I am a racist, sexist, homophobic, communist

I don't wear a flag pin every day.  I obviously have no respect for the men and women who have died for our country.  The fact that I have made donations to veteran's groups and helped organize care packages to troops overseas means nothing. 

I don't wear a flag pin.  I must be a communist. *sigh*

The internet was suppose to be this great information superhighway, and this election should have been a great opportunity to move the country in a new direction after eight years of hell under Bush.  But instead of focusing on the real issues:  the war in Iraq, the economy, education, gas prices, etc.  We're whining at people for not wearing a flag pin or because twenty-five years ago someone worked for someone who turned out to be a crook (or possible crook) or because someone not even involved with the candidate may have said something that might have offended the Catholics.  We're bitching at candidates WIVES because this one won't release her income tax returns even though she isn't the one running for office or because that one said something that might have sounded like she wasn't patriotic.  What's next?  Are we going to start pulling out the childrens' yearbooks and interrogating them over who signed it and who didn't?

All of the candidates have voting records.  Is anyone bothering to look at them?  Or are we all too busy examining cropped photos in the National Inquirer?  We aren't watching Britney Spears.  One of these people is going to be the next president of the U.S.  Do we want that decision to be based on the actual facts, or on urban legend e-mails that claims Obama is a closet Muslim just pretending to be Christian, Hillary Clinton refused to meet with Gold Star Mothers, or that John McCain didn't vote for Bush?

(and why not voting for Bush would be considered a bad thing by rational people, I don't know, but still does it even matter?)

There is an old saying about glass houses.  Have you ever looked in the mirror and asked yourself:

1.  If I ran for office, which friends and family members would I have to publicly humiliate by disavowing them during a press conference and then never talking to them again? 

2.  Which crazy relative or former co-worker would come out of the woodwork looking for a book deal or publicity?

3.  What former co-worker, boss, manager, or employee might turn up on Youtube in a compromising video, giving my enemies ammunition to make me guilty by tenuous association?

4.  Have I ever posted something on a forum or blog as a joke that, five years later, can be taken out of context to make me look racist, sexist, homophobic, etc?

5.  Have I ever said something in a public place to a friend, colleague, family member that I thought only that person heard, but might have been recorded on someone's camera phone that could turn up a year from now?

I have thought about it.  Quite a bit, actually.  If someone took enough time and effort (and if I was running for office, you can guarantee someone would) that person would probably be able to find enough fodder to make me look like some racist communist that wants to turn the country over to Cuba.  Forget the fact that nothing I have ever done in my personal or professional life supports that.  Just using guilt by association, someone would be able to do it.  And sadly, too many Americans are too damn stupid and would believe it. 

I want to believe that the election will be decided over actual facts, not fiction.  But the closer we get to November the harder it is to believe that.  Just reading some of the ridiculous urban legends repeated on gather as fact makes it hard to believe.  We're creating a culture where only those who can do the best job of pretending to be perfect have a chance of getting elected.  But do we want a fraud in the White House?  Or do we want someone like us?  Someone who has wacky friends, weird family members, and maybe has said something embarassing in public from time to time.  Someone who, because he or she is in fact one of us, knows what we are going through and can come up with real solutions? 

Because we are never going to have a perfect person in the White House.  And if we keep treating these people as if the only way they can be president is to be perfect we will never have the best person as President.  Instead, we will end up with the best fraud.