"I'm the Weeener" Says Mario

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. This great nation of ours is in peril. Not only is it in peril but it's teetering on the very brink, as well. In fact, you could probably say that it's right there on the verge of teetering on the brink all the while that it's in peril as well, too. And while you, the people of this great nation, look forward to that Tuesday after the first Monday of November to cast your ballot for the Presidential nominee hopefully best-equipped to pull us back from the edge of the verge that we're on, you know, with the brink and all, are bewildered by the myriad of choices with which you, the people, have been presented. Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Progressive Socialists, Neo-Fascists and of course, the Silly Party, are all begging for your votes. Well actually they're begging that 11 percent of undecideds for their votes and really don't give a crap about the rest of you, or anyone who lives in Puerto Rico, but still, not one of these would-be potential future presidents-in-waiting has shown you - you, the people of this great nation, the voters, the taxpayers, the workers and business-owners, and you, the great people of this great, great nation, just what a true American president should be, what a great American leader is truly made of and what you, this amazingly great nation of truly great people truly desire: an Italian plumber. Truly.

I Like Ike and Tyler Too!

Before the proliferation of media sound-bites and political viral-videos, our would-be leaders used to lie to us using a much simpler and spunky technology called the "campaign button," first shown off by George Washington at his inauguration in 1789. Oh sure, you still see campaign buttons from time to time, pinned to both militant nationalists and radical revolutionaries, but in this world of internet fireside chats and Twitter-based campaign fund-raising, the quaint art of button-sloganeering has really fallen to the wayside, allowing only the most mundane and politically vague war-cries such as "BELIEVE IN AMERICA" or "HOPE" to occasionally surface. Ugh. Where's the whimsy? The boisterous pride? The lightly-barbed attacks? Whatever happened to slogans like "A used FORD is better than a new CARter" and the anti-McCarthy favorite "Joe Must Go!"  Well we've lost our cojones, I suppose. Mass culture-sanitation, thanks to Facebook. You know everything bad on the internet is Facebook's fault, right? OK, just making sure. So in the spirit of the 2012 election year, I suggest you visit the APIC website, home of the American Political Items Collectors (just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) for a peek at the information super-highway's most robust collection of resources and information regarding, um, collectible American political items (cue the crickets for about three seconds). Or if you just want to take a look at some awesome old campaign buttons for sale you can visit the site, Older Campaign Buttons (again, an inspiring name). Vote early! Vote often!

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE AMERICAN POLITICAL ITEMS COLLECTORS SITE

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE OLDER CAMPAIGN BUTTONS SITE