Dude, Where's My Cynicism?

Hello everyone. We know, we missed our self imposed Wednesday deadline, but we swear it will, in all likelyhood, never fail to happen again.

This week was exciting in the neighborhood just slightly to the West of Hollywood, which we'll hereafter refer to as East Beverly Hills. On Tuesday we woke up raring to get to some serious votin'. Our new polling place is conveniently located right across the street from the house, and after a very brief walk over and some polite chatting with the senior citizens working there, we're happy to report that, though we have never officially joined any political party, we participated in the Democratic primary and proudly cast a ballot for one Barack Obama.

And why, you are asking, were we proud? That's the thing, we're not entirely sure. Now, here at The Pinyon, we pride ourselves on our steadfast reluctance to believe in ANYTHING. Be it UFO's, The Tooth Fairy, God, or that NASCAR is our country's most popular sport, whatever it is that you're selling, you'll have to go someplace else, cause we're just not buying it, and besides, even if we were, our credit is shot.

But something has happened to us, and we're not entirely sure that we like it. We've become something that for lack of a better word can only be called inspired. And here's the thing, we'd prefer not to be inspired right now, thank you very much, as we've got some boring everyday tasks to complete. The hallway is not going to Swiffer itself.

But for some reason, this man, who by all accounts is just a politician, has managed to awaken something in us that we not only thought was long dead, but actually had been surgically removed with our wisdom teeth when we were 19. But apparently not.

We have been listening to all of the candidates speak in recent weeks. We like some of the things that crazy little gnome Ron Paul says, despite the objections of our friend Dr. Siano, and we have respect for Dennis Kucinich's ability to land a super hot wife, but we haven't really cared one way or the other who won which debate, because as far as we're concerned, anything would be an improvement over the barely trained chimpanzee that we have in the White House now. But Obama is different.

He's different because he doesn't take money from lobbyists. He's different because he doesn't resort to partisan bickering at the drop of a hat. He's different because he didn't vote for the war in Iraq. He's different for this, the most embarrassing of our reasons, because we believe in him. We believe what he says and we believe what he stands for. And as scary as that is to write, it's even more unnerving to realize it's true. Because what happens if you believe in someone and then he loses? We don't know, as this is our maiden voyage into the waters of belief, but we're willing to bet it's not good.

The California Primary is over. Hillary Clinton won. But the race goes on, because millions of other people in other places also believe. He won 13 states on Tuesday, just not ours. And you know something, before this thing is over, he's going to win even more. And at the risk of sounding incredibly silly and naive, we just hope that it's enough.

And that's the problem, isn't it? That's the fear that keeps people comfortably insulated in their shells of apathy. No one wants to look silly. No one wants to be laughed at. No one wants to be fooled.

Well, folks, we've decided to throw in with the people who are taking that chance. We're quite used to being laughed at, and we can take it. So feel free to mock and ridicule if you wish, but do us a favor, and after you're done laughing, listen for a second. Listen to what he says. And then think. Think about the difference it would make if that man were our leader. Think about not being entrenched in an illegal and undeclared war. Think about living in a country where everyone you know could see a doctor if they got sick. Think about what it would be like to be respected as a nation like the legendary United States of America that we've all read about in the history books.

And then ask yourself if you can afford not to believe.