Today is the day proceeding Election Day and there is no time where patriotic sentiment runs higher. A competition arises between presidential candidates as to their nationalist pride. And a great argument is engendered among citizens as to what vote will be most benefit the country.

Senator John McCain’s nationalist slogan “Country First” implies invidiously that Senator Barack Obama won’t put the country first–as if Obama’s proposed “Change” will be a strike against the country. Obama claims otherwise, that his “Change” will strengthen the country.

But I’m rather put off by all the pageantry and this contest for Mr. Patriarch of America. I tired of listening to these unctuous politicians and their meretricious monologues about “this great country.” How can any man look out earnestly upon this society and be proud?

How could you overlook the fact that over 2.25 million Americans are incarcerated (2006)? How could you overlook the fact that 63% percent of American children do not grow up with both biological parents How could you not realize what this statistic indicates about the health of families? How could you miss the fact that 9.5% U.S. adults–that’s about 18.8 million people, suffer from a depressive illness , where millions and millions more self-medicate themselves with illicit drugs or alcohol? How could you dismiss the fact that over 32,000 Americans commit suicide in a single year , even where many suicides go unreported due the stigma our culture attaches to it.

Photo by qwrrty

Is it really rational to get so worked up with anger and hate over this presidential election?

We’re fast approaching Election Day, but I’m not rallied behind one candidate or the other. I’m not struck with anticipation for Nov. 4. Would it be a crime to say I’m rather ambivalent?

Presidential Candidate John McCain even visited my home town, Durango, Colorado, just a week ago. It was the first time a presidential candidate had visited Durango in 48 years, but I really didn’t feel the need to hear him speak. What was he going to say that I hadn’t already heard before?

I could have marched outside the gates in protest with an Obama sticker on my forehead. I could have made myself a fancy McCain sign and cheered in the crowd. But I just can’t buy into that nonsense. How absolutely foolish all these folks look in their big white McCain/Palin sweaters and in their SUVs with “Obama/Biden ‘08″ bumper stickers. What kind of persuasive tactic is that anyway? It’s not an appeal to reason, that’s for sure.

Politics is this big absurdity. We all recognize it. We all know how dirty and unsavory it is. It’s about men with money and connections soliciting the vote. They’re not appealing to any noble standard of truth or harmony or righteousness. We don’t vote for a politicians because they are honest, or because we trust them. Its a big game–a tantalizing theatrical performance–where each player appeals to as many people as possible while revealing the least about what they really think. The candidates hand out promises in the form of tax-cuts and energy policies, like handing out candy to children and asking for their favor. In return, American’s vote for the man who promises them the most sugar and the actual direction of the nation as a whole is an afterthought.

As much as the big two candidates stress their differences, really, for all practical intents and purposes, they’re leading American in the same direction–the way it’s been headed for a long time. They only have trivial differences about the best manner to get to the same destination. Obama might offer government health insurance to citizens, which is just one additional step in many taken in the past toward a more socialist government. But McCain wants to establish a New New Deal, but this time instead of socializing the highway construction like Roosevelt did in the 1930s, we’ll be socializing the construction of nuclear power plants. In addition, both candidates backed the final draft of the bailout plan to spend $700 billion in tax payer dollars to rescue the financial industry, which gave the U.S. government partial ownership of many major banks.

McCain and Obama are both behind the continuing expansion of government. When I first heard Obama speak of “Change” I fantasized for a moment that he really meant to challenge the current paradigm of growing government. But I’ve found he represents the same paradigm with a new face and some unoriginal ideas. He’s just a politician. His message and his campaign are not revolutionizing politics. The supposed “fundamental change” he says he is going to bring this country, just isn’t fundamental enough. It’s not fundamental at all! But at least he is straight-forward about his intent to increase government spending.

McCain still speaks of the dying ideals of conservatism, and if I felt he really meant them, perhaps I would even vote for him. I like the “I’m-not-going-to-continue-to-throw-money-at-a-problem” McCain. I like the “freeze-government-spending” and the “I’m-a-Federalist” McCain. But Republicans like McCain will hail free markets, small government and power to the states when everything is fine, and when there’s a predicament like 9/11 or the housing crisis they swipe up unwarranted power and abuse it without a second thought and we end up with the Bailout Plan and the PATRIOT Act.

Whichever way you vote, this country heads down the same path. This is no revolution! Despite this, tensions run especially high between opposing parties. The streets are loose with blue and red zealots. Neighborhoods are split apart, marked overtly by yard signs that might as well read, “We don’t serve blacks.” Idiots from each faction hurl stupid insults at each other. What madness it is to believe so whole-heatedly in any politician! These people look and act like buffoons.

Photo by Bob Bobster

A family divided.

