Monday, March 5, 2012

I Really Hate Politics


I know this may be hard for some people to believe, but I have never considered myself a political person. I don't like politics and I really have very little interest in the subject. Of course I have always had my opinions, which I will admit have evolved over time, but I have never really even shared my views on most subjects, not even with the people closest to me. I was told by my family as a teen-ager that while it was nice that I was forming my own political beliefs, I should from that point forward always remember to “keep them to yourself”. Literally, that is a direct quote. So, I always have kept my beliefs to myself.

I have voted in most of the elections since I became eligible to vote. I have voted for Democrats, and I have voted for Republicans, and at the local and State level I have voted for a LOT of independents or third party candidates. But I have never supported, or “campaigned” for any candidate. And while I have studied our system of government, and I know how it is supposed to work, the only real interest I have ever had in government is in keeping it out of my life! Which is exactly why I cannot keep my opinions to myself anymore. There is too much at stake, not just for my life, but for the lives of my children and everyone else's children. The same outspoken minority that came out of the closet spewing hate and cruelty in the name of their “God” in the 1980's here in the US, the “Moral Majority” {who were never anywhere near a majority of anything except crazy), have returned with a vengeance and it appears to me that they are trying to bring about Armageddon so that they can “prove” their religion is right and they can all be raptured up to heaven and “live” happily ever after.

I would have preferred to stay out of the whole election conversation all together this year, but when everything I hold Dear about this country is being attacked at every turn I just can't sit idly by anymore. I have to speak up. And even if no one ever hears me, I have to keep talking. I cannot just watch these people trying to force their hypocritical, judgmental, holier-than-thou BS done the throats of every man, woman and child in this country, and around the world. I have to speak out against the hate, the intolerance, the shear stupidity that all of the Republican candidates for President are spewing, because I know I could never look my children in the eyes and tell them I remained silent in the face of what I see as an all out assault on everything that I believe the United States of America should stand for. I don't think I could look myself in the eye anymore either.

I hear people talking about the “Republican War on Women” all the time. What I am seeing though is a Republican War on America (and the rest of the world for that matter). I know I am crazy and all that, but I thought that the foundations of America were built on Personal Freedoms and Responsibilities. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Am I misinterpreting those words? Do they not mean what I think they do? Yes, I know it says “men” and it would certainly seem that the GOP would like that to be taken literally, and I know that it actually only really included “white men” in it original application, and again it seems to me the GOP would like to return to that definition as well, but the main basic concept of those words have always signified Personal Freedom and Personal Responsibility to me. The “right” to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, requires that we do not infringe on anyone else's rights by exercising our own.

Like I said, maybe I am just crazy. The Republicans seem to be telling me that anyone who does not want the GOP to micromanage their personal lives while permitting them to rape and pillage the world in their business lives, is somehow “crazy” or “immoral”. I know I cannot be the only person who finds it extremely offensive to have a Republican candidate tell me that I have no morals, that my children should be turned into slave labor in exchange for an 3rd rate education, that I should not even be allowed to raise my children because I do not worship the almighty dollar and that I should be put to death for taking responsibility for my own medical care when he refuses to provide any care of any kind for anyone, has divorced, not just one gravely ill wife for a younger “prettier” women, but two now, and has lied, cheated and stolen from the American tax payers for decades on end! I am sorry I cannot stay quiet when I am being personally attacked at every single debate and in every single speech. And, yes, I realize it is not really personal, he doesn't even know I exist and he has certainly never called me out by name in the horrendously disgusting way that some unfortunate individuals have been personally attacked by some of the GOP membership. But when everything you care about and everything you believe in is being threatened and attacked at every turn by someone who has never met you, and has no factual basis for his claims, it really becomes quite personal.

