Warning: I've been drinking lattes and reading the New York Times all day.

Is the will of the people that important when the people are idiots?

In both capitalism and democracy the will of the consumers, as a majority, is pandered to. I understand the reasons why: the object is to make money or win an election, and you have to either sell things that people will buy or say things that people will like. It is this system that allowed "According to Jim" to live on, yet ended "Freaks and Geeks" after only one season and "Arrested Development" after only three. This system gave us Wal-Mart and shitty music and sustained Mike Myers' film career. This system also gave us politicians who put reelections before good decision-making and transformed non-issues like faith and religion into political litmus tests.

But then, both offer some advantages. I can buy anything I want, anytime. If I can't afford it I can bid on a used item on ebay. I can feel like my legislators owe me some accountability and hold back my vote and $20 campaign contribution if they don't do their job.

Choices are good. I guess you could say I'm Pro-Choice.

Sometimes choices get me down though. Unfortunately, it's not my choices - it's the choices of everyone else. It's popular culture, the masses, the dumbing down of America, that gets me down. I see the effects of it everyday on Facebook: where people really believe that Obama is a terrorist. Where people really plan to vote for McCain/Palin for President*. The left has their share of idiots too. In fact, just this morning I saw a very offensive sign tacked to a light pole in my neighborhood. This sign had a picture of Sarah Palin and it said "Sarah Palin is a C*nt." That, as you may know if you watch 30 Rock, is one of the most offensive things you can call a woman. I can't even spell it out, let alone say it. So while I appreciate the apparent Obama support, I don't want that idiot voting either.

So, what do we do, America? We wake up. Stop forwarding me those emails that Obama is the anti-Christ. Stop calling Palin gender-specific slurs. Stop making fun of McCain for being old (well....guilty).

*Some real quotes from a Facebook group called "McCain/Palin 08 (One Million Strong for the Mavericks" (take a drink) followed by my commentary:

"Sarah Palin: Man's last, best hope for the free world! She was awesome in Jacksonville. Well worth waiting 5 hours for a front row ticket." First, if that's true we are in worse trouble than I thought. Second, five hours? Get a job.

"Mavericks = good..... Barak O'SAMA= we all die" Take two drinks. Then take two more to console yourself over the fact that someone out there actually believes this. Take another when you realize they may actually vote.

"WHYYYY is nobody talking about not just how Obama Bin Biden thinks nothing of brutally murdering children by partial birth abortion, but Barack also tried to pass a bill in Illinois that said that it is okay to let mentally retarded children die AFTER being born. They just let them die! Sarah Palin shows that even these children who are precious in their own way deserve life. It makes me sick." Obama Bin Biden? Well, this person gets points for creativity. But then negative points for adding three unnecessary Ys and being completely wrong.

"To say obama is anti- American is to say the sky is blue and the grass is green. People are just to lazy or do not care anymore. President Thomas Jefferson once shot a dead on the White House Lawn for Treason. The traders body laid there for tne hours. I am not saying that obama has commited treason yet...but give him time. Where are all the patriots? Do I stand alone? Will no one stand and say we can not elect this shrew of a man?" I really don't know where to begin. If this is a drinking game, I suggest just finishing off the bottle.

Most of the rest were more of the same, or boring "Go McCain! Sarah is AWESOME!!" posts. Or posts from Obama supporters trying to spark some controversy among the other posters. Then I saw this little tidbit in response to a post about global warming not being man-made:

"You believe a man died in a loin cloth and magically rose into the clouds, to sit next to an imaginary man with a beard and magical creatures with wings, don't talk about science."