It is 5:45 a.m. and for some reason I awake from my slumber thinking about the nightmare that is Sarah Palin.  I do not know if this is a product of fear or disgust, but either way it is disturbing.  I am not alone.  I was just chatting with a fellow activist and she also expressed her trouble sleeping knowing that America is percentage points from electing an unqualified neo-con to be our next president, or vice-president, or whatever you want to call her position of newly found fame and power. It is troubling.

The reason it is so troubling is because this is a simple reflection of how retarded we as Americans have become.  This new shiny toy theory in our politics is the essentials of what is wrong with the system.  It does not surprise me that someone with so little knowledge of how the world works could be vaulted to the number two most powerful person in the world.  I think the old adage is "you get what you pay for," right.  Well we have showed as a country that we do not care about the quality of what we buy, so long as it is cheap and shiny.  It is not surprising that real people that are qualified for these leadership roles are not willing to assume these roles because we as a country have failed to show that we even have a grasp on what a decent leader is, and these elections become one big popularity contest, with the guy you would want to have a beer with usually winning the contest.

Yikes. This is no way to pick our leaders. This is what wakes me up distressed and upset, worried about the future of my children, this country, and the planet.  How have we gotten to the point where we will stand for this?  How can we allow for people to hold offices that cannot use computers and who think the Bush Doctrine is a personal view of the President? How can we even consider electing a woman to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency (A short heartbeat at that) who just got her passport last year and has only travelled to American military bases in her brief travels abroad? No wonder I am awoken by this thought of insanity and plain disregard for the American people.

Everyone knows that this woman was chosen not for her shrewd form of governing in Alaska, but for her gender. looks, and relative anonymity.  Is this how we choose our leaders?  Do we pick people that will simply help an old guy win the White House? Do we not care that her credentials to be President include being Mayor of a town the size of my neighborhood, or that she helped her son fill out his application into the Army? This is not a game show.  This is the future of our country and that even one American is impressed by this woman's lack of experience and her shrill and vile rhetoric is unacceptable. We are better than this. We deserve better than this.

I am simply appalled that we are even having this discussion. This joke of a candidate is a testament to the insanity that has become American Pop Culture.  We must resist the temptation to keep watching this obvious train wreck and begin to regain our collective consciousness as a country. This is not funny any longer and John McCain must be held accountable for his first horrible decision as an nominee for President of the United States. Sarah Palin is no Dan Quayle.