USA elections

[Alazarin Mondrian]

Congratulations America and Barack Obama! You can do it!

 

[Melita Magic]

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solstyse wrote:

Am I the only person who finds it more than a little sad that after four years we still haven't made it past "skin deep" with our president? Why haven't we gone any deeper and looked into the issues?

 

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Not the only one.

Somehow people (like Snoop Dog/Lion) saying "I am voting for Obama because he is black" isn't racist - but imagine someone saying it about Romney (or anyone else.) A lot of people came out and said the same thing - voting based on color. And no in case anyone asks I am not going to do the googling for you. (And not every freaking thing is online anyway.)

But race obsessions are a sad fact of American life. I don't hear about it happening as much in other countries although, watch for racism to flare up in any nation that is having economic crises. The most recent immigrants will always catch flak. And that isn't only about race, it's always happened. Ask the Italians, Irish, etc., from about 100 years ago. 

Interestingly "race" used to mean something a bit different. I've got family documents in which "race" was put down as the nation they were from. Not color, but nationality. So maybe it used to be more specific, or totally different; hard to get into the minds of people from that era. But it wasn't always just about color.

Race is not a "biological fiction," though. Not when DNA can tell where your people came from and what ethnicity they were. After doing my family tree (which I'm still finishing up) I heard about "genetic genealogy" and explored that. I took a DNA test as did several family members. We had heard there was "native blood" and there might be but if so I didn't inherit any. (That's how autosomal DNA works...every single person in a family gets different bits of it) It would've been one person a handful of generations ago anyway so I'm not surprised. To my surprise though I had 96 percent white European, and about 4 percent Middle Eastern. Now THAT surprised me. (We don't know where it came from...maybe a 2nd great grandpa...was Jewish? But no real clue.)

So that kind of makes you think. What or who are we all really under our skin?

But groups do carry genetic flaws with them, no matter which group, there are higher risks of inheritikng this or that illness or disorder if you are in this one but not that one. So it isn't biological fiction, it's fact. It's DNA. It just also happens to carry with it, external traits too like hair, skin and eye color.

See, this was a political thread but when you mention politics, or religion or any major topic in the USA race always will pop up along with it. 

The US demographic is indeed changing. White famlies are having one or two or no children. Families 'of color' are having more. That is the broad outline of it. That's the reverse of what happened from about 1600 to 1960, which was hte only reason the white skin color was the majority for a while. Now within our lifetimes the average American will have brown skin, hair and eyes, and probably be of 'mixed race.' And what does it matter? Not at all really...unless people hold onto hate.

As for the two party system, I am sick of it. I didn't like EITHER candidate this time. I don't vote based upon who smiles and says nothing. I don't vote on how someone looks. I wanted a candidate that didn't get the nomination. I rarely like everything anyone says though and I don't want to get into political bickering on here or be misunderstood.

I'm not surprised Romney lost, even Republicans had no idea who he was or what he stood for. His campaign was terrible. Obama is like a rock star on camera, it doesn't hurt that so many popular celebs endorsed him either or that the Republicans had idiots on camera for several weeks. I'm neither Repub nor Democrat, I just want a leader who actually cares about everyday people. I don't  think any of the main ones do. They care about ego and fame or whatever else. It's part of the legacy of only having multi millionaires run (or those that back them, are.)

With very real crises going on, I wanted to know, how are you going to solve this or that? Not who can smile and wave the best. 

I'm sick of the electoral college deciding who wins, too, it's ridiculous. The government should be chosen by the people it governs, and no state should be more important in that, than another.

That's my stream of consciousness ramble on politics and race and DNA in the modern world if anyone gave a rat's.......