The 2012 general election in light of environmental and social problems

I was already convinced about the problems of climate change, peak oil, and the takeover of our country by big corporations.

So, I only partly forgot about those things amid the Obama euphoria. On some level, I knew the hope and optimism was on a shaky foundation, but the rallies, parties, and sense that ‘our team’ was scoring felt good, even though I knew it was escapist.

As the Great Recession of ’08 seemed to involve people being inclined to vote for the Obama-Biden ticket, I had a sense that in 2012 people might be blaming Obama.

But that might not be the case. People might not think it’s entirely Obama’s fault. They may think it’s a systemic issue. More still may blame Republicans from obstructing Obama’s plans to improve the economy, or attribute lack of progress in addressing our economic problems to gridlock from both parties.

In that case, Obama may still win, as people choose him, even if only as slightly better than someone such as Mitt Romney or Rick Perry.

But peak oil and other systemic problems may be such that the US and world economy will never ‘recover’, at least not in terms of conventional measurements.

So–speaking of myself—what do I do as a voter ? It may be the case that if Obama and other Democrats such as Sherrod Brown and Mary Jo Kilroy remain or return (Kilroy) to public office, our nation, and our state, respectively, will be–all else being equal–going in what I would regard as a better direction, though, social and environmental problems will not be solved.