On chicken and sneakers

So a Chick Fil A has opened up near where I work and as with anything involving Chick Fil A there has been a protest movement. The other day I walked by the restaurant and on one side of the driveway were people protesting the restaurant's affiliation and donations to anti gay marriage organizations.  On the other side of the driveway were people anti homosexuality protesters.  For those that might not know the Chick Fil A is a strongly Christian company (they are closed on Sundays) and their current owner has donated money to several organizations that are anti gay marriage.  These donations are not through the company directly, but through a non profit that the company has founded.  One interesting thing about the protests was that both the protesters (at least the pro gay marriage ones) and the owner of this particular franchise were very respectful of each other.  The owner said that he respects everyone, he brought out bottled water for everyone, and allowed use of his bathrooms.  For their part the protesters acknowledged that their problem was with the Chick Fil A corporate owner and his politics.  There were many signs advocating the boycott of Chick Fil A until they support gay rights and several comments about not patronizing their business until their stance changes.  This got me thinking about the difference and similarities that exist with this situation and human rights violations in Asia during the production of many consumer products.  In the case of Chick Fil A this restaurant is a franchise so only a portion of the earnings make their way back to the corporation and after that I'm fairly certain that only a portion of those funds make their way to the non profit which funds anti gay marriage.  Even if 50 cents of every dollar went to the corporation I would be surprised if more than 5 cents (10% of the corporation's earnings) went to the nonprofit, which only represents 5% of the dollar that I spent.  Conversely if I buy an Apple product or wear apparel manufactured in Asia I would bet that 20-25% of my money is going directly to pay for manufacturing.  As stories involving FoxConn in China have shown the working conditions are beyond deplorable, the workers are paid well below what could be considered a living wage, and safety is barely a concern in the factories.  My argument is we have to pick and choose our battles.  It is clear that a portion of my money whenever spent is going to support some causes or organizations that I do not agree with and it is important to look at it all in perspective.  

Call me a cynic

Call me a cynic.  Call me ungrateful.  Call me apathetic.  Call me disillusioned.  Call me unpatriotic.  Call me misguided.  Call me ill informed.  However, every 2 years when it is election time (and even more so every 4 years during presidential elections) I cannot wait for this process to be over.  I have little to no interest in discussing politics with anyone.  I have a hard time believing anything will actually change and that anyone will do anything significant.  Maybe that's because I don't feel like I have witnessed the passage or repeal of anything significant in my lifetime.  From my perspective it just seems like good laws are passed by one party only to have another party rise to power the next term and repeal them.  The healthcare mandate seems to be one of those things.  It was a major change (probably the only major one that I recall) and the challenger is now making it his first goal to repeal it.  I don't feel like anything actually happens in Washington.  Everyone pushes their own agenda and we are in pretty much the same place we were 4 years ago.  Instead of one group pushing and the other pulling both are pulling and nothing happens.  I feel hopeless with our political system and I know someone is bound to tell me to "do something to change it."  What good would that do?  The machine is so large and complicated that in order to have even the slightest chance of affecting change I need to be so incredibly passionate or interested, which I clearly am not.  The campaigning process is so bloated and cluttered it's nearly impossible to get any real information from it.  The debates which are supposed to provide some insight were practically unbearable to watch because each candidate would drone on endlessly while trying to poke holes in his opponent's previous statement.  I know we have freedoms and liberties that other people do not and I'm sure to some degree I'm taking them for granted.  I feel that if I had grown up in another country or seen some transition of power in my life I wouldn't be so apathetic.