Shut 'Er Down

In the interests of our national sanity and mental health, I propose the following to all candidates, campaigns, consultants, cable teleivison talking heads, community organizers, staffers, pundits, pollsters, political talk radio hosts, policy wonks, political action committees, party hacks, bloggers, big-buck donors, and billionaire puppet-masters:

Let's give the country a much-needed break and take the month of July off from politicking and politics of any sort. No commercials, no speeches, no debates, no ridiculous rhetoric, no rubber chicken fundrasiers, no instant analysis, no mindless speculation, no gotcha journalism, no accusations of flip-flopping, no 24/7 coverage of the most inane of politcal matters, and no bumper-stickers.

Let's spend the heart of the summer talking about barbecue, beer, baseball, beaches, and bombpops. Let's listen to music. Let's go to movies purely for fun. Let's read books (fiction) for pleasure. Let's all sit back and relax and not worry about the latest polls and who's up and who's down.

For a month, let's all simply be Americans rather than Democrats or Republicans or progressives or conservatives or libertarians. Let's go about our daily lives without having to think, eat, drink, and breath politics and worry about whether your neighbor is a godless commie or a warmongering neocon.

This month long moritorium will still allow plenty of time before November for us to debate to death each and every minute detail of difference between the candidates and explain again and again why this is the most important election in our lifetimes (just like the last one).

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.