I've waited 18 years to vote... and this is what I get?

Can I ask a very, very sincere question?

Does anyone see 2008 turning out well?

I feel like someone needs to say this now, while we still have time.

A. The Democrats fail to find one candidate that is electable, and scatter, as they seem to be so prone to doing. The Republicans win. The second Patriot Act is enacted upon a helpless body politic by President Giuliani under the War Powers Act. The Constitution, Bill of Rights, and all 17 other Amendments to the Constitution are replaced by a further modified "Patriot Act" and the country known as America ceases to exist.

B. The Democrats defeat precedent set by the past two elections, and actually manage to unite under one flag and take the White House. That one flag is Hillary, of course, and she carries out her promise to have us out of Iraq by 2013. But LOSES the 2012 election to Giuliani because, as future Giuliani will put it: "We gave the Democrats a chance to resolve Iraq, they couldn't even lose properly, now let's do this the American way."

C. George Bush jumps the gun and pulls emergency powers on November 1st of 2008 because of "newly found, definitive proof of Iran's possesion of nuclear weapons and their intention to use them upon the American people."

well, letter C is entirely probable, but for the sake of this piece, irrelevant. Let's suggest for one second that the Republicans fumble the election and give us the shot we need at the president's office, okay?

So, that means uniting. That means every Democrat setting down their differences and uniting to destroy the past eight years of American social, economic, and foreign policy. The way I see it, that leaves Hillary.

But, guys, and here's where people might disagree with me, I don't think Hillary's going to be significantly better.

Hillary seems like a politicker. A compromiser. She plays to win, but at what cost? Nothing about her seems presidential, and I don't say that because she's a woman. I think Segolene Royale, Maria Cantwell, and Barbara Boxer look plenty more presidential than Mrs. Clinton. I say it because she's done nothing to reassure me that we can make this country a better place. I have no faith.

Conversely, some would suggest Obama as a possible candidate. But he also makes me nervous. Now please don't get me wrong, I've been a supporter of Obama since the day I stood on the floor of the convention and watched Obama talk about a unified country. He spoke not of Democrats and Republicans, but of Americans. I liked that.

The other day it occurred to me I didn't really have any idea what I was supporting, though, so I did some googling.

Turns out I don't know because it's really friggin' hard to tell. Barack, in my opinion, doesn't politick the way Hillary does, but he does keep things vague and idealistic, which ends up pleasing a lot of Americans, but cheating them of answers they need.

So I guess what I had decided is that when I step into the voting booth for the first time in my life and am confronted with the choice between Hillary and Obama, I'll have to make a very difficult choice.

And pull the Kucinich lever.

My entire generation dislikes Dennis Kucinich because he kind of resembles an elf. He also, as it happens, feel strongly about a number of issues, and is vocal of his convictions. And he also happens to agree with me on a lot of issues.

Kucinich is no fringe radical. He's a true Democrat. He believes many of the things we used to. But in the past 8 years the Bush Administration has dragged the political spectrum so far to the right that we've lost any sense of perspective.

Old people: ask yourself what you would have wanted eight years ago. Ask yourself the kind of person you were, before the Bush Administration rubbed "terror" in your face until it bled. I think a lot of people would find Dennis reflects a more true American spirit than anyone is willing to admit.

But he looks like an elf.



It's time for you to decide whether you can make the mature, grown up, decision, because if not, you're going to leave a really disgusting world for my generation to clean up.

Now departing 2007. Welcome to 1984.

Okay, so I just got back from Maine, where I was visiting colleges.

Everything went very well, except for one thing.

My hair was frizzy and gross.

This woman and I had a lot in common.

Now, one might think this is inconsequential, but that’s what THEY want you to think.

We’ll get to the “THEY” in a sec, I just need to satisfy my shtick first:

I had frizzy hair, so I was nervous, and I looked like a crazed asylum escapist to my interviewer. In short, frizzy hair sucks.

So, Max, why is it that your obviously untrendy hair is the subject matter of this particular blog post?

Hm, that’s a good question, hypothetical reader, maybe because the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT is singlehandedly responsible for ripping my faithful shampoo and cream rinse from my pallid little hands and crushing it under military boot.

OK… so I leave my mom at the security checkpoint. That makes sense… we don’t want anyone who isn’t flying in the gate area, right? I’m busy making puppy eyes and waving goodbye while waiting on the line, so I don’t notice the hundreds of millions of ridiculous signs around me.

