Last night's debates, I don't want to vote for either of them.

I don't want to vote for either of these people. But I'll vote for McCain before I vote for Obama. My husband will probably vote for Obama so we should probably just both pass to save the gas. Argh...

It just seems to me that consumerism and this need to BUY BUY BUY is the problem with everything right now. We wanted what we couldn't afford....as individuals, families, and as a nation. And now we all owe more money than we can ever, realistically, pay back.

What burns me up, though, is that my debt in life comes from the birth of my second daughter....HOSPITAL bills are what have my credit in bad shape. I didn't max out any credit cards or try to buy a house way out of my league. No one is going to bail me out, though.

I went grocery shopping today (and NOT at WalMart, either) and I saved $85.00. I bought wisely and I did not overly splurge (I bought the makings of cheesecake, that was the one big splurge of the trip). I bought well within our budget and have money left over from that budget to buy the extra gallons of milk next week, the extra juice and the extra whatever that I forgot to get. I stayed within my means.

Why can't we do this on a national level? Why can't we spend within our means? Why do we allow the idiot box to tell us that we should buy things that we know we shouldn't? Why are we driving ridiculously huge vehicles, still? Why are we buying name brand when generic is the same thing, usually, and half the cost? Why are we dumping all this money in Iraq? Why are we even talking about doing the same thing in Afghanistan?

My oldest stepson tends to start criticizing his younger siblings when he gets called out for something. I suppose it is his way of deflecting his misdeeds. Isn't this what our country is doing.....going after all these international wrong doers when, really, we need to focus on our own realm of reality.

Our health care system is seriously flawed. Lobbyists have been allowed to take over in DC. Our educational system is absolutely ridiculous and children really aren't learning everything they should be in school (this is just as much the parents fault as the respective school systems). We are all over-spending. Our obsession with oil is ridiculous. We aren't really exploring alternate energy sources (lobbyist influence, most likely). We buy too many foreign-made products (Wal Mart anyone?).

If I was running the show, which I am not and I never will be.....here is what I would try to encourage:

1) Tax breaks to retail stores that carry 90%+ American Made merchandise.
2) Tax hikes on retail stores that carry 50%+ Foreign Made merchandise.
3) REAL tax breaks for people driving cars with 30+ MPG vehicles
4) Tax breaks for companies developing alternate fuel sources (wind, solar, nuclear)
5) If the banks overspent and mismanaged....let them close on down. NO Bail Out. Instead, reward companies doing it RIGHT. Let the people who had their money in the closing bank have their money back and tell them to go bank at bank X or bank Y...where they aren't greedy bastards.
6) Let the gay folk have their rights and don't clog up the legislature with this issue. We all know they are going to get these rights and, really, what does it matter? You agree....you don't agree. But lets now waste money or time debating stupid issues. Give them all of their rights and move on.
7) Leave abortion alone. Don't waste legislative time on this issue. If you don't want one, don't get one. If you don't want your kids to get one, educate them to WAIT. This is a silly issue for our congressMEN to waste time on.
8) This is my big controversial one. Wait for it. Okay.....we have a lot of people on death row. They are wasting a lot of money on death row. If they are going to be executed, execute them. Stop wasting the law-abiding citizens' tax money supporting these people for years. If we are going to execute them, do it. Let the appeals process happen, quickly, for everyone that is sentenced to death and then carry their sentence out quickly.
9) Stop contracting out jobs on foreign soil. It isn't saving money it is wasting money. Haliburton is wasting TONS of money over there. TONS. It does not cost 99 bucks to do a load of laundry.....they don't need fully loaded LEASED SUVs that aren't being driven......they don't need to be paid three times what the trained ARMY personnel were making for the same job (mechanics, drivers, etc.). Let the military do these jobs themselves and make the entire operation EFFICIENT.


Okay, rant over. I am going to go cook my lasagna now (it was on sale!)