The Panda Bear on Election Fatigue and Household Chores

During the past couple of weeks the Panda Bear had a stress out-the first one she had in a long time.    Her day job was very busy and the Panda Bear worked some extra hours.   A friend came unexpectedly out of town for a visit.    There was a family event in Philadelphia November 3 which there was some confusion about whether it would occur and whether the Panda Bear, Mr. Panda and Mother Panda would be able to get there because of Hurricane Sandy(FYI, the event went off as planned and all the pandas were able to get there).   

Still, the event that made the Panda Bear most stressed out was the US election.   She is very relieved that they are over.   The Panda Bear finds it interesting that she found the elections so intense since she is not a politician and had nothing directly at stake in the elections.   Obviously as a concerned US citizen and as a blogger the US elections effect the Panda Bear.    However, the Panda Bear is not a politician so why did the elections effect her so much?

The Panda Bear thinks the constant barrage of information about the elections (which the Panda Bear acknowledges she has been a part of both in her blog and with her personal facebook account) was overwhelming.   The television, radio and internet were constantly having political shows and political advertisements.    The political campaigns were continually calling people to ask for their vote.   The Panda Bear and Mr. Panda were getting advertisements from the political campaigns almost on a daily basis.

Furthermore, there were the television debates to watch.    There were two close elections in the Panda Bear’s district for which the Panda Bear felt she needed more information on the candidates to make an informed choice.   Thus, the Panda Bear had to spend some evenings in her already busy schedule to watch television debates.

The Panda Bear gladly accepts the stress, information obtaining requirements, and work involved in having a participatory democracy.   However, the Panda Bear is frustrated with both the low level and at times poorly informed political debate that is occurring in the US.   Though the Panda Bear considers herself to be slightly left of center, she thinks liberal establishment in Massachusetts has become extremely closed, intolerant and monopolistic.    She dislikes both the Democrats and Republicans and thinks Americans should be more open to third party candidates.   For all the time, effort and money that gets put into US elections, the Panda Bear feels she should have better choices in candidates.   Indeed, in Massachusetts the Panda Bear often has no choice in candidates since it is essentially a one party (Democratic) state.

The good news is that with the elections being over, the Panda Bear can devote herself to her dreaded household chores.   As readers of the Panda Bear Blog know, the thing that the Panda Bear hates most is household chores.  The Panda Bear regrets taking so much time off from work in the summer because it was too hot to do much work in her apartment.   The whole apartment needs to be cleaned and reorganized.   The Panda Bear has resolved now that the weather is cooler and the elections are over she can quit procrastinating over her home chores.    It will be an exercise in self discipline to devote her to hateful home improvements.  

On to home chores for Panda Bear!!!