I've been somewhat watching the national conventions the last couple of weeks. They are bizarre affairs, where a bunch of people get on stage and tell you why their candidate is so strong and fearless and is going to bring change and turn the town upside down. Then the candidate gets on stage and tells you the same thing. I watched last night and saw Mitt Romney act like a crazy caricature of a Republican (the liberals are coming! the liberals are coming!) and Sarah Palin prove that she's happy to be an Alaskan attack dog.

(For the record, I can not stomach the idea that this woman would be a step away from the presidency. I'd rather have the community organizer and, oh yeah, state and U.S. senator in charge, with a backup that has some real experience. Mayor of Wasila and two years as Alaska governor my butt. I might've voted for McCain before, or at least felt comfortable with him, but that Palin scares me way too much. Between her and McCain they'll have the whole world blown up within 2 years.)

Anyway, whatever your personal politics, I think it's fair to say that the tax issue is the biggest load of B.S. out there. Democrats say they're going to lower your taxes, Republicans say Democrats are going to raise your taxes, and I guess it goes without saying that the Republicans will lower your taxes, until of course they decide to raise your taxes. ("Read my lips, no new taxes.")

I don't believe anything any of them say, because I've now lived long enough to realize that campaign promises are made in a vacuum, as if the candidate just gets to wave a magic wand and say "more taxes" or "less taxes". In the real world, however, presidents propose some things, and Congress either agrees or disagrees, and then the lobbyists come in and tell Congress whether they should agree or disagree, and then Congress does everything they can to make it look like they're doing something when in reality they do their darnedest to gut any new law so that it has almost no power because that's the way the lobbyists want it, and if the lobbyists don't get what they want then the Congressperson will have a harder time getting re-elected, and that's the name of the game.

You could say I'm cynical.

My advice: don't vote for a candidate based on the issue of taxes unless you are filthy rich (in which case, vote Republican). Only the rich have a clear-cut choice, every one else gets a lot of promises that are unlikely to ever be kept. So, whether you want to help the homeless or stop abortion or let gays get married or drill for oil in Alaska or whatever your other causes are, vote based on those and leave the tax issue out of it. You'll save yourself a lot of heartache.