Last week.

[aruru]

Wow, it was quite the eventful last week, wasn't it? I usually don't like to talk politics, and I know everyone's tired of hearing it, plus all I could say about the US election has been said by others far more articulate than I, but I still wanted to say that: I'm proud of you guys. I was confident it would happen, but still had my concerns something would happen at the last moment. So, I'm very happy for you - I hope it's a sign of wonderful things to come. :)

As for local politics, I'm feeling very "meh -_-" on those, but I won't bore anyone with that. And as for Prop 8 and the other amendments/props like it passing, I'm somewhere in between thinking "What the HELL is WRONG with people?!" and "No, most folks (especially the younger ones) aren't like that, and I'm sure justice will see things for what they really are and overturn them, people just need to be patient," so... yeah, I'm pretty much there with what others on my FL have said, and said so much better than I, I should say.


Anyway, another post is forthcoming in a few minutes, even though it's a copy/paste of something I posted in Fandom Lounge on JournalFen. Still, I think it might be of interest to some here, and since not everyone here reads JF, I figure it's worthy enough to post.

Comments

[charmwitch.livejournal.com]

SO HOW ARE THOSE PUERTO RICAN POLITICS?
Seriously, dad was saying he was glad that it was over for now (he voted at the island level) and I haven't really heard anything from PR in over a year... I think that's a good thing. I think uhhh.. Fortuño won?

[aruru.livejournal.com]

LOLOLOL somehow I'm not surprised you came in to ask? XD

Yeah, Fortuño won. I'm not thrilled about it, seeing as I'm an estadolibrista and all, but then again, I wasn't too thrilled with my own party - mainly, that Aníbal insisted on running, instead of allowing someone like maybe Willie Miranda Marín (the mayor of Caguas, he's got a great reputation for revitalizing/livening up the town) or Alejandro García Padilla (The guy who used to be the head of DACO during this last term, he's young and he did quite a hell of a job defending consumers' rights and keeping the public informed on how to avoid scams from stores/companies - in fact, he ran for Senate this election, and got the most votes out of any Senatorial candidate for any party, people just like him that much.) to take the reins. I'm pretty sure that the fight would've been a lot closer if either of those two had been the candidate instead.

Full disclosure: I was actually tempted to vote PIP on the governor's ballot, but wound up sticking to PPD because no matter what my issues are with Aníbal, I still believe in the party ideal (which a lot of people seem to have forgotten, sadly) itself, plus the PIP is so weak now that voting for them is basically giving your vote away for Fortuño. (Additionally, I have my own set of problems with how the PIP and a lot of other disenfranchised independentistas think.)

Ah well, at least the party can start fresh anew in the next election? Heh. :P

[charmwitch.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Aníbal. If the US knew how corrupt that son of a bitch was, or if this was happening in the Continental US, it would so not fly. It's so pathetic that he's such trash and only using his position for himself and not the betterment of our Island.

Then again, I've always felt people in politics in Puerto Rico were desperate only for power for themselves. A lot of the times it feels like none of them care about the standing of others, of medical insurance, of our elderly (which we have a LOT of)- and instead opt to only worry about their name and family.

One day, I hope things get better.

[aruru.livejournal.com]

Hmm... no offense, but I must respectfully disagree with the "this crap would not fly in the continental US" statement there. There is plenty of corruption going on in all levels of the US government. These are, after all, the same folks who brought you the Watergate scandal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal) back during Nixon's presidency, and that was pretty epic in scope. And if you want something more recent, this brief article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_corruption) lists in its first section a couple of politicians (mainly Republican, since the article is about a turn of phrase Democrats use to attack the GOP, though they do mention at least three Dem-related scandals in the "Republican response" section - there should probably be more info on each case on the individual people's pages) that were either indicted and convicted, or at least attacked with accusations of corruption, during Bush Jr.'s second term in office.

Make no mistake about it: There is no shortage of politicians in the US who, like the PR ones you're disillusioned by, use their power only for their personal benefit, and who only "look out for number one," all at the expense of the American public. They're just very, very old hat at it (especially the elder ones, those who have been there so long they know how to work the system without so much as blinking) and know how to cover their tracks well. And if they're discovered? Well, they know how to work the system there too, in order to do damage control to their rep, or, if charges are unavoidable, at least minimize their sentences.

Sad but true, corruption in politics tends to be the same wherever you go, only with different faces. This is why so many people (both here and in the US, though I'm sure if you spoke with people from anywhere else and asked them about their governments, you'll get similar reactions) have a tendency to be so disillusioned/angry/apathetic towards them. Meh. -_-

(I apologize belatedly if this comment offends you in any way, btw, but I just couldn't agree with that statement of yours, and had to articulate why. Anyway, sorry if it does.)

[charmwitch.livejournal.com]

No, I'm not offended. I know I don't understand much about politics, nor do I try to make it sound like I do. I guess because of the proportion size (the number of politicians you hear about on PR as opposed to the US) it just seems larger a problem to me.


(S-Sorry I had to make you explain it so much in length because of one sentence I wrote. XD;; )

[aruru.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, it's no problem! XD I'm actually not that well-versed in politics either, save for maybe catching a headline or two in the news when my parents are watching, or catching a headline while browsing the internet (which, despite all the trolls/jerks and frivolities, I still consider one of the greatest inventions/tools man has created, as now almost any kind of info you could want is easily accessible, at little to no cost :D). I still enjoy sharing what little I do know with others, though, if it'll help out in some manner. :)

And yeah, I think it is indeed a matter of proportion - since we have way, way less amount of statesmen to deal with in PR, the news is able to cover them all island-wide whenever they do/are accused of doing something, whether good or bad. It seems that in the US, coverage tends to be a little more limited to specific regions, mostly sticking to your location's Congressmen, and the ones outside that area of coverage are often limited to being mentioned only when they do/are accussed of doing something really big or "scandalous" (again, regardless of whether it's good or bad). At least, that seems to be my perception of things based on when I used to go to NYC for a month every year as a kid and glanced at the headlines in my dad's papers - I could always be wrong about that.

Anyway, I'm just happy you're not offended, and that you were willing to humor me there for a moment. I normally don't like talking about politics much because too many folks aren't as receptive to what they see as a "challenge" to their perceptions as you seem to be, so this was cool. :)