Suddenly, a guy I’d describe as “not warm and fuzzy” is stabbing me with eyeballs obviously hardened in Guantánamo, demanding I, ahem, here we go:

1. Remove my shoes.
2. Remove my jacket.
3. Remove my belt.
4. Empty my pockets.
5. Take any large electronics out of my bag.
6. Retain my boarding pass.
7. Retain my Identification.
8. Keep any unshot film with me.
9. Move quickly.

So, while I’m dancing on one foot, playing music plastic bins, and getting to, like, second base with the security guard, I begin to get a little frustrated.

I somehow throw myself through the metal detector, which, magically, doesn’t declare me to be Osama Bin Laden junior, as all the guards seemed to hope it would. I didn’t forget anything.

Now I’m waiting on the other end, with everything in my hands, and bags spilling out of the machine.

My camera makes it through, but they demand to swab it, as they always do. I’ve decided I don’t care, though, since jokes on them, I don’t have to clean it myself!

And my other bag comes through, I grab it, and begin to hobble over to the nearest seat, conveniently located 9000 feet away.

But then, suddenly, a latex claw grasps my arm and a bodaciously big lady says, “WHERE DUH YUH THINK YUR GOWN?” In response, I immediately pee my pants.

Okay… so I didn’t, but I was startled, for sure.

Then, as if she were commanded by God himself to do it, she rips my bag open, and plunges her latexed claw in, digging, drilling, puncturing. She brings her spiked appendage out, triumphant.

AHA! SADDAM 2.0! LOOKY HERE!

A fricken toiletries bag.

“And what did you think you were doing with this, young man?”

The number of wry, hygiene related puns that fleeted upon me at that moment was overwhelming.

Yet, I still responded with “Uhhmmmmmmmmm…”

And so, the bag was opened, the shampoo thrown out on the table, and the bag thrown beside it.

“These MUST be checked sir”. Echoed across the security area, and I wanted to fall to the floor in shame. I had obviously betrayed my country, how could I live on?

I had somehow missed two more commandments in addition to the nine above.

10. No liquids in bottles larger than 1/2 a quart. (or something like that)
11. Remove all toiletries from bags.

Ultimately, she decided NOT to strip search me in a backroom, and settled for making me throw out my sundried hair cleaning products.

That being said, even the environmental aspect of making people throw out things like that is just disgusting.

Is this what our country has become?

If so, ladies and gentlemen, this is a real freaking problem.

This is how civil liberties die. Little by little. First it’s our shoes, then our shampoo. What’s next? When does the government decide not to allow carry-ons OR checked baggage? “Items required for use at destination must be purchased upon arrival or shipped directly via mail. This is for the safety of all Americans. Baggage compartments offer a striking vulnerability in the security of all aircraft. Thank you for doing your patriotic duty. God Bless America.”

I get that I’m making a fuss about something not that important, but we must draw the line somewhere. We must decide when too much is enough. 10 years ago, I think it would have been drawn at when we need to keep our toiletries in ZIP LOC bags of PRECISELY one quart in size.

When old men are being searched in their wheelchairs.

When toddlers are forced to walk through metal detectors alone.

When a woman has to drink her own breastmilk.


Security is important. Security from without. But what is far more important, and what we’re far less capable of enforcing under this barbaric administration, is security from within.

Civil disobedience is American. It’s how we stay American.

It's time to remember that.

Taking a Step Back...

So it's that time of the year again.

School has started.

I'm sitting at my desk, I've just finished reading the first chapter of my Physics textbook. It's the standard "gee, what IS scientific notation??" chapter that precedes all science textbooks.

I read one quotation that I've come back to about 3 times now, and would like to share with everyone here.

"We seem to be at the dawn of a major change in human growth, not unlike the stage of a chicken embryo before it fully matures. When the chicken embryo exhausts the last of its inner-egg resources and before it pokes its way out of its shell, it may seem to be at its last moments, But what seems like an end is really only a beginning. Are we like the hatching chicks ready to poke through to a whole new range of possibilities? Are our space faring efforts the early signs of a new human era?"

That quotation, paired with a video I saw today, have really begun to get me thinking...

Thinking about us, thinking about our future.

This is a politics blog, for sure, but some may argue that that the post I'm writing now has nothing to do with politics.

I think they're dead wrong.

Everyday politicians across the world wheel and deal, trade, undermine, force, and coax political ideologies. They traffic human desires and necessities. We call it politics. But I'm talking about the big one. I'm talking about humanity's greatest necessity. It's necessity to survive.

