I’m starting to lose interest in the Presidential election campaign. There doesn’t seem to be anything significant left to say about it. The only interesting thing will be the post-election analysis, the break-out of how the voting public actually responds to Obama and McCain. The polls are all over the place; the vote might be really tight, keeping everyone in suspense long into the night. Or by 9PM, it might be clear that Obama is taking the country by a landslide. I’m anxious to find out. There’s nothing more that I need to know about these guys.

As to what I think the outcome should be, I agree with Robert Robb of the Arizona Republic: “this is an election Republicans deserve to lose but Democrats don’t deserve to win”. However, someone is going to win, so right now I just want to get it over with and adapt to whatever happens (most likely a big change in the Senate, House, and White House; one that may be relatively short-lived).

I disagree with Joe the Plumber and John McCain regarding additional taxes on the rich. (Easy for me, since I ain’t rich). But I am also an economic realist; increased progressive taxes will slow down entrepreneurship, drive capital to other countries, and cut back the American economy’s growth rate. BUT, if the increased tax revenues are invested in infrastructure, scientific research and education, the growth slowdown can be largely reversed. So, I hope that Obama and Reid and Pelosi don’t give the store away in Democratic political plums like grants to ACORN, new regulatory agencies, and working-class tax credits (other than the college education credit, which indeed helps long-run economic growth). Unfortunately, they probably will.

TOP TEN LONELINESS: I don’t keep up with hit music anymore; I generally have no idea what songs are getting the most play on the airwaves, or on YouTube, or at the cash register (or illegal download sites). But I did recently hear one of the current “top ten”, a nice little tune by Nickelback called “Gotta Be Somebody”. As in “there’s gotta be somebody out there for me”. I was surprised that Nickelback, a throughly modern, post-grunge rock band, would put out something sentimental like that. When I think about Nickelback I usually think about “Just a Couple Animals”, a paean to raging teenage sex drive. “Gotta Be Somebody” is a surprising redirection of Chad Kroeger’s raw voice into something emotional but also romantic and innocent, something like Bono might do (e.g., “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”). The lyrics are simple but fairly nice, even mildly poetic. I now have it in my collection.

(There’s also a high-profile tune out by Beyonce called “If I Were a Boy”. I’m gonna take a pass on that one.)

“Gotta Be Somebody” touches a chord of loneliness and longing for many people, old and young. Well, mostly young; but an old guy like me is not immune either. The tune is mildly encouraging and optimistic; one line goes “you can’t give up when you’re looking for a diamond in the rough”. And it lets you know how great you will feel once you finally do find the true love of your life.

Well, at this point in my life, “finding the right person” no longer seems to be an inalienable right (or even a distinct possibility). Some people actually find their “soul mates” and stay together for decades. Their lives are better for finding each other. Many people, though, settle for “pretty close”. As a long-lost friend of mine once said about dating and romance, “it’s an off-the-rack world”. If you wait for perfection, you might die waiting. Some people do hold out for perfection; most never find it. The world is not always a fair place.

I compare the search for a soulmate in this life with my lost sock drawer. Socks are meant to be paired, but sometimes one gets lost in the wash. When that happens, I put the remaining sock in a corner of the drawer. Perhaps the other one will show up; or maybe a future lost sock will provide a good match, and the two outcasts can get out into the world once more. But mostly these socks sit and wait for a partner that will never arrive. They all have the same problem, but they can’t provide each other with a solution. Because they just don’t go together. Everyone who complains about being lonely is usually surrounded by many others with the same complaint, others who could theoretically answer their longings and end their loneliness. But 99% of the time, it just doesn’t work. Just like a blue nylon sock and a gray cotton sock, which don’t go together. They need their soulmates; and they most likely won’t find them.

But that’s life. Nonetheless, it’s nice that an emotionally naive song can still make it in this cynical world of so little faith. Dreams die hard, don’t they. But in dying hard, perhaps they live on.