More Proof of the Stupid American

You know, sometimes I think we just get what's coming to us. With the mortgage crisis going on, a lot of people have blamed greedy bankers and mortgage companies for the mess. While there's no doubt these entities share blame, what about the dumbass Americans who bought homes they couldn't afford? Everyone acts like the banks hypnotized these people. It's just simple math folks. You don't worry about how much money the bank qualifies you for; you look at what you can afford. Look at your net monthly income, minus all your other expenses, and see what kind of mortgage payment you can comfortably afford. By comfortably afford, I don't mean have just enough money to pay each month. I mean being able to pay the mortgage and still have plenty left over in case rates go up and some other emergency happens. This might mean you can't afford a house with a kitchen island or a glamour bathroom or walk-in closets. But it will mean that you'll still have a home if your interest goes up. Of course, you could have always been smart and got a fixed-rate mortgage but many people don't have enough income or down payment to qualify for those. If that's the case, you may have to wait to get a house until you can afford it. As one economist recently said, owning a home is not a right. But now all of us, even those of us who live within our means and try to do things right, are suffering in this economic meltdown resulting from a minority of greedy, dumb-ass Americans who refuse to deny themselves anything. Thanks. I really appreciate it.

Now, I hope you don't expect that things are going to get better with the presidential election. The Plain Dealer front page today described the results of the South Carolina democratic primary and the breakdown was interesting and, unfortunately, proof of more ignorance among voters. Barack Obama won the primary, pretty handily, over Hillary Clinton. But what was interesting was the racial breakdown among voters. The white vote was spread pretty evenly across the three top candidates, Obama and Clinton still doing best but very close to one another. Among black voters, 80% voted for Obama.

So what does it tell us that 80% of blacks voted for Obama while whites were evenly split? Well, it obviously tells us that whites and blacks see the candidates differently. Do blacks know something about Obama that the rest of us don't know? They must because they overwhelmingly feel that he is the best choice. To be fair, maybe the whites know something about Obama and that's why votes for him were suppressed in the white community. Still, given that whites were nearly evenly split, which seems predictable given that neither candidate has really emerged nationally as a front runner, you have to assume that this is just all about race and this is where Amercans are absolute idiots.

Now the fact is that Obama may very well be the best candidate for president. He certainly is a strong contender on the democratic side and seems to be gaining momentum. But nothing he's done to this point suggests that he should be getting 80% of anyone's vote. That's a huge margin folks. Usually the kind of margin someone only gets when their opponent has a major scandal or is a complete unknown. So my guess is that many blacks voted for him because he's black. And this is a piss-poor reason to vote for a candidate. Again, maybe he is the best person for the job. I may vote for him myself. I just don't think we've seen or heard enough to warrant that opinion yet. But I think many in the black community are simply excited to see a black person having a real shot at the White House and they'll vote for him solely for this reason. I wish those people would stay home on election day. If your analysis of a candidate's qualifications to lead the most powerful nation on earth comes down to skin color, gender, or religious affiliation then, in my mind, you are far too stupid to vote. Frankly, you're probably too stupid to operate a motor vehicle so you shouldn't be doing this either.

Again, in fairness, I have no doubt that some white voters in South Carolina, and the U.S. as a whole, will not vote for Obama specifically because he's black. This is patently ignorant as well and let it be understood that there are as many stupid white voters as there are stupid black voters. But this disparity in South Carolina just highlights the problem. In this age of telegenic candidates, it is increasingly obvious that most voters, with barely a rudimentary understanding if the issues facing the country, decide who to vote for based on the most superficial of qualiications. They like a candidate who is "just like me" and will represent "my issues." Well, take a look in the mirror. You're nothing special and your needs and wants are not necessarily what is good for the country or the world.

Frankly, as I've said before, I'm not impressed with any of the candidates. They are a bunch of wealthy egomaniacs who are long on sound bites and short on substance. But this is apparently what we want in America. We want a president we can have a beer with and we want a $300,000 dollar house on a $40,000 a year salary. We deserve everything we get.