It's easy to get wrapped up in intellectual quandaries and minute details, but we have problems on a bigger scale to worry about. A universal scale.

In 9th grade, a teacher asked the class what the dilemma of purchasing land was. I raised my hand, got called on, and responded as he wanted. I said "that eventually land will run out" and he agreed. But then I interrupted him and said, "unless we colonize space," which got a chuckle from him and the class.

I WAS BEING SERIOUS! This is our problem! We're too disillusioned, we're too caught up in the easy stuff! The stuff we can "fix" with a few bullets or some aid money is what we concentrate on! We're ignoring the issues that are hard, the ones we don't know all the answers to!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're running out of time.

The growing fear of radical climate change is the ticking time bomb, and space exploration is the solution. We've outgrown our cradle. We're itching to get out. We need to before we're too weak to break the shell. We've got brilliant minds and strong hearts eager to get out there and spread humanity across the universe. We have the resources to begin doing it. We have the technology to make it happen. We're just too damn caught up in the minute details.

Support NASA. Support the EPA. We need to start thinking about the survival of the human race, before it's too late.

PRESIDENT BUSH; ADULTS, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!?

I try to remain levelheaded when I publish on this blog, mainly because I don't want to come off as an over-emotional, bipolar, disgruntled teenager. But the shit has just hit the fan, and I'm done with this.

Read this, then come back. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2369001.ece)

Okay. Lets discuss for a moment.

As a representative for my generation, I feel some need to voice a few concerns I'm harboring right about now.

FIRST of all, what on earth do you think you are doing? Does this lead anywhere good? Does anyone think crippling Iran will leave us any stronger? Have we, as a country, decided we should engage in pre-emptive strikes? Are YOU morally, politically, and intellectually comfortable with this? Regardless of the sorts of skeletons they'll leave in our closets, does anyone understand that bombing the shit out of people just makes them angry? It doesn't work, and it leaves us HATED. THINK about this for a moment, PLEASE.

IRAN is a country, with people, and culture, and sovereignty. We have no more right to bomb them than the Spanish had a right to keep Cuba in 1898.

And what'd we do to the Spanish in that splendid little war of ours? WE KICKED THEIR IMPERIALISTIC ASSES!

We're taking a position we can't forfeit, ladies and gentlemen. We're declaring ourselves the absolute deciders of right and wrong. We're ignoring international laws and organizations. We're breaking a lot of precedents that we're going to wish we had kept.

AND FOR WHAT?

There's only one country in the world that has ever used nuclear weapons on a hostile nation. That's us. We're the true terrorists here. We've murdered millions of innocent people and used indiscriminate force. Yet here we stand, missiles locked, guns loaded, ready to wipe out a nation's entire arsenal for threatening to create just one nuclear bomb.



Nuclear proliferation is inevitable. Technology is upgraded, techniques are modified. Nuclear weapons are going to become easier to make, not harder, so we need to take a step back and really, really, think about this.

Is the way to protect ourselves from nuclear weapons by killing and destroying? Not in any logical world. We need to be working on an international level to either tag or destroy as many nuclear weapons as possible. WITH the permission of the country in possession of the weapons.

IF an international entity that Iranians and other nations were comfortable with could come forward and secure every nuclear missile in the world, wouldn't that be safer for everyone? OR is it just going to be every man for himself? Are we going to assume for the rest of time that our brethren are not to be trusted?


There's bigger things going on! We're being those losers who sit around the Burger King and skateboard all day when we could be going to M.I.T. or getting a real job! We're wasting our few precious moments on this earth bickering over borders and resources when we could be realizing the vast potential of human community. We could be exploring outer space and discovering how this universe came to be, we could be improving nano-technology and saving the ill! We could be stopping global warming in it's tracks!

Instead, we're planning a 3 day campaign to utterly destroy a nation's attempt to defend itself in this scary, scary world.

Adults: look to history, look to your children. Ask yourself if this is really a good idea. Question the actual threat posed by Iran. Consider the threat posed by this administration. Contemplate where the world is going to be in 10, 15, 20, or 100 years.

Ask yourself how this is going to end.

And act on your convictions.

The Crux of Cars

As a 17 year old boy, cars are a wonderous and beautiful thing.


As a political activist and free-thinking human being, they are the bane of the earth.