I’m not likely to vote for president in 2008. I’m sure there are folks out their who will hear this and gasp as if it’s an utter sacrilege, but I really think that abstention is the only respectable decision. It’s undignified to cast a vote for the lesser of two evils, especially when they are practically one in the same. And I’m definitely not going take part in this ridiculous political warfare, that divides families and communities.

When it comes down to it, politics is a very limited realm. Only so much can be accomplished with money and power. There is so much more that we can accomplish outside of political systems. It’s time to forgo the presidential rallies; let’s reunite with our neighbors and forget our party affiliations. Let’s take a personal investment in our communities. Let’s have an affect on the people in our lives. This is where real tangible progress is made. In the smiles and the warm embraces of those we love. Let’s have faith in our own power to bring good into the lives of the people nearest us. Whatever we do, we cannot place our faith in politics.

Photo by pixielauren

Original Caption: ''The kids getting candy at the mall in their costumes.''

Last Halloween, I was on my way back from a quick motorcycle trip to Mexico. I took a friend on the back seat down to Puerto Peñasco specifically to escape American culture and get a glimpse of El Dia de los Muertos. Our American ignorance proved unfailing. We were surprised or rather disappointed to find practically no public celebration. Perhaps, that’s because we assumed the day of the dead was the same day as Halloween, when it was actually celebrated on Nov. 1 and 2. But despite that important misunderstanding, we didn’t notice any marketing campaign pushing goods for the upcoming holiday. We didn’t see any skulls for sale in the supermarket or in the candy store. We were surprised to find absolutely no commercialization of the holiday at all.

We left Mexico on Halloween, the day we thought was The Day of the Dead, and on our return trip spent the night in a suburb north of Phoenix called Anthem. We happened to stay in a Howard Johnson across the street from an outlet mall, and when we ambled on over to the mall we found the strangest site. The children of the suburb were all dressed up in costumes, walking door to door with their parents collecting buckets of candy from merchants such as Gap, Nike and Ralph Lauren.

The contrast between Puerto Peñasco, Mexico and Anthem, USA was sickening. The sight horrified me for two reasons. This takes the meaning of a corporate holiday to new far more malignant level. This wasn’t just marketing and clever holiday packaging. The corporations were actually hosting the holiday itself!

Photo by Ken Rachynski

Children in line and in constume for candy at the mall.

What horrified me more, though, was what the event told me about it’s community. This suburb at the outskirts of Phoenix probably hardly existed five years ago, now it was teeming with a commuters and their unfortunate offspring. These people really don’t know each other. There is relatively little that bonds this community together and hence, these inhabitants of Anthem don’t trust their neighbors. So the safe alternative–the only haven of trust–turned out to be the corporations that set up shop in Anthem’s Outlet Mall. Isn’t that just sad? Is it not curious how the increasing disintegration of our communities drives us further and further into a dependence on the corporation?

When I further researched the Outlet Mall, I also found they offered free interactive kids programs on Wednesdays. Now, why do you suppose the outlet mall offers a free interactive kids program? I’m sure they’re marketing manager knows it’s worth the investment. Not only will this “free” class drag parents into the outlet mall, but it will also familiarize a whole group of young potential consumers with the brands of evermore paternal corporations. This terrifying event seems like an event lifted from the pages of an old distopian novel, but this scene is real, and iI’ll bet it’s not an isolated incident. Rather, it’s likely the beginning of a rather disturbing and popular trend where communities spring up in external elegance, numerous conveniences, complex city government and advanced infrastructure, but lack all the innards that make a real community of human beings a cohesive unit.

My friends Ryan and Lisa accompanied me on a visit to the Whole Expo in search of some much-needed holistic healing.

I have one friend who takes anti-psychotics. Then I have another friend who is depressed over a breakup with my old roommate who was also chronically depressed. I myself am completely unmedicated and arguably mentally unstable as well. Seeing that we all could use a little more mental health in our lives, my friends and I visited a local holistic health conference called the Whole Expo.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find the mentally stabilizing and holistic environment we were looking for. Somehow tarot readings and psychic analyses just weren’t the metaphysical experiences we were searching for. We didn’t fit in, without bindis stuck to the center of our foreheads or giant crystal talismans hanging from silver chains around our necks.

Among the psychic booths, there were salesmen promoting strange devices including a laser machine said to whiten teeth, a foot bath that used electric current supposedly to detoxify feet and “space age” infrared amethyst crystal mats–all touted to bring greater health. I was seriously skeptical. The validity of all these technologies was seriously undermined just by being in the same exhibition hall as a “Photograph Your Own Energy” booth. I was quick to come to the conclusion that this whole conference was nothing but a big scam, but I stuck around because I was curious how an absurd event like this could be so popular.

Trained as mystical traveler, aye?

