As a person thoroughly disgusted with the two-party system, I will support whichever candidate fucks this country up so much that a third-party alternative becomes inevitable. It's high time the Dems and GOP went the way of the Whigs.

Normally when faced with such willful childishness and idiocy I'd simply laugh it out of the room. Unfortunately, as someone who often comes into contact with self-styled members of the 'radical Left', I know that this kind of sentiment is both more serious and more widespread among today's youth than many average Democrats may think. I'm sure that many of them have actually deluded themselves into thinking that by making proclamations such as "voting just supports the corrupt system" or the more ridiculous variant exemplified above, they are doing more than just propping up their fragile egos by an empty and symbolic gesture or excusing their laziness. The others are just too busy trying to score tickets to the Warped Tour to be bothered to fill out a fucking voter registration form.

At this point I could lay out a compelling logical argument for voting Democratic rather than trying to completely overhaul the system with your non-vote on the basis that, while both run afoul of the paradox of collective action, the former offers far more reward for far less risk. But I'm not going to do that. Instead I'm just going to point out that this kind of thinking is the most rank example of insular class elitism I've ever personally encountered, made all the worse by the fact that I have yet to see it recognized as such. Because if you strip away the grandiose rhetoric, what is left is the secure knowledge that your brave gesture of defiance will affect many people, but not yourself. Since you're most likely college-educated and within a secure income bracket, you're guaranteed to avoid military service (though I wouldn't necessarily count on this if we invade Iran). Since you probably live in one of the big liberal cities with a decent public transportation system, you probably have little awareness of the impact of high gas prices on middle-to-lower-class people who (gasp) actually NEED to drive a car to get to work. So of course you can afford to hope for more war on the basis that it will 'send a message' or higher gas prices because it will drive the need for alternative fuels and everyone who drives is a fascist anyway. Because the people who will actually be directly, severely affected by this exist only as a caricature in your mind.

People are always asking, "what's the matter with the left?" Here you have your answer. Is there any doubt that we would have won 2000 and 2004 if not for these holier-than-thou types? If only the right had their equivalent. But as much as the evangelicals may bitch and moan about McCain, the specter of Hilary or Obama will be enough to force them out of their holes and into the booths, because when it comes down to it, their self-preservation instinct is still intact (albeit misguided).

I hope you enjoy living in the clouds, Phamelar. Would that we were all so fortunate.

Hey, you know, I think 50 Cent has been shot at a lot - why not make him president, since that is obviously the main requirement. Hilary is obviously (and pathetically) trying to come up with something to match McCain's 'war hero' schtick. Which is unfortunate, because I wish someone would already have the balls to shatter this idiotic notion that combat experience somehow entails presidential ability (and that the lack thereof is some sort of weakness). I like dumb action movies as much as the next guy, but maybe it's time we as a culture grew up and stopped projecting this adolescent hero-worship into the real world. Frankly, from looking at the state of today's military and the stories coming out of Iraq, I want our next president to be as far away from a military background as possible.

If your beef with alcohol and cigarettes is that they are unhealthy and bad for you, or that the way they are marketed deceives consumers about their side effects, that's all well and good, but why does it merit special intention when the target demographic is women? I mean look at it this way - the majority of alcohol (perhaps not so much tobacco at this point) advertising is still targeted towards men and is quite successful in this regard. If this trend is in fact shifting, that would indeed be an effect of further equality, though perhaps not a good one. You don't get to take the good aspects of equality (wages, employment) and leave the bad ones (prime target for corporate greed). If you really want to talk about feminist issues, I suppose you could find something in the inane stereotypes (both male and female) used to market alcohol, but that's probably been done.