So this was yesterday's post that started it:
"*slightly political and a bit self righteous*
So according to my feed today I'm either an idiot for voting, an idiot if I didn't vote (I did), I'd be an idiot if I voted for democrat, I'd be an idiot for voting republican, an idiot if I threw my vote away on libertarian candidates. Just a flurry of angry diatribes and vitriol towards anybody or anything with a conflicting viewpoint, often based solely on the label the candidates carry and not the platform on which they stand.
I can't even imagine what it must be like to be so full of hate towards so much, and so afraid of the world."
And later on I posted this:
My friend Az summed himself up pretty much the same way I would:
"I am very socially liberal (don't care who you marry, what gender you prefer, what foods you eat, what religion (if any) you are, or what you want to smoke). I am very fiscally conservative (small government, anti-longterm-welfare, stop spending money on other countries' issues until we fix our own, support your local businesses). I am somewhat neutral on big corporations (who decides what is "big", who decides what is "too much profit", etc.), but also don't trust them and would like them to stop receiving so many tax breaks. I am pro-infrastructure (I'm all for dams, roads, bridges, schools), but want to see waste reduced. I am rather neutral on government supplied healthcare - I can see how handy it is for the poor, but the government can't do anything right. Obamacare is a HUGE clusterfuck. I believe in freedom of religion, or the lack thereof, but also think churches (of any sort) should stop being tax free. I am pro-military, but think we need to stop being the world's police force. I am pro-gun rights, but think we need to get our police under control. I am pro-death penalty, but only when there is 100% proof they are guilty (DNA, video, photographic, etc.). I think we need to stop jailing drug USERS, but also stop letting career criminals out to commit crimes again, over and over.
Not easy to pigeonhole me, is it?"
(This next bit is me and it is probably going to piss at least some people off)
For me it's incredibly difficult because I don't wholly believe in one thing in pretty much anything and there are only a few things in my world that I hold absolute positions on (and most of those things are usually dealing in personal freedom/liberty and the right to execute on them [I have never been good at being told what to do or what to think] - and coconut, I f'n hate coconut).
Politics *SHOULD* be the ultimate exercise in middle road moderation because it is one of the most extreme versions of 'for every winner, there is a loser'.
You provide healthcare, someone else pays for it.
You bomb for freedom, other people suffer and die.
You create absurd laws, someone has to be punished for not following them.
I honestly don't even really know what people are running on anymore other than hate (that is hyperbole, I usually do exhaustive research on candidates - except this time, I went for the L where I could). There was one candidate whose entire position was 'the other person is literally Obama's love child' or something absurd like that. The entirety of the political ad barrage was fear mongering and no substance. I realize the last politician who tried that was probably Dukakis, and we see how that turned out.
If we base our views on politics on what we have seen actually on TV and in action, then is it fair to say that 'Republicans hate Obama, want corporations to do everything for everybody without fear of reprisal, bomb the piss out of brown people who aren't immediately in our pocket, fellate the engorged member of 'our friend and ally Israel' at every available option, and are anti-gay people, anti-marijuana, anti-personal freedom, and big government 'we're not here to help you'. ' and 'Democrats also seem to hate Obama most of the time when it's convenient, don't have much of a position on much other than 'we aren't Republicans', are also pro-bomb brown people, not so much fellate but tickle lovingly the inner thigh of Israel at every available option, big government 'we're here to help you in the most inefficient manner possible', privately love big business and want them to run everything but publicly deride them, pro-gay, anti-gun, anti-personal freedom in as much that in a perfect Marxist society nobody acts out because everyone is being watched' and for some reason both parties seem to think the Libertarians are sitting in a corner alone happily eating asbestos laden glue as it is their right to do so?
I don't want more government. I don't want more laws. I don't want to 'let's get America back!' - because that little romanticized time machine undoes more social progress than you can imagine (although slightly ironic if you think about some areas that were less taboo in the 70's than now) - you want to go back to pre-WWI? How about depression era? How about post WW2? Korea? Vietnam? We want women and black people to still be able to vote an own property, right? The 70s? Certainly nobody wants to go back to the 80s except for the TV and video games. The disaffected 90s? Tell me when we're taking America back to? You want to go 'back' to a solidly Christian nation under God? Doesn't that start with helping your fellow man and giving everyone an opportunity for success? As near as I can figure (and I'm pretty sure I'm wholly accurate in this) Jesus was literally the most socialist and liberal dude in recorded history, so wouldn't that be taking our politics to a more socially liberal direction? If we are basing any kind of modern politics on biblical teachings then the GOP are the Romans in this story and not the apostles as some seem to fancy themselves and the Democrats were chasing oiled up eunuchs and popping them in the butt with towels in the bath houses.
And while I'm ranting about that little unicorn populated utopia that some people seem to think used to exist here - IT NEVER ACTUALLY DID! You want a government that is based fairly accurately on a Holy Book, go find f'n ISIS - they seem to be *real* keen on the literal interpretation thing. I love that people have differing views on things, I have had the great fortune to be friends/family with such a diverse group of people that I couldn't find 2 out of a thousand friends who are almost identically alike in all ideologies (Nikki and I are close, but damn I hate coconut and she just loves it), but those differences are what make people special and fun and unique and worth keeping around.
Maybe it's the dated system that is that which is flawed - I might single issue vote for someone whose total platform was the re-introduction of the fairness doctrine into news organizations and maybe we could quit sniping from across the aisle, and turn off both sides of the hate mongering that only breeds more contempt and more fear of what's in the minds of the unknown.
Hate - hate deeply, hate with every fiber of your being! For to hate so completely means that you also understand love to the same depth, but don't hate for hate's sake (and spit at thee).
