I ramble… I’m not sure what the point was or even if I ever had one.
I cannot seem to wrap my brain around the concept of being defined by one’s political beliefs. I know plenty of people who label themselves Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal and that’s just fine, if you’re comfortable with your label, far be it for me to tell you that you should deny it. The problem, however, for me, comes when people feel the need to toe the party line because it defines them so fully.
One of my goals in life is to know all things. As such, when I discover I have an interest in a topic, I research it and I try to do that from an unbiased perspective, looking at both sides of whatever argument there is and trying to find concrete data rather than simple opinions from people who have little to no information available to them.
The problem for me comes in when people assume that what they have been told, what they take for granted as being fact is really true. These are people who have no proof, they can offer no argument other than "Well, everyone says that…" "Everyone says" is NOT a valid argument. Let’s be honest with ourselves, here, not everyone says ANYTHING.
My liberal friends think I’m conservative. My conservative friends think I’m liberal. My mother (who is probably a radical) thinks I’m a libertarian. Frankly, they’re all probably wrong, since I don’t fit any one category. It’s not that I have a *problem* with any of those categories, it’s simply that I don’t fit… and the fundamental difference that I see between those who embrace their label (and think of it as a compliment) and those who eschew such labels is the willingness to actually check facts and seek out more information. Those who question, not only authority, but things that "everyone knows" are the only ones who ever REALLY know what’s going on.
Since Bush has been in office, I’ve heard no end to "My President, right or wrong" statements, usually closely followed by some reference to Clinton’s blowjob. During Clinton’s administration, I saw the same thing from the other side of the political fence. I do not understand this obsession with there being a good and a bad, especially when anyone who has an ounce of intelligence will tell you that for a LONG time (as long as I’ve been voting at the very least) every election has been a matter of trying to decide who was the lesser of two evils. So tell me, how does that make anyone the "good" guy, or any party the "good" party? I’m not sure about your world, but in mine "least evil "does not equal "good".
We have lost complete sight of everything that is important. Blind loyalties to parties that are essentially the same people out to "win" some intangible victory over other politicians who are no more trying to truly represent their constituents are becoming more and more common, but from an outside point of view, more and more useless. Why are we fighting among ourselves when we should be battling the corruption that is devouring our political system from the inside out?
Generations X and Y have some serious problems facing us. Regardless of how you think the United States is faring at the moment, what do you think it’s going to offer us as we approach middle age? We’re not going to see Social Security, not a dime of it. No one can fix that problem well enough to help us out… we all already know that. Our economy is a joke and people are only starting to realize that. I’m not talking about the economy at this moment, but our overall economic system of greenbacks - currency backed by nothing more than the paper it is printed on. Our political system is failing us and, frankly, we are failing it.
We are, more and more, a nation of sheep, rolling over and letting the system take us over. We have given far too much power to those we put in charge and then we stop paying attention to it. The more I read about American history and, specifically, the late 18th century and the forming of the country, the more it seems to me that we have lost our way. We are not holding true to the ideals upon which this country was founded.
It has been my experience that of all the subjects taught in school, History is the least enjoyed. People will often tell you that it’s boring and, frankly, a vast majority of history teachers make it boring. The more I read, the more I learn, the more I see that we’re losing sight of what we’re supposed to be. Every time I hear someone say "Don’t say negative things about the government" I know that they have forgotten the First Amendment of the Constitution. Every time I hear someone make a statement about how the press shouldn’t report on lies our government officials told us or illegal wiretapping or the VP shooting someone in a hunting accident, it makes me wonder if these true patriots with yellow magnetic ribbons on their cars actually know what it means to be an American, if they actually understand the ideals upon which our country was founded.
And then, while all those thoughts are rattling around in my head, I watch the Olympic medal ceremonies… I watch the Canadians and Italians and tens of other countries’ medal winners sing their National Anthem… and then I watch our medal winners and I see them standing there, watching the flag rise, holding their hand to their heart and I realize that they don’t know the words.
And all of those things… the magnetic ribbons, the people who don’t know the words to the Star-Spangled banner (or those who can’t even name our anthem), the people who thing the Constitution is a nice side effect, but one we don’t need, the people who try to label me, the voters who vote parties lines or for the woman because of her gender or the person because of his/her race or the one with the nicer smile, the lack of facts needed for people to form opinions these days… sometimes it just makes me want to cry.
~FG };^/