First a bit of background: Cars emerged in a time of growth throughout the world. They filled a niche wonderfully, allowing people to transport themselves and their goods rapidly and efficiently. And they ran on gasoline!

Since those days, cars have continued to be the most useful way to transport people and things, especially in America.

But now we've reached a moment in which cars are beginning to be more of a burden than a boon.

Cars have singlehandedly tied us inexorably to the Middle East and the oil industry. They have singlehandedly inspired the greatest piece of legislation to be passed in the United States: The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956.

Pollution, a violently important and often ignored issue, is on the rise partially because of the use of cars.


Obesity in Americans is at an all-time high. The fact that we drive consistently doesn't help. We're not getting any exercise!

And, finally, city congestion has begun to reach critical mass because the population growth coupled with the growing number of cars per person has led to almost inoperable levels at times.

So I've detailed the reasons why cars are an outdated concept, one that actually threatens the country.

Now, I need to make one other thing clear: Cars are wonderful. The four majestic wheels roll sexily along the street as the stereo pumps. The seats allow one to look from a reclining position at those people not driving. And the big, shiny, windows allow you to nod non-chalantly to anyone who looks, because, "yeahh, I'm drivin' this car".

Okay. So I'm a teenager. I have a brand spankin' new Driver's License burning a hole in my pocket, and the need for speed. I love driving, and I love being in the car.

All Americans are in love with cars, and I think that is what makes it so difficult to support alternative modes of transportation, such as public transportation, bikes or even, god forbid, walking.

But I stand here a changed man. I've written it down, and now I know, CARS ARE BAD.

I'm not buying into the hype. I'm not allowing myself to become restricted to a car. When there's a more efficient alternative, I'm taking it.


I think we, as a nation, need to make that same decision. (And perhaps subsidize some new alternatives to driving.)

Go and see if that bike is still working. Dust it off, pump it up, and go enjoy the fresh air.

p.s. mom and dad: I know you weren't going to buy me a car so don't pretend that you were.

The Republican Red Herring...

A few weeks ago, when I found out Karl Rove was resigning, I said to my friends "it's like rats off a sinking ship."

Now Gonzales.

Let me make this abundantly clear. I stand by each part of that metaphor. I think these men are rats, and I think this administration is a sinking ship.

Our founding fathers displayed an amazing amount of foresight when designing this government, but if there's one thing that this administration has taught me, it's that the Founding Fathers never really believed a man would be elected president who either didn't care about American well-being, or could even possibly work against it for financial or political gain.

Well, fast-forward 231 years and you'll see, we were duped. We bought the innocent looking Texan with the cute speech impediment, and got the spoiled, corrupt, oilman sans one conscience.

And at first, the system didn't right itself. There is no check or
balance strong enough to right all of George Walker Bush's
wrongs, but that doesn't mean he will get away scott-free.

No, in fact, everyone is beginning to see just how deep this goes.
Just how far we're going to have to climb to make amends. We've spent
the past 8 years burrowing into Iraq, training ourselves to cower in
fear of anything relating to "evildoers", and campaigning for the
"biggest asshole of a country" award at the United Nations.

So let's whip out our pocket consitutions, warm up the guilt guns and
go find Gonzales, right?

NO NO NO! WE MUSN'T CARE ABOUT GONZALES ANYMORE!

The Bush Administration is tricking us again! They WANT us to hunt Gonzales down with a political pitchfork and exact democratic (party) justice on him, but we've got bigger fish to fry.

George Bush is stalling, he's distracting us, because he knows that when '08 comes, and we start to realize that electing a better President won't mean making everything better immediately, we're gonna want some sort of accountability.

In his perfect world, he'll be locking up the White House with Cheney in January of 2009, and then go on to be a rich oil-man / ex-president.

But if we catch him now, while there's still time, we can start turning this country around. We can start righting all the wrongs this administration has committed.

But it requires PASSION. It requires COJONES. We need to take risks and make decisions. Democrats believe in following the rules and thinking everything out, which is fine, except when they're pitted against the Republicans. Which is always.

SO COME ON! TAKE ACTION! Because, in my humble opinion, I think we're going to regret it if we don't.

The Cold War 2.0

The BBC recently reported that Russia is starting up a series of military flights that haven't been around since the collapse of the Soviet Union they're calling these flights "Cold War patrols".

The Cold War is a textbook concept to me.

I was born in 1989. The Soviet Union offically collapsed in 1991.

I have never experienced utter fear of annihilation.