A pushy man pressured my friend Lisa into a “free nervous system analysis.” The man had her fill out paperwork, in which she disclosed information as to her terrible sleep schedule being a full-time college student and working night shifts at an assisted living home. The man took a hand-held gadget dotted with bright blue diodes and pressed it to her neck. The device was supposed to analyze the spine and indicate general health. After the “scan” he reported that she was sleep deprived and that she needed to pay for a full session with him. Now, did that hand-held gadget reveal this or did the paperwork tell him that? And come on, she really didn’t need anyone else to tell her she was sleep-deprived. When she declined the man’s imperative, he reproached her, “Don’t you care about your body?” and she walked away.

I realized, walking around, that the people who attended this event, were people of a particular kind. They were the “looking for something more” kind of folk. Many were overweight or looked otherwise unhealthy. Some were frail and aging. I especially spotted many lonely women. It seems of all things, these people exuded an extremely low self-confidence. All these people were in need, all of them searching for help and all of them fit to be swindled.

The unscrupulous merchant who accosted my friend was just one among many. I have never witnessed a more overt predatory display of business. It was an event that attracted hungry lambs with the promise of oats and hay, into a den of vampiric lions. Surly, these merchants are conscious of their scam. They have to be aware that they are con artists on some level, though I’m sure they’d prefer to be called businessmen as the word “businessman” validates almost any practice. And I think to myself, in a way, many businessmen are magicians. By slight of hand they find a weakness in our awareness and then they exploit it. And if the illusion is well played, the customer becomes a willing participant in his own exploitation.

We sat in on a free name-reading seminar hosted by a psychic who called herself Dolly Mae. She claimed that the composition of a person’s name held secrets about a person’s personality. She was an energetic speaker, quick to respond, smooth with her words, and confident. She had a magician’s charisma.

She told the audience about how Zacharys are fascinating people, but how they screw up their lives thanks to the ‘z’ in their name. She told about how names like Katie, with an ‘ie’ letter combination on the end are diminutive. She told about how people with an ‘o’ in their names are empathetic. She told about how people with ‘b’ in their names can relate to others well. And she told about how the letter ‘a’ means a person “is about himself.”

At one point during the seminar a woman in the audience asked, “I’m in the process of changing my name from Laurena to Maurena because it just feels better. Can you tell me if I’ve made the right decision?” Of course, Dolly Mae declined to answer the question as this was a “free” seminar, but she kindly invited the woman to visit her booth and have her name read for $20.

I realized at this moment, that the woman in the audience, like many of the people attending the conference, was seeking validation. Obviously, this woman knows more about herself than any psychic could ever tell her. And the people who she lives with should know her next best. But here she is looking for someone to validate herself, because apparently she can’t find it anywhere else. She wants someone else to recognize her own humanity. Isn’t it a shame that my own community has lead people like her to seek recognition by paying money to a stranger?

She’s changing her name for the people who don’t know her. She’s changing her name for people like Dolly Mae who make grand generalizations about people without knowing them. A name should take on the meaning we give it, and that meaning should be far more complex than anything Dolly Mae could write a book about.

As Dolly Mae described the supposed varying characteristics of different letters and letter combinations, I realized that the characteristics she was describing could apply to any person at one point or another in their life. I realized that all people share the same spectrum of emotions. Perhaps this is the one things psychics do understand. It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional wrestler, or a homemaker, we all share the human condition. Many times these emotions are repressed or suppressed, but ultimately we are very complex people made of very similar emotional needs, emotional desires and emotional situations. When a person seeks out a psychic, the psychic is only successful when they tell that person things he or she already knows. A psychic does nothing revolutionary, but validate what that person already knows. Yet there is something comforting and valuable in having someone recognize and validate who we are. This validation is best provided by those who love us. It’s simply a shame and embarrassment that so many people in my community don’t have someone to validate who they are.

When I went home, I began to do some research on the medical devices at the conference that didn’t seem quite legitimate. Most of them turned out to be gimmicks and scams, based on anecdotes and unsound science. It turns out that the teeth-whitening laser doesn’t use a laser at all, and that its whitening effect is only the result of temporary dehydration of the teeth. The ionic foot treatment was thoroughly documented as a scam on DeviceWatch.org. And the infrared light mats which were originally designed by NASA for astronauts seem rather useless considering most of us spend our days on earth bathing in the natural infrared rays of the sun.

If you think about it, a great deal of our consumption in this modern age, is fueled by our need to fill a void within ourselves. We wouldn’t need to purchase our own validation from a psychic, we wouldn’t need to whiten our teeth to impress others and we wouldn’t have to worry about businessmen preying on our weaknesses if we belonged to social circle where we would be known intimately. But for now, we, the disintegrated masses of the modern age, will seek the only temporary satisfaction we can acquire without an intimate social unit. We will seek it through consumption.