Politics

I used to be more interested in politics.  In fact, my interest in politics has waxed and waned over the years.  During the last presidential election, in 2008, I was very interested, especially in the activities of the Democratic Party. 

This year, I am having a difficult time getting interested.  The Democrats are doing little, as President Obama is running again, so there is no need to do campaigning leading up to the primaries (there are no Democrat spring primaries) or convention. This makes me nervous.  Although President Obama is out on the campaign trail, I think it is a lackluster effort. So, is he saving his efforts to campaign in the autumn against the announced Republican candidate?  It would seem so.

The Republicans have had, and still have an assortment of candidates.  Some of the more notables already out of the race are Texas Governor Rick Perry, Minnesota US Representative Michell Bachmann, and business Herman Cain.  Still running are former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former House Speaker, and former Georgia US Representative Newt Gingrich, Texas US Representative Ron Paul, and former Pennsylvania US Senator Rick Santorum. Their campaigns are drawing a great deal of attention to the Republican Party and the individual candidates.  One of the interesting things is that the Tea Party has resulted in their being a backlash against their extreme radicalism, as evidenced by the more moderate candidates doing better in the primaries.

I tend to be a bit on the conservative side of liberalism.  I shy away from fanatics, whether they are liberal or conservative, religious, political or what have you.  I would like President Obama have a second term, so we are not in the clutch of the big business favored Republican influence. It hurts the middle and lower class citizens more than we can realize. 

Maybe, once the conventions have occurred and the two parties are campaigning against each other, I will be more interested.