Political Incompetence

I don't like getting into my politics on my blog. Mostly this is because politics stress me out, and partly it's because politics are such a divisive topic and I have no interest in deterring my friends from reading my posts. Let it be stated, however, that I am quite disillusioned with the two-party system on which this country operates. As I belong to a political party that is neither Democrat nor Republican, each election is a crapshoot for people like me, as I struggle to determine which issues are currently most dear to my heart and then subsequently choose a candidate that will support some of these issues but will also invariably be opposed to some of these issues. Even worse, Oklahoma has an antiquated registration policy and will not allow voters to register as official members of any parties other than Democrat, Republican, and Independent. So, if you want to belong to the Green Party or the Libertarian Party or the "Rent Is Too Damn High Party" (click here if you've yet to witness the hilarious antics of this party's leader), you're out of luck. Frustrating. Thus, I have developed what we psychologists call an 'external locus of control' about politics. I could tell you all about locus of control, since that is what my disseration was about (locus of control in tornado survivors, for the zero of you whose interest is now piqued). Basically LOC is the extent to which a person feels as though they have control over events in their lives. An internal LOC person believes strongly that they effect change for themselves and are in charge of their own destiny, while an external LOC person is more likely to believe that fate, chance, or God determines the course of their lives. Most people are generally somewhere in the middle. When it comes to politics though, I'm as external as it gets these days, which means that I have complete avolition when it comes to generating change. The only stance I take is a refusal to register for a party that I don't belong to, which often ends up meaning that I don't get to vote.

The above picture will likely be voted 'photo of the week' somewhere, and has become quite the popular picture in the past couple of days since Osama Bin Laden's demise. I am using this photo to illustrate the sad state of affairs regarding my political involvement these days. Upon viewing the photo last night I said to BJ, "I only recognize two of those people." He used his mouse to point the arrow over the man's face second from the left and asked, "Do you know who this person is?" I said, "Yes, obviously." Then he moved the arrow to the woman's face on the right side, second from the right and asked, "Do you know who this is?" And I replied, "Yes, obviously." Then he took his arrow to the face that is furthest to the left and asked, "Do you know who this is?" And I said, "No." He asked, "Are you sure?" and again I said, "Huh-uh."  He said, "Well, he's second in command." My thought process was as follows, "Okay so it's the Vice President. Who's the Vice President?" I closed my eyes and said, "Okay, I know it's not Dick Cheney. Okay and it's not Joe Lieberman. I don't know." And BJ said, "You were close the second time." And I said, "Aha! Joe Biden!" And that's how sad it has become folks. I could not recognize our Vice President when looking at a photo, and even when given hints, I struggled to come up with his name.

I'm sorry.