans and the tension is driving me nuts. I keep wondering, at night, when I should be sleeping, how did I get into this family, they all hate the democrats and blame everything, from the bright lights on top of school buses for safety reasons (that they think is stupid) to anything they believe is unworthing of having been thought of or done. I used to joke about leaving the US, and all I have to say is Mexico is looking good, a few weeks drinking the water and I'll be fine and used to it. I sit up worrying about Palin and what she might do in office. As a woman, I feel as though this glass ceiling is getting thicker and thicker because of her. I can stop obsessing and I'm doing what I can, but it's just getting worse. Less than a month, and I'll know what I'm in for.
It's a huge challenge. But we can do it!! Get involved. don't become like them. respect their opinions, find some common ground and try to open their mind a crack to looking at Obama with fresh eyes. If you put them on the defensive you lose. Try to honestly understand why they believe what they do. Don't resort to rhetoric but point out when they do they are trying to shut down an earnest sincere attempt to discuss POV's. If we can't get past sound bites and rhetoric with our family and friends how can we expect the politicians to. It's a place to start. America is fraying at the seams. Two wrongs don't make a right. be the first to go more than half way. give respect and expect respect.
I've been working my way thru the same issues since the end of August. definitely staying busy working positively towards our goal is the best antidote. focus on the positive but don't shrink from the haters. i believe in a world where good overcomes evil.
I gotta disagree, Respecting. When the Repubs were in charge during the last eight years, did _they_ respect _our_ opinions, try to understand _us_, try to find common ground with _us_? Bleep no. We liberals and Democrats were mocked, belittled, insulted, lectured to, and/or ignored. For eight years, right up till last Monday, the Republicans have been able to declare, "My way or the highway." On a personal level, I remember very well (and very unhappily) Thanksgiving 2003, when all my Repub relatives lectured me, "I can't believe that someone like you, who served six years in the Navy, isn't standing behind our president."
Well, the Republicans got everything they wanted -- they got the war they wanted, they got the tax rates they wanted, they got the deregulation they wanted, and they got the police state they wanted. Democrats could (or would?) do nothing to stop it. But now, everything that the Republicans ever touched, has turned to scat, the whole world knows it, and the Republicans can't shift the blame.
Give the Republicans respect? Lincoln yes, Teddy Roosevelt yes, Barry Goldwater yes, Ronald Reagan yes, Mike Huckabee yes, Chuck Hegel yes, Governator Ahnuld yes. Every other Republican in the USA, all put together, isn't worth one used condom.
And me? I might well wear my Obama t-shirt to Thanksgiving 2008.
Oh yeah, count me in as going insane, too! Hell, we may be better off to be completely insane if McCain/Palin get into the White House.
excellent observation! thank god for american spirit!
Indeed it is heartening to read how passionate Obama-Biden supporters are, and how hard they are working. I'm a Canadian and can't do anything but watch.
But I also find McCain-Palin to be very scary. They seem almost evil to me, and if they are elected (God forbid) it won't be only Americans who suffer. But I truly beleive that Obama will win.
Thanks so much for giving voice to what millions of us are feeling. Nothing has ever obsessed me like this election has. I'm so hoping my head (and those of kindred spirits) won't explode before November 4th.
Please read James Fallows' piece here: it's right on and says it all:
http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/our_capacity_for_selfgovernmen.php
We're almost there, everyone...hang on! Keep fighting, keep donating! Don't let down!
thanks for that link!
I'm another crazy. I suffer from MPSD (McCain/Palin Sleep Disorder). My DVR is full of my regular shows that I never seem to watch because I can't turn off the news. I wake up every morning and the first thing I do is check fivethirtyeight.com. I live in a 'red' neighborhood and feel sick as I walk my dog every night and have to see all the M/P yard signs.
I've donated as much as I can and have been trying to educate as many people as I can about how important this election is. I am so amazed at how some people think it doesn't matter either way. Hello...The Supreme Court! It matters so much.
I really don't know what I will do if O doesn't win. I am sure if they don't there will be a surge in the number of people on anti-depressants.
Bless your heart!!!! I laughed til I cried reading about your crisis, probably because I'm so sleep deprived waiting for the next tidbit of info that I can obsess about, the next tea leaf that will secure the demise of a duo that (and I can't BELIEVE I'm saying this) actually scare me more than Bush/Cheney (although that's likely because they are soon to disappear, except in books about the worst leaders ever).
I recently volunteered with the local Obama campaign, made additional donations to Obama (hey people, give $10, $25, WHENEVER you can!!! It's what allows Obama to target this frightening pair on every front, on every issue and it must continue). I'm going to work the polls here to make sure people get to vote and their votes get counted. I swear, anybody shows up trying to block one of my voters from voting, I'll be on the national news as they cart me away for going batshit on his ass . . .
Still, I look for even more to do. I'm offering my spare bedroom to any out of stater that the campaign brings in to help in the final weeks . . .
See . . . I'm hopeless . . . but my month of hopelessness is worth it if it contributes just a little in a movement to stop our whole country from being hopeless for 4 more years
i am speechless.
what you wrote is just beautiful..
Thank you!!!--not to get too sappy here but I think that what America SHOULD be is beautiful--a country of truly compassionate people, striving for excellence in education, progress and ingenuity. It hurts me to my core that inciting rabble to think dumb is good, the rest of the world is bad (so screw them!!!) and different is dangerous is being defined as "American".
This is, literally, a tooth and nail fight for OUR country. We all have to do everything we can to save it.
I, too, am having nightmares about McCain/Palin. I thought it was just me. So, let's work to make sure it does not happen.
There is no doubt in my mind that McCain is CRAZY.
I've been having panic attacks over this election and I go into full paper-bag-over-mouth-and-nose mode on debate nights or during convention speeches. My TV is always on MSNBC or CNN and I'm sure I haven't seen any TV shows that don't involve politics. I freak out whether we're up in the polls or down in the polls because I'm convinced Americans are really that stupid. And I pray every single night. I haven't prayed consistently for many years but I pray every night just in case. I think I'm going to need a lot of medication when this is all over.
I know exactly what you mean. In fact, I told my husband yesterday that it was time for us to go down to the local Democratic Office to see how wecan help, and we are Independents. I am horrified by the McCain/Palin ticket. How can we get more people to truly put their "country first" and vote Obama?
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