The Last Political Post...(Hopefully!)

I am so tired.  I am tired of all of this politics.  The state of politics in America is a joke and a disgrace to the idea of our democracy as a whole.  We are so divided and it has gotten to this point because radicalism has become the mainstream.  These political fascists are some of the most watched people in America and they spend all of their time grandstanded and claiming that the other side is destroying our country or tearing apart the constitution.  Even on the hallowed floors of congress we see this sort of talk between people that are supposed to be working together to make better our country and the state of our people.  It has gotten so bad that it has become personal.  One side no longer makes friends with people on the other side because that would show weakness.  Because of this these colleagues no longer seem to care about one another on a personal and human level.  Without that, they no longer care if they attack the other instead of working together to make history.  They lose the ability to dignify the other.  That is an important idea to a humanist:  to dignify the other.

An example of this was the Health Care bill.  It is not my favorite bill that could have passed, but it is a step in the right direction.  The Republicans refused to work on this bill.  All they cared about was defeating it and arguing it and grandstanding for their constituents.  This lead to the Dems having to force the bill through with some good ideas, but not the best.  If the Republicans would have stood up and worked on this bill in the first place, we could have one of the best bills and a high point in American government, but instead we have more anger and more hatred.

I am tired of this feeling.  I am tired of having to listen to these people that care more about showing up the other side then working for the greater good.  This is not how public service people should be acting.  My tax dollars go to pay for this garbage??

So much of the divisiveness is caused by the good ol' American 2-party system that we have in place.  This is an atrocity of reason and education.  During the past presidential election I was basically forced to vote for Barack Obama.  It was either that or give my vote to the Republicans.  I am not saying that I would not have voted for him any way, but I hate the fact that my choices were so limited.  A vote for a third-party is a vote for the people that your want in office the least.  This is a horrible state to be in.  This is not democracy.

Henry David Thoreau once wrote that you can vote if you want to, but it means nothing but a hope in a change for what you believe to be right, not actual change itself.  If you really want change you have to go out there and grab it by the throat, not just vote and feel like you did something without ever actually doing anything at all.  He also wrote that voting with a party and not with your heart is an injustice and goes against our civic duty.  After some rereading of the great American master, I have decided that if I ever vote with party again just to vote against the other party, then I am only supporting this system and telling the politicians that it works and is the right thing to do.

Fuck that.  It won't happen again.  I hate that feeling and for now on, I swear to you all, I will only vote for the person that I believe to be the best candidate and if I do not know the candidates, I will not choose.  If I failed to educate myself on candidates or a particular referendum, then I no longer consider myself educated enough to vote on that topic.  Party lines are shit and need to be scrapped.  The 2-party system just allows people to get away with not educating themselves.  It allows people to just choose the R or the D on a ballot and feel like they can sleep that night.  The American people deserve better than that. 

Thoreau also wrote to not concern yourself with politics, but only with what you find morally correct.  Your family and your friends deserve better of you.  As long as you have done what you feel is correct, whatever that may be, then you have done your duty.  That may involve politics if you so feel that, but your civic duty and your right under a democracy is to vote or not vote, but just do what you feel is morally correct.

I used to think that meant educating the people on the horrors of right-wing extremism, but I have realized that with the 2-party dominance, this only leads to a simple conclusions:  The Dems must be correct.  Now, I tend to agree with them, but they are not that much better when it comes to this divisiveness and grandstanding.  They are part of the system much more than they act in public.  I do not want to write about politics anymore because I do not want to take sides.  My side is and always has been for the freedom and dignity of people, not just Americans, but people everywhere.  If I write about social topics, it will be from the heart and from the mind, but not from the eye of someone that cares about the political game that these yahoos like to play.  I will attack stupidity on all sides, whether it be the lack of any caring from the Republicans or the lack of personal freedoms from the Democrats. 

I hope that my beloved readers will comment.  I want to hear your thoughts and ideas on this matter.  If you think that I am wrong, tell me.  If you agree, feel free to post your pledge as I have, to support democracy and deny politics.  Trust me, when I made this decisions a few weeks ago, it was like taking a weight off of my shoulders.  I felt better.  Listening to these morons in the news is now more of a joke than it ever was.  Mind you, it is a funny joke, but a sad one as well.