"*slightly political and a bit self righteous*
So according to my feed today I'm either an idiot for voting, an idiot if I didn't vote (I did), I'd be an idiot if I voted for democrat, I'd be an idiot for voting republican, an idiot if I threw my vote away on libertarian candidates. Just a flurry of angry diatribes and vitriol towards anybody or anything with a conflicting viewpoint, often based solely on the label the candidates carry and not the platform on which they stand.
I can't even imagine what it must be like to be so full of hate towards so much, and so afraid of the world."
And later on I posted this:
My friend Az summed himself up pretty much the same way I would:
"I am very socially liberal (don't care who you marry, what gender you prefer, what foods you eat, what religion (if any) you are, or what you want to smoke). I am very fiscally conservative (small government, anti-longterm-welfare, stop spending money on other countries' issues until we fix our own, support your local businesses). I am somewhat neutral on big corporations (who decides what is "big", who decides what is "too much profit", etc.), but also don't trust them and would like them to stop receiving so many tax breaks. I am pro-infrastructure (I'm all for dams, roads, bridges, schools), but want to see waste reduced. I am rather neutral on government supplied healthcare - I can see how handy it is for the poor, but the government can't do anything right. Obamacare is a HUGE clusterfuck. I believe in freedom of religion, or the lack thereof, but also think churches (of any sort) should stop being tax free. I am pro-military, but think we need to stop being the world's police force. I am pro-gun rights, but think we need to get our police under control. I am pro-death penalty, but only when there is 100% proof they are guilty (DNA, video, photographic, etc.). I think we need to stop jailing drug USERS, but also stop letting career criminals out to commit crimes again, over and over.
Not easy to pigeonhole me, is it?"
(This next bit is me and it is probably going to piss at least some people off)
For me it's incredibly difficult because I don't wholly believe in one thing in pretty much anything and there are only a few things in my world that I hold absolute positions on (and most of those things are usually dealing in personal freedom/liberty and the right to execute on them [I have never been good at being told what to do or what to think] - and coconut, I f'n hate coconut).
Politics *SHOULD* be the ultimate exercise in middle road moderation because it is one of the most extreme versions of 'for every winner, there is a loser'.
You provide healthcare, someone else pays for it.
You bomb for freedom, other people suffer and die.
You create absurd laws, someone has to be punished for not following them.
I honestly don't even really know what people are running on anymore other than hate (that is hyperbole, I usually do exhaustive research on candidates - except this time, I went for the L where I could). There was one candidate whose entire position was 'the other person is literally Obama's love child' or something absurd like that. The entirety of the political ad barrage was fear mongering and no substance. I realize the last politician who tried that was probably Dukakis, and we see how that turned out.
If we base our views on politics on what we have seen actually on TV and in action, then is it fair to say that 'Republicans hate Obama, want corporations to do everything for everybody without fear of reprisal, bomb the piss out of brown people who aren't immediately in our pocket, fellate the engorged member of 'our friend and ally Israel' at every available option, and are anti-gay people, anti-marijuana, anti-personal freedom, and big government 'we're not here to help you'. ' and 'Democrats also seem to hate Obama most of the time when it's convenient, don't have much of a position on much other than 'we aren't Republicans', are also pro-bomb brown people, not so much fellate but tickle lovingly the inner thigh of Israel at every available option, big government 'we're here to help you in the most inefficient manner possible', privately love big business and want them to run everything but publicly deride them, pro-gay, anti-gun, anti-personal freedom in as much that in a perfect Marxist society nobody acts out because everyone is being watched' and for some reason both parties seem to think the Libertarians are sitting in a corner alone happily eating asbestos laden glue as it is their right to do so?
I don't want more government. I don't want more laws. I don't want to 'let's get America back!' - because that little romanticized time machine undoes more social progress than you can imagine (although slightly ironic if you think about some areas that were less taboo in the 70's than now) - you want to go back to pre-WWI? How about depression era? How about post WW2? Korea? Vietnam? We want women and black people to still be able to vote an own property, right? The 70s? Certainly nobody wants to go back to the 80s except for the TV and video games. The disaffected 90s? Tell me when we're taking America back to? You want to go 'back' to a solidly Christian nation under God? Doesn't that start with helping your fellow man and giving everyone an opportunity for success? As near as I can figure (and I'm pretty sure I'm wholly accurate in this) Jesus was literally the most socialist and liberal dude in recorded history, so wouldn't that be taking our politics to a more socially liberal direction? If we are basing any kind of modern politics on biblical teachings then the GOP are the Romans in this story and not the apostles as some seem to fancy themselves and the Democrats were chasing oiled up eunuchs and popping them in the butt with towels in the bath houses.
And while I'm ranting about that little unicorn populated utopia that some people seem to think used to exist here - IT NEVER ACTUALLY DID! You want a government that is based fairly accurately on a Holy Book, go find f'n ISIS - they seem to be *real* keen on the literal interpretation thing. I love that people have differing views on things, I have had the great fortune to be friends/family with such a diverse group of people that I couldn't find 2 out of a thousand friends who are almost identically alike in all ideologies (Nikki and I are close, but damn I hate coconut and she just loves it), but those differences are what make people special and fun and unique and worth keeping around.
Maybe it's the dated system that is that which is flawed - I might single issue vote for someone whose total platform was the re-introduction of the fairness doctrine into news organizations and maybe we could quit sniping from across the aisle, and turn off both sides of the hate mongering that only breeds more contempt and more fear of what's in the minds of the unknown.
Hate - hate deeply, hate with every fiber of your being! For to hate so completely means that you also understand love to the same depth, but don't hate for hate's sake (and spit at thee).
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