Saturday, September 5, 2009
Calm down, people...
So, I'm distressed by the way the current political climate has turned people on both sides into...well, such babies, for lack of a better word. I know that in some times past, people just didn't talk about politics, because it made them uncomfortable. I happen to be a person who is ever hopeful that we can express our differences in ways where we don't end up hating the people we square off against. Maybe I'm just being naive. It seems these days that people are just so unused to real political debate, about issues and right and wrong, that the conversations inevitably devolve into name-calling and hurt feelings and friendships ended. All because two people disagree about the best way to accomplish a goal. Sometimes the goal of both people is the same, they're just bickering about how to get there, but yet it ends with something along the lines of, "Well, I just can't be friends with someone who thinks like YOU!" Chill down, peeps. Learn to discern ideas from feelings. We'll get a hell of a lot more accomplished that way...
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5 comments:
I felt exactly like you, until this president. As thoughts came forward from people I knew I was astounded. As he began to break apart our country, drive us into unspeakable debt, hide all that he promised would be open to us, appoint tax cheats and communists to head our nation, usurp the rights of parents, and all the other things he has done, I can no longer support anyone who supports this person. I keep hearing to respect the office. He does not respect us, he laughs at us and believes we are idiots. Well, apparently 41% of us still are. I take personally the destruction of my country, therefore, I take personally anyone who would blindly support this man and his group of politicians who would call those of us who believe in freedom of speech nazis, domestic terrorists and astroturf. Please tell me how to ignore those facts.
I welcome your new blog, PP. It is a breath of fresh air, and your comments here and echoed by Orrniori are spot on. I have to wonder why people seem to have descended into the mentality, 'I'm right, and you're wrong, and therefore you must be a moron'. The pols have done it subtly over the centuries, but in the last few elections, it's become more like 'war'. The people's perception of what is right and wrong get muddled as the pols decide for us. The 'They know best' syndrome. And all the while, their snouts firmly buried in the public trough. I read that Mrs Obama now has 22 staff to tend to her every need, including a Chief of Staff at over $170K a year. Laura Bush managed with 1.
Any wonder that we're unhappy with the way the President is taking us? Unfortunately, we have to grin and bear it another three and a bit years. Then more lying promises will descend upon us like a plague of locusts. I can only hope that the Reps will 'develop' a leader who can lead us out of this quagmire.
Orrnlori: I agree that these are perilous times for freedom. However, Obama is just one man (OK, one man with thirty-something clones, er, czars, er, advisors to do his bidding). I am ever hopeful that, once he is gone from office (and I hear that he's "OK" with being a one-term President--fortunate, that) we can successfully clean up the mess that will be left behind. It will be tough, but we are tough people, Americans...
Madoc, thanks so much for your kind words! As for the 2012 elections, Republicans have some doing to get me to believe that they are any different than the Dems. It's all a matter of degree. If an honest, independent candidate arises in the next couple of years, I will seriously consider voting for him or her in 2012. I nearly voted for Bob Barr this last time, and wish I had, now. Not that I have any illusion that he could have won, but the message that 3rd parties are welcome here would have been sent.
I wish I were as tepid about all this as you. I am not. If there is a majority of people in this country who believe that what this man is doing is okay and in the best interest of the country AND the people then this will not just be "cleaned up". It will continue. You already have whole communities who continue to elect extrodinarily leftist reps and senators over and over and over again i.e. Pelosi, Frank, et al. I'm not even sure what people are thinking anymore!!! Also, I find people who chatter back Obamaisms total devoid of any personal research or extensive reading beyond Keith Olbermann or Chris Mathews and his thrills running up his leg. Their reaction to anyone questioning anything seems to be to call the questioner a "racist". This is appalling yet it is silencing and chilling.
Trust me, Orrnlori, I am not nearly as tepid as I might appear. The road that our country is going down scares, angers, and saddens me. However, I know that letting my emotions get the better of me will not convince anyone of the error of their ways. Hopefully, facts, presented dispassionately, will. I believe it's the only way to cut through the fog of emotions that obscure what Obama really is. That, and prayer, MUCH prayer...
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