So, they brought me into this. I didn't want to be involved, but they didn't leave me any choice. As much as they may try to claim that an Atheist has no morals, I feel an extreme moral obligation to speak out against their hate-filled, judgmental hypocrisy. I owe it to myself. I owe it to my children. I owe it to my country, and the rest of the world. If we are to ever have a future that we are proud to leave or children with, we must all stand up and speak out for Love, for Freedom, for Humanity, otherwise their hatred and greed will be the end of us all.

7 comments:

  1. Agree. Thanks for saying it so well.

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  2. I do not think you are crazy and I am appalled that Conservatives (and I hate to use that term because I feel I am a conservative) seem to be on the attack and in their line of fire is everyone and anyone who dares to think, feel or believe differently than they do. Also included in their attacks are those of us who defend them. I am a Catholic, a devout one, with a strong belief in God and in what is right and wrong. Some of those things we all share, like the taking of human life. Some of those things are my own, like my belief that abortion is wrong. I believe Abortion is wrong, therefore I would never have one, however the last time I looked in the mirror I was not God so I and our government have no business telling grown women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies and when I prayed about it and I did... the answer I got was this: God is pro-choice. He never imposes His will on us and if we love Him, we will follow that example. I believe that sex outside the sacrament of marriage is wrong, therefore I do not have sex outside marriage and as I am single this means I practice abstinence. Again, I have no idea what is in someone else's heart and soul and if someone is having sex outside marriage, that is between them and God, it is quite frankly none of my business. I believe that being gay is a sin...for me...I have no idea how God created you or any other person on this planet, perhaps He created people to love those of the same sex and forgot to tell me so I cannot sit in judgement of that. I will fight for women's freedom and I will fight for equality for ALL human beings regardless of who they love. I am saddened by Atheists...not because they are "less" than me, because actually the Atheists I know and love are quite intelligent and very productive and kind members of society....I am sad simply because I have a fulfilling relationship with God and of course I would hope that everyone would, even if that God doesn't look like the one I visualize in my head. I have no doubt that other beliefs are valid because I have no doubt that God can be all things to all people. I wish that humans would look at each other and search for the ways we are alike, instead of the ways we are different. I wish that humans could put aside politics and look at the basic facts and make a decision. I wish that our leaders and those that have a large influence would use their power to spread truth instead of lies, and let the chips fall where they may. Now, I may be wrong about all I have said....Perhaps I am not a "true" Christian, but at the end of my life God will judge me and I want to be found standing on the side of those who chose love....over law.

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  3. I would swear that I was writing some of this! My husband just commented on the fact that he can't believe I am actually interested in politics--because I was exactly like you. I preferred to avoid politics at all costs, dismissing all politicians as varying degrees of crooks.
    I think I started to come to life in November of 2000, and really woke up in January, when I realized that our country was going to be under the "rule" of someone who had stolen the election. I couldn't believe that they didn't finish counting, and when it was determined that Al Gore actually should have won....come on, they would go back and change a lesser mistake, and that they let slide?

    So I had a gripe against him to start with, and then came 9/11--and we were at war. And people would say "well we can't let them attack us," and I'd say plaintively "but they didn't attack us, or at least we don't know that they did." But no one paid any attention, and I have various comments and theories about that, but...

    Now? This is a joke, although unfortunately I don't think half the country gets the joke. That someone like Rick Santorum could be taken seriously enough to win a primary? And Newt Gingrich would have the audacity to sign that marriage act, to maintain the one man, one woman ratio, when he's already exceeded his quota by two? By now I'm spitting bullets, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. My state has a governor who is eyeing a spot on the GOP ticket, either this election or next, so everything he's doing is to pander to the lunatic fringe.

    Well, I guess that's enough for one night. So I agree with you, I am not pleased either..and the funny thing is that most of the people I know share my views, more or less...so where are all these other nuts coming from?

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  4. You manage to convey your thoughts so much more eloquently than I do. I always start out with good intentions, but by the end I usually sound like I'm slobbering and convulsing with rage. Very good piece, and I completely agree with you!

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