Doesn't matter that American Idol is all you said. Deal with the ANALOGY---that the finale is between two candidates chosen after a series of elimination races---and then you might be making progress toward a subnstantive answer.
As for your comments on the Super Bowl, duh. That's exactly what I said. It is determined by the players on the field, but that does nothing to take away from the fact that it's pretty stupid to sit in the stands and cheer for a team to win that is NOT EVEN PLAYING IN THE GAME.
Nobody, least of all me, is trying to tell you how to think. I couldn't care less how you think or vote. However, you posted to me and I responded to your points, quite unlike what you have done.
There is absolutely no reason we are ever forced to only choose from the choices we are given, especially when they're as much a nightmare as this election is.
No one is forcing you to choose between the Republican and Rat nominees. You can vote for SpongeBob if you want to; it's completely up to you.
However, if people want to analyze, oppose or even ridicule your choice or reasoning, so be it. That's life. And that's the point of signing on to a political debate forum, isn't it?
There is no reason that it is any less possible for anyone to win this election.
Sigh.
Yes, there is. It's called reality.
You are right back where you felt prompted to post to me in the first place: cheering for the Ravens, so to speak, in a Super Bowl between the Giants and the Patriots.
The moment that you decide that what you really want is too hard, so you'll just always settle for the restricted set of options your rulers have been so kind as to force feed to you, you become a slave.
I'm not a slave because I realize and accept the reality that in a Super Bowl between the Giants and the Patriots, either the Giants or the Patriots are going to win.
For my part, I would say that the "moment you decide that REALITY---the hand you've been dealt---is too hard," and therefore you decide to nurture fantasies such as someone other than the Republican or Rat nominee will win the presidential election in 2008, that's when you've got a problem.
Suit yourself.
There will be several candidates on the ballot.
No actually, responding to an analogy by claiming it is not a fit descriptor is the first resort, not the last.
Doesn't matter that American Idol is all you said.
No actually, it does. I did "deal with the analogy" by pointing out that you are right, that it is nothing more than a circus that we don't have to honor.
Beyond that, of course, it's flawed, because you don't pick the winner. If we were all David Hasselhoff and Paula Abdul then you'd have a point. If that were the case, each of them could still damn well pick someone who hadn't qualified. Not a damn thing stopping them.
Your analogy would be more apt if you stated, "Well, I like this other show better, but nobody watches it, so I guess I'm just forced to watch Idol."
but that does nothing to take away from the fact that it's pretty stupid to sit in the stands and cheer for a team to win that is NOT EVEN PLAYING IN THE GAME.
And what if the team were actually in the game but just had a smaller but still non-zero chance of winning like, oh, a third-party candidate?
Nobody, least of all me, is trying to tell you how to think.
But you are happy to let other people tell you. Is John McCain your first choice?
>>There is no reason that it is any less possible for anyone to win this election.
>Yes, there is. It's called reality.
Then your reality is apparently different from mine, since in mine "difficult" and "impossible" are not synonyms.
You are right back where you felt prompted to post to me in the first place: cheering for the Ravens, so to speak, in a Super Bowl between the Giants and the Patriots.
And you're right back to me showing you the flaw in your analogy. If everyone in your hypothetical Super Bowl cheered for the Ravens, they would still not win. If everyone in November voted for Ross Perot, he would win. You seem incapable of understanding this critical distinction.
I'm not a slave because I realize and accept the reality that in a Super Bowl between the Giants and the Patriots, either the Giants or the Patriots are going to win.
No, but you're a slave if you think you have as much control over the outcome of a game as nothing more than a fan as you do as a voter fully exercising his rights in an election.
For my part, I would say that the "moment you decide that REALITY---the hand you've been dealt---is too hard," and therefore you decide to nurture fantasies such as someone other than the Republican or Rat nominee will win the presidential election in 2008, that's when you've got a problem.
My "problem" then, as you seem to agree with, is nothing more than the realization that my reality is what I make it to be, not what some higher powers beside God "deal" me. And God didn't create the GOP.
And I agree: in this world, feeling this way is something of a problem. But the power to change your own world... that is reality. And you're the one running from it because it's too difficult to consider.