Monday, October 27, 2008

Vote for Change or Continue the Hate?

I need to be locked up for the next 8 days. Away from TVs, radios, Internet surfing, and protected from any visage of signs proclaiming, "Elect Me, I am better". There is no way to say it is official, but should a doctor of many letters review my case, I am sure the diagnosis would be-

"This patient is manifesting signs of intense mania. Temporary seclusion and monitoring is strongly recommended."

When I started this blog, it was partially to get away from the intense hate and discontent of the political forums I used to hang in. My blog, I told myself, was to be a tropical resort free from political poison. I managed to keep it politics free for a couple of years. And then, like a drunk waking up in someones wine cellar, the Presidential Election has lured me back to the bottle.

I am indeed becoming angrier and angrier.

Of course I have no one to blame but myself and maybe Demeur. He turned me onto a recent letter from the Christian group "Focus on the Family Action" . They have written and circulated a letter entitled, "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America".

How it boils down - doom and gloom predictions of what will happen if we elect Obama. Christian fear mongering of a magnitude only extreme religious folk could come up with. Never mind that they are attempting to instill fear of a possible future not a future fact, it is as if they wish and hope it will play out this way. If only so they can sit content looking down their self righteous noses at us poor heathens and shake their fingers at us. "We told you so".

I'd get into specifics, but the letter is there to read and I won't bore you with the predictable analysis. Just say that should Obama get elected, Christianity will cease to exist in this country as we know it. Obama and the evil Democrats will make sure that gays will legally be able to run amok and ruin all the institutions held near dear to any decent Christian. Abortions will be available to anyone under the age of 3 and preaching God's word will be illegal outside the narrow confines of Sundays between the hours of 10 to Noon.

Okay, it is not that bad and I am embellishing the facts of the letter. But keeping in the spirit of the outrageous claims of the letter, I figured I would interpret as I imagined the letter would be taken by the faithful.

Never mind that Obama is a dedicated Christian. His faith is not something he has just picked up recently to worm his way into the hearts of those who believe. The letter takes care of this little snafu by indicating there are Good Christians and Bad Christians. As good as Obama may have started out with his strong faith, he is lost now because he is a Democrat. Folks, this letter exemplifies why we should never allow religion into our government.

What is it with this proclivity of many folks on the Right to be such complete insensitive assholes by pigeonholing everyone into "If you are with us, you are Good and True. If you are against us, you are Bad and most likely really Evil." This no grey zone mentality of the Right is in my opinion their biggest weakness. Come on. Most of us are not so stupid to think the character of a person is so clear cut. I will admit that many on the Left have the same tendency, but nowhere near to the degree it has surfaced on the Right. The Right has won the battle to own intolerance this election.

People like me who enthusiastically wander from one side to the other as the situation warrants have been turned off by the recent circling of the wagons by the Republicans. There was no need to do this. Had a more reasonable issue focused campaign been waged, the middle would still be more of a battle ground. Instead, the persecution complex manifested by the tactics of the McCain campaign have only driven people away. The base was not going anywhere. The loyal will remain loyal. But I know several locally who will be holding their nose when casting their vote for McCain.

The Politics of Hate have taken over on the Right while the Politics of Change have taken root on the Left. I do not know about you but I am tired of Hating. I am due for a little Change. And it seems that my displeasure with the partisan bickering is not going to be addressed. So, I am voting for Change and going with the only group I see headed in that direction.

Will it end in a socialistic culture that erects crosses in stadiums and hangs Christians from them every Sunday? I do not think so. Will this change mean the terrorists of the World will take over and bury us in pits up to our necks and throw rocks at us? I don't think so. But keep up this bickering internal stupidity and we will definitely have more problems than if we come together and present a united front.

We are all Americans. Right, Left, Middle, Religious, Atheist, White, Black and Brown. Who we sleep with and who we pray to is something we should be doing on our own time instead of being concerned with what or who our neighbors are doing on their own time. What we as Americans should be doing is creating and maintaining a culture that allows the many trips taken in this life to exist together with as little interference as possible. If we can do that, then I think we are living up to the ideals our forefathers set down for us in the beginning. Forcing others to our will is un-American. Inside or outside our borders.

Final Note - I have re-read this and decided that yes, I need to be locked away for the next 8 days. We will go on no matter what happens a week from tomorrow. The sky will not fall and I feel safe in saying the Rapture will not begin.

20 comments:

ruthinian said...

I can understand what you are feeling right now. Just like you, Election is the season I hate most. I am not a US Citizen yet so I can't vote yet. But one thing I noticed about election here is that it's not different from where I came from. As a former teacher, used to tell my students that, "if you really want to help our country... you don't need to be a politician. You can make a change in your own way and let it start within yourself." Of course, I know its not easy. But I still believe that if we teach our kids the right values right from the very start... we will be sure that these kids will grow up to be the best leaders in the future.

I don't know I could be wrong too. But I agree with you, the election period is an endless circus and the politicians are the clowns. It's so frustrating.

NorthCountryLiberal said...

I feel your pain. It's mine too.

I think it is more intense because of lingering ache from the last two Presidential elections, but also because the standards for campaigning have become so low.

Many have dropped out in disgust or frustration or exhaustion. I'm going to hang in to the end, find humor where I can, and I hope you do too.

BBC said...

It sure is