I've never watched brinksmanship in action.

But I have seen War Games.

So as I begin to see news headlines like the BBC's, I get worried. Cheesy 50's era films about hiding under tables and being suspicious of everyone comes to mind. I get nervous. I get antsy. Then I remember, in a brilliant moment of clarity, that one vital part of all this is missing.

Domino theory, the red scare, invasion of the body snatchers, whatever you want to call it, it isn't there anymore. There is no remaining specter of communism. There is no reason to fear.

Then, in an even greater moment of clarity, I realize, oh shit, there is.

Terror.

I fear terror. It's almost poetic in it's cyclicality. So this is when the chain reaction kind of happens, everything makes perfect sense, and I sink into a deep, deep, deep hole of sadness.

We're in an era of terror. Our civil liberties are being ignored to combat the invisible threat, to fight those who cannot be found, but we must do our part and be faithful too.

It's like the Cold War 2.0

So I ask that we take a moment and call this what it really is. It's the Perpetual War. There was no war in Afghanistan. There is no war in Iraq. They are merely campaigns in a far greater war. One that has no definitive end. One that has no victory. Slowly but surely our great nation can devolve into a police state. And every step of the way, the neo-cons and fundamentalists will ask us in that accusatory tone, "do you love our country or not??"

We stand at a vital moment in American History. In World History. Do we do what America has done so well, and hold ourselves accountable for our actions? Or is it finally the moment in which the rock solid façade of our constitution begins to crack?

Make the decision, people. And know that every time you don't, or every time you put it off, it counts as another point for those who are corrupting our country.

They're banking on our ignorance.

And it's working.

Gasoline on the Fire...

(This post was officially written for the Huffington Post on July 28th, 2007)

--

Hello,

So I don't mean to sound complainy, or come off sounding like some pinko-hippie, but can we take a moment, drop all the terror crap, and step back?

okay.

cool.

So we've got this kinda unstable region, the Middle East. Some crazy stuff has gone on there, mainly because since like the beginning of time Western nations have been imposing philosophies, governments, and weapons on these poor people who can't seem to get a word in edgewise.

If you take another step back you can begin to understand where these anti-Western governments like Iran's come from. They're pissed that we're so up in their faces about everything.

If I were living there, the notion of overcaffinated, godless, white people invading my homeland to "bring democracy" would freak me out too... but whatever, we're America, so we always know what we're doing. (Except in Hawaii [1893], Cuba [1961], and Vietnam [1963], and Iran [1979], to name a few)

So we've got this hotbed of angry people, one which we stirred up most recently with this second gulf war of ours.

Unfortunately, just as Malcolm X refused to blatantly accept the white American point of view, some don't completely agree with D.C.'s idea of an Iraqi democracy. And they might be right.

For convenience's sake, let's call these people "insurgents" or, perhaps, "evildoers". They usually can be identified by their AK-47's.

Wait, wait, AK-47's? Those are Russian guns, aren't they? Yes, I believe they are. I believe they were the pride and joy of the Soviet Union, the gun that symbolized all that was great about that winter of 1917.

So why do these evildoers have these weapons? OK, I'll stop being coy. This is why they have those weapons:

In the 1980's the Russians had their own little Vietnam in Afghanistan. They armed the locals themselves and we, being a nation of intelligent, freeloading, individuals, armed the other side. In fact, the man we armed, who you may have heard of, ended up making us regret that whole "giving away guns" thing.

His name was Osama Bin Laden.

We've handed out weapons before, on more than one occasion, to neutralize other weapons.

You don't put out a fire by dousing it in gasoline.

Which brings me to the point of this tirade,

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2137051,00.html

Glance at the above, then come back.

---------------------------------------

Great to have you back, let's chat about that little article you just read.

Iran is scary, I'm totally with you there. I'm not into the "arming people who want to nuke the crap out of us" thing either, seriously.

But this is so, so, so, so, the wrong way to be going about this.

Pumping ammunition into unstable nations is doing nothing short of raising the stakes in a game with no rules.

We need to rethink this action immediately, and, as long as we're listening to me, we need to sit down with Iran in an international forum and really really talk.

We're a world of free-thinking human beings. There is no red menace, there are no "body snatchers" there is no "invisible hand", we all have the choice to detonate weapons or disarm them. If the Iranians can't be argued with, and wish to annihilate our society, actions must be taken, but not a moment before.

Pre-emptive strikes may leave us the absolute winners, but at what cost?