For those who don’t know, the act of “shorting” a stock is the act of betting a stock will drop in price and profiting from it’s decline. If you really want a good example of how it works, you can learn more here.

2010 is an election year. YESSSSSS!

This year’s elections really set me off. Not only is there not a candidate I actually believe in this year, but my political interest issues started many years ago when I just became so annoyed and frustrated with how EVERY candidate was just acting out the “politician” role they were supposed to, following whatever plan they needed to in order to win. I never EVER feel like anyone is actually thinking for themselves, or speaking their truth, or standing for what they TRULY believe.

And why is that? Well, it’s because our political system is kind of like an “influence stock market.” A politician’s job (at least at present… not in an ideal world IMHO) is to do and say whatever is necessary in order to gain more influence (and/or money). The more influence/votes they get, the higher up the chain they move (and the more money they make). At one point, a politician’s value was seemingly tied to the value of our country’s stock (as our country’s stock went up, so did the politician’s value). But as of late we’ve seen a disturbing trend of politicians who choose to short our country’s stock while still increasing their own political value.

But while that view makes politicians sound like terrible excuses for human beings, how can we as a capitalist society really blame them? We live in a society where we are not only taught but encouraged to do whatever is necessary to get ahead. A world where the dumbest guy from your high school could be worth $12.6 million right now simply because he knew how to get it. All these politicians are really doing are finding ways to look better than everyone else doing the same job to move up the food chain, even if it means lying or cheating their way to the top. How many of us can say we’ve NEVER lied or cheated to improve our situation? How many of us wouldn’t do the same in their position? As defiant as some might be to tell me they wouldn’t, I believe the vast majority would do the same (as I’ve witnessed just about everyone I know consciously make the same types of decisions on a daily basis).

I feel like there was a day when there was a bit of honor and pride in running for office, standing for something, and doing things the “honest” way, but those days have been gone for some time now. Economics 101 teaches us of the laws of supply and demand and politicians have become aware of the increasing supply of lazy voters alongside the increasing demand for political and social figures to tell them what to think. Because of this, politician’s have realized it is more convenient to say whatever is necessary to get your vote NOW and not follow through on it (or change their opinion to whatever gets them more influence/votes) later. If there is such a high demand of voters who need political figures to tell them what to think and how to vote, it makes the decision real easy for politicians to “take the easy road” and say whatever is necessary to gain more influence.

So where does it leave us? Well there is no immediate fix for such a broken system at large… but in the meantime I beg of both voters AND politicians to STOP SHORTING (Y)OUR FUTURE!

If you run for office, remember that you’re not just running to improve your own position or situation but you’re representing America and trying to do what’s in the COUNTRY’S best interests. What you do in office will have an impact on generations of future americans and not just the people who are eligible to vote for you now. Implementing policies that will blow up 4 years from now just to win over the voters of today in order to be in a higher office when that happens is an AWFUL decision to make.

If you’re voting, do yourself a favor and EDUCATE yourself. It is NOT acceptable to just believe whatever Glenn Beck or Jon Stewart say. You CANNOT treat politics as just a nuisance and just run with the first thing you hear. Think PAST what is in just your own best interests and factor in what is in the community or country’s best interests. If we don’t work as a team to turn things around, the people who choose to “profit” off of our country’s stock plunging would love nothing more than to ride it into the ground. *cough* George W. Bush *cough*

And while I am sick to my stomach that I basically have to vote for one person simply because the other person would be worse, it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that you vote for someone. Ignoring a problem does not make it go away, and the act of not voting won’t make anyone question how to improve the broken system, it will just make it easier for the person you believe in least to win. That is NOT a recipe for a better future.

I have confidence that someone or something will come along to improve our political state some day, but if you choose not to vote now, there might not be much of a country left to govern when that time comes.