By Bryce Hoffman

Very berry sundae politics

There are some things in life that many people lose the meaning of. One that is especially relevant at this time of year is politics.
Last week, I was sitting at a table in Costco, enjoying my cheap slice of cheese pizza and very berry sundae with a friend, when we were targeted. Not by terrorists. Not even by overzealous Costco employees trying to get rid of us.
We were accosted by two soccer moms. And not just any soccer moms—these were Kerry-loving, MoveOn-obsessed soccer moms. Not that I have anything against those kinds of soccer moms. But when you tear me away from my very berry sundae, you better have something very, very good to say.
As it turned out, they had been eavesdropping on our conversation when they heard me mention third parties to my friend and felt it was their moral duty to intervene. After asking us our ages (to which I responded 16), they started their attack by asking us what kind of a future we wanted, apparently having forgotten the voting age is 18.
“Do you want to be able to go to college, or get a job?” one of them smugly inquired. “If you vote for Bush, you’ll be drafted and have to go fight in Iraq. And the economy will be so bad you won’t be able to get a job.”
I told them that the draft is started by Congress, and that the economy doesn’t fluctuate according to who is the president. They didn’t like me.
“Bush isn’t fit to be president. You can’t deny that he’s a liar. He lied to everyone about the weapons of mass destruction!” the other mom struck out.
You can’t call him a liar if he was given the wrong information, I said. You can disagree with his decisions based on that information, but that doesn’t make him a liar. I then advised them to be careful about everything they were told, and to remember to look at the facts from as many perspectives as possible before forming their own opinions. I hope they understood my sincere intentions and didn’t discredit me as a proponent of a non-Kerry candidate. Especially since I did make a bit of a dig at MoveOn, a Democratic spin machine that I was a member of at one point.
The problem with politics is that it’s a dirty game. There are no rules. As a result, people either go hog-wild or get disillusioned. They can’t find the middle ground, where Kerry isn’t a flip-flopping, terrorist-loving Kennedy clone and Bush isn’t a peace-hating, oil-grubbing dumbass. But it’s there. Behind the mudslide of bash books and political action committees, beneath “Fahrenheit 9/11” and the Fox News Network, it’s there.
All you have to do is look for it in your mind. You still have the power to decide for yourself, even if a lot of people are trying to take that away from you. A politician and his followers can spin all they want, but they’ll never vote for you.
And don’t stop watching the news either. Spinmasters from all sides will tell you that the news is biased. What they’re really saying is don’t stay informed. That way, they can tell you whatever they want and you have to believe it.
By the way, if you can vote, vote yes on Proposition 60 and no on 62. Prop 62 is trying to limit your options by only allowing the two most popular candidates on the ballot for each race, even if they are from the same political party. Prop 60 blocks that by keeping the status quo.