Why I Don't Like Politics

I am not a big fan of politics, and while I stay abreast (at a high-level) of what's going on with the presidential election, I am not one to be well-versed enough in all the issues that I can speak intelligently about them. However, an article on the NYTimes.com about the presidential candidates' health care plans this morning caught my eye, reaffirming my belief that politicians are all liars: "As Senators Barack Obama and John McCain battle over how best to control spending and cover the uninsured, they are both filling their speeches, advertisements and debating points with authoritative-sounding statistics about the money they would save and the millions of Americans they would cover. But the figures they cite are invariably the roughest of estimates, often derived by health economists with ideological leanings or financial conflicts. Over time, these forecasts have become so disparate and contradictory as to be almost meaningless." Meaningless... that word pretty much sums up how I feel about politics and this entire election. It's become more of a popularity contest than anything else, to be won by whoever is the more eloquent speaker and able to convince voters that his lies are the truth.

Working at a pharmaceutical company, I must admit that I have been brainwashed to a certain extent, defending this industry (and my company specifically) in retaliation to most people's insistence that drug companies are evil due to the high costs charged for brand-name drugs. That's why seeing any article or excerpt on health care reform, health plans, or prescription medicine would naturally draw my attention. The bottom line is, no one can predict how well these candidates' health care plans would work. "Even the economists behind the forecasts say it makes them uncomfortable to hear candidates assert their numbers as indisputable fact... What they are modeling, they emphasize, is ultimately unknowable. And the transformational nature of both candidates’ health care plans means that they can only guess at the future behavior of consumers, employers and insurers." It is best to just understand what each candidate's plans are, the feasibility of implementing it, and whether we think it will help the country. We ought to apply our own judgment and not simply rely on what the candidates are telling us as fact.

Despite my cynicism towards politics, I am still planning to vote on November 4, 2008. Neither candidate has done much to "wow" me, so it would just be a matter of choosing the lesser of the two evils. I have my own opinion on who that is, but since I'm not prepared to enter into a debate with anyone, I'll just keep that little tidbit to myself.