Let The Games Begin...

At this time of the year when you hear, "let the games begin" many of us would automatically think of basketball, football or hockey, right? Here we are a mere three days into the year 2012 and the road to the White House is on fire with both political parties playing their reindeer games. A loose definition of "reindeer games" is some sort game or activity enjoyed by members of a clique that are obvious to outsiders, is done in order to make another group of people feel inadequate or left out. If this does not sound like politics then I do not know what does. If you live in the United States then you will need to brace yourself for the amount of shit you are getting ready to read, hear and see in the media between now and November 2012, when the presidential election is held.

During this time, both political parties are going to try and convince you that the other side is the devil. Please do not laugh, this is serious, at least from their perspective it is. In order to assist our blog readers on how to handle the next 10 months of gaming from Washington, let me start by saying the best way to disarm the effects of all the propaganda is by educating yourself on the political process. I know, I know that sounds like it's too simple. Unfortunately we live in a world of the 24 hour news cycle and that means checking facts and data before reporting a story is sometimes overlooked. The funny thing is that when the retraction is printed days later, the damage has been done already. The second thing is to not believe everything you hear off the top. Think of it this way, right now if you listened to what the Republicans are saying, Barack Obama is a failure. He has failed at everything and if he wins a second term then the United States will perish. The fact of the matter is that Congress has a lower approval rating than President Obama, so if the theory the Republicans holds true then that means the Republican majority in Congress needs to be voted out of office as well.  We all know that is not what they want.

At the end of the day, there is enough blame to go around and just as in real life, anyone that attempts to paint their political opponent  in such a bad light makes me a little leery. You know, they try to keep the focus on the other guy so you don't have time to focus on them and their mistakes. It reminds me of the "gossip girls" from high school that talked bad about people they didn't like for no other reason but to make themselves feel better. If you understand that, then you understand the type of fun political year we are in store for this year.