Getting Political

I'm a Democrat. I think. The problem is that I just never think about it.

In an effort to become more politically conscious, I'm currently watching the State of the Union address (at DP's suggestion). What I'm learning is that this crowd is easier than a Utah crowd. I think that Bush has had about four standing ovations after four minutes.

Five!

Any political thoughts you would like to add? Please. Discuss. So that I can adopt your opinions.

Six!

Seven!

(Man, I'd seriously love to hire me a crowd like this.)

Eight!

Nine!

Ten!

Eleven!

Twelve!

Thirteen!

Fourteen!

Fifteen! (Except this time, no one seemed really enthusiastic about it.)

Sixteen... another lethargic one.

Seventeen!

Seventeen and a half!

Seventeen and... the same half! (What's with the other half?)

Oh... there goes the other half...

I think we're basically up to nineteen now.

Twenty.

Twenty-one!

(and a quarter)

Twenty-two!

Twenty-three!

Twenty-four!

Twenty-five!

Twenty-six!

Twenty-seven!

And so on and so on (which means that I fell asleep, but in my defense, I'm really, really tired.)

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

My favorite was when he said "Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security," which was clearly not something he wanted to celebrate, and then all the Democrats stood up and cheered. That was amusing, although rude.

BowlerGirl said...

I didn't watch the whole she-bang. I have a hard time listening to the Bush crime famiy on a normal day, let alone subjecting myself to an entire hour.

Anyhow, you don't know me (sorry) but I read your blog on a regular basis.I endorse your idea of being a Democrat. You don't necessarily need to be a tree-hugger to be one....but driving a Subaru does help. (Or in your case, a bike and public transport also work very nicely.)

Cicada said...

Yeah, the Democrats clapping at the SS part was also my favorite.

And Bowlergirl, you are welcome here. I do recognize you from other blogs and such. And points for you for knowing that I bike and ride public transport!

Anonymous said...

I think I used to be much more Republican than I am now. Bush is pushing me further left (or at least further center). I just hope that there's someone I can actually feel good about supporting next election.

Carina said...

Oh Cicada. This is only the second SOTU I've missed in my entire conscious life. Listening to that man just depresses me. In order to function in my life (i.e. get out of the bed in the morning, stop crying at the drop of the hat) I can't watch him give the SOTU. I am a Political Person, but I'm afraid I'd suffer an apoplexy.

I'm a Utah Democrat and proud of it. You should check out the College Democrats, good kids those. Cute boys too.

I've always maintained that if you are a moderate Republican from outside of Utah, once you step inside my lovely state, you've transformed yourself into a radical Democrat ;)

Let's see, what of mine do you want to adopt? That our Healthcare system is broken? We pay more than any nation in the world for our medical care and still have no guarantee of coverage? That the perscription drug bill that Bush signed into law made it ILLEGAL for the Federal government to negotiate for lower drug prices? How do we think Canadians get lower drug prices for their single payer system? The Prescription Drug Fairy?

Whoops...sorry.../end soap box.

Cicada said...

Carina---Thanks for your opinions! I totally agree about the whole health care thing. It's one of my hot-buttons. The American health system scares me very, very much.

I come from Canada and I much prefer their health system. One thing that particularly jumped out at me was Bush talking about medical malpractice suits and the fact that there are areas with no OB-GYNs because of all the suits (if I understood that correctly). He said that was a problem that needed to be fixed. But in Canada, because of the way our health system is set up, medical malpractice suits are not as common, and we certainly haven't sued away all our OB-GYNs. Just some thoughts...

Carina said...

While there should certainly be some sort of malpractice reform, I hate hearing that insurance rates are adversely affected by suits.

Curiously enough, suits have less to do with insurance rates than do the investments that insurance companies make. If the stock market goes down, insurance rates go up. The legal malpractice issue is smoke and mirrors.

Yay Canada!

Justin said...

Dear Cicada,

I read your blog and the first few comments, then just scrolled to the bottom of the comments without purpose.

Anyway, while you were watching the SOTU address, I was at a lecture with Sarah Weddington speaking. She's the woman who tried and won Roe v. Wade (she represented Roe) before the Supreme Court. Anyway, she said many interesting things. Among these, was this: Citizenship begins at birth (US Constitution: "any person born or naturalized"), so, whatever the fetus is before it squeezes out of the womb, we must consider it not a citizen but a part of the mother. Thus, Weddington said, it has no rights. Therefore, a mother ridding herself of this baby before it's born cannot be considered murder, but is a private concern.

Something to consider as you mold yourself into the next Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, or one of the Dixie Chicks.

Cicada said...

Uh... Sorry, Puck. I won't adopt that opinion. I don't think that when human becomes a citizen has anything to do with the ethics of abortion. Try and sway me with another argument.

I know that Democrats = Pro Choice, but I also know that saying that I am a Democrat doesn't mean that I am Pro Choice. Abortion is a stickier issue with me. Ambrosia pointed out to me this week that Democrats are anti-war, anti-gun, and pro-abortion. Tricky, tricky.

Justin said...

Cicada,

Ambrosia was very wrong. There's a gigantic difference between being pro-choice and pro-abortion. In fact, every pro-choice person I know is anti-abortion. They would never have one, nor do they encourage their friends to. The pro-choice argument merely states that the government has no right to stop a woman from choosing to do what she will with her own body. It says that she must determine for herself whether abortion is right or wrong, and act accordingly.

Cicada said...

In Ambrosia's defense, I wrote it wrong. I meant to say "pro-choice" because I know there's a huge difference between pro-choice and pro-abortion. And I do see your point, too, because I'm not an anti-abortion extremist and fundamentally, I believe in pro-choice since I think that cases of rape, incest, danger to the mother, etc. are all good times to terminate a pregnancy.

ambrosia ananas said...

And in Cicada's defense, I probably did actually say "pro-abortion" out of sheer laziness, when I meant "pro-choice."

Justin said...

And as an apology to you both, saying that Ambrosia was very wrong was certainly not meant to be a personal attack. While saying that all Democrats are pro-abortion was wrong, Ambrosia and Cicada are still very intelligent people.

gumball said...

Is the life of a fetus equal in value to a mother's (or father's)?

Probably not.

Is the life of a fetus worth something?

Yes, of course.

Does it deserve protection?

Yes, of course.

Do I think it deserves more protection than it has today?

Yes.


Do I feel wise and life-experienced enough to delve head-first into partisan politics battles?

No, I do not.

Carina said...

Ah, a common misconception that being a Democrat must equal all those things Ambrosia mentioned.

When I made my party selection, I made it based on which group do I have the most in common with, not by choosing which group exactly met my specifications. That isn't possible in my case, and in probably everyone's cases.

However, you would not believe the number of times, while sitting at the College Democrats table during Club Week at BYU, I was called "BABYKILLER" by some boy walking by. Curious. Always a man, never women. And that's all there is to say about that.

Anonymous said...

For the record, the Utah Democratic Party's stated platform includes statements such as:

"When our national leaders deem it important to the national security interests of our country to act multilaterally, we support the placement of our troops in joint operations with NATO and United Nations forces," and

"Utah Democrats support the right of citizens to possess firearms for lawfully defending their families and property and for sporting purposes."

This site does not say anything about the party's platform on abortion, but the Utah County Democrats' website states:

"Utah County Democrats do not support any medical or surgical intervention to terminate a pregnancy, except in the case of rape, incest, or to balance the life and liberty rights of a mother and an unborn infant. We believe that both the mother and an unborn child have life and liberty rights."

daltongirl said...

Wow. I came too late to this party! Welcome to the Abortion Lovers' Club, Cicada. That's not what I originally signed up for, of course, but sadly, everyone who finds out I'm a (whisper) Democrat automatically thinks I am. My favorite thing is to ask them if they turn the TV off when President Faust is speaking. And if they think he is pro-abortion. And then, when they start stammering, "Boo-yah!"

I totally agree with Carina: I am a democrat because the party fits my belief system better. Not because of any single issue. And the Utah Dems are very careful not to get too worked up about those inflammatory issues.

Also, if you go to your party caucus meetings, chances are that you'll get elected to something, because there will only be five or six of you there, to fill four positions. So then you can say, "Hey, I'm a precinct chair," and people will think you're cool. Just don't tell that to people that went to the Republican caucus, b/c it really confuses them.

Cicada said...

Marriedin,
Do I know you?

Cicada said...

Marriedin,
Sure I know you. You inspired my most recent post. You read it, didn't you?