Tired Of It All...

The political climate of our country is volatile, to say the least. I have always tended to vote on the individual and not the party. And for good reason: Neither one of the two major political parties (or any of the minor parties for that matter) come close to representing how I actually feel about what's right and what's wrong in the country and the world. I have studied history all my life and I tend to see the bigger (International) picture over just a limited domestic view because both are critical to our Countries continued existence in this world. I do think there is something to the cliche that history repeats itself so I find it very helpful to understand what happened in the past. It helps to give definition and even explanation to some extent of what is happening now.

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I tend to be somewhat conservative from a fiscal perspective yet a bit more open from a social perspective. In my life, I've voted for Republicans, Democrats, Independents as well as representatives from the other smaller parties. My point in writing this morning about this isn't to promote one political party point of view over another. No, I happen to believe that everyone has a right to choose who they prefer in office and though I may disagree with their choice personally, I do respect it and support our County's President regardless of whether I voted for him (or her) or not.. If I am promoting anything at all in this post it's respect....because there isn't any respect in our political climate right now. perhaps it is gone forever...

If you want to start a near violent argument in this country, anywhere at anytime...just start talking politics. You can get two old ladies fighting at the super market in a matter of minutes just talking about who the president should be, it's ludicrous! It's brutal! People are so emotional and irrational, so forceful when they think they are right and everyone else is wrong, that they rage and babble without actually saying anything useful! This bothers me a great deal and it's frightening. I know, some folks will say that I am being naive, that it's too important a question to be passive or less then fully passionate about it...that if you don't take sides then you aren't participating. I don't know, all I see is everybody yelling and arguing with each other on the various TV News Shows: Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, etc. That is what is called participation these days, Ach...I don't want it!? Everyone is a bully now, there is no actual discussion, problem-solving or debate and nothing actually ever get's accomplished. I believe you can still passionately care about something without acting emotionally and irrationally about it.

We are constantly being bombarded with why this or that person is wrong or bad yet nobody actually comes up with real life, practical solutions to our issues. It is not my nature to hold hands with anyone and sing Kum Ba Ya and I'm not suggesting we do that. This is a dangerous world with violent, serious issues that require hard solutions that will not make everyone happy. We need folks to lead, not to blame.

Part of our problem as a society these days in my opinion is we always try to find solutions that please everyone. Yea right! That my friends...is never going to happen. And in this day and age of instant media, where everyone can weigh in with their ignorant horsesh*t they call ideas and it simply just bogs the process down with nothing ever getting accomplished. Our leaders, no matter who they are cannot LEAD. They just mollify, justify, kiss ass..while trying to please everyone and what happens? No one is happy in the end and NOTHING changes! Then they just get more angry, more emotional and irrational...

It is frustrating and I don't know what the answer is but I will say I don't like the anger, the virtual HATRED that has entered into our political system. Are people really telling me that President Obama has accomplished NOTHING in his presidency that is positive? Come on! President Bush also accomplished NOTHING that was positive during his 8 years in office? And on the other hand, neither of those two Presidents ever made a mistake, come on!? That is simply a ridiculous line of thinking and it's dangerous...why? Because it is an attitude born of ignorance. And IGNORANCE kills people. Ignorance bred the Holocaust for example...don't think it can happen again? Just look to Bosnia in the 1990's...OH sorry, it's called "Ethnic Cleansing" now.

That's right, it's ignorant and ignorance is dangerous in this volatile world because we don't need anyone, regardless of their affiliation BLINDLY following a party line or some talking blow-hard demagogue on TV. This is NOT a black and white world we live in. It is a grey area world and we need answers that truly fit each specific problem and that will take cooperation and hard work. It doesn't seem too difficult does it, to get together and work solve each individual problem? That's what our government is for, right? Except we as a people cannot solve problems when each "side" of the issue is expending ALL their energy ripping the other side apart on TV, in the Newspaper and in Magazine articles. All the focus is always on who is wrong...never what can WE do. We are doomed to failure as a people if we do not fix that problem and start working together. Trust me, the outcome will be disastrous if we don't.

Yesterday there was a perfect example, just one of many to choose from of course. Our military killed Osama Bin Laden and less then 10 hours later each "side" was spending ALL their energy taking credit for it and saying how the other side screwed this up and is to blame. That Obama was arrogant, that he took all the credit, etc. by standing up and saying ultimately the decision was his. That is what he is suppose to say, he is the Commander In Chief! They went on that he really didn't do anything, the Navy SEALS did, etc, Well he is the President, he makes decisions...Navy SEALS do the KILLING, it's their JOB! I don't know about you but I really don't want my President running around in Pakistan in the middle of the night with a SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) and a K-Bar Knife trying to kill terrorists no matter who they are! That whole thing is totally ridiculous!

Then we hear how Bush FAILED because he couldn't kill him during his presidency and he misdirected his energies, etc. etc. Equally ridiculous. Bin Laden was not trying to get caught. There are limitations to what any president could do, to imply that Bush somehow wasn't trying hard enough is a joke. He was constantly being ridiculed DURING his time in office for being TOO obsessed with getting Bin Laden. It took several years of this administration in office before he was killed. He is dead, it's a good thing and this country should stand together and be satisfied that he is no longer a threat to the world and to America specifically. Why are we even talking about THAT stuff, it's insane really because this is still a dangerous world and we should be worrying about what the next step is for us in this War against Terror. It is not over...not by a long shot. The killing will not stop because one guy is dead...again, ignorance.

Instead of always worrying about who F**ked up and who is to blame lets figure this stuff out. Working with one another doesn't mean that you actively support the other party, it just means we acknowledge that to solve our country's problems (and their are many) we need to work together to do it, not sit around on our FAT asses and figure out whose to blame for all the past failures. People who focus solely on blame are really focused on ONE thing: wresting POWER from the opposition. There is no other reason to make that big of a issue about it then to make them look bad so we can win.

So is this a game? Is it just about the Democrats or the Republicans beating up the other side so they can claim they are better? I hope not...there is too much at stake. I'm tired of it all...it is sick, really. I think it's a joke that we operate this way and don't work together to solve problems. Shit, it's easy to stand around and throw stones at each other...lets do the work and fix our country. I believe it can be done but not the way we are doing it today. Let's stop the ignorant blame finding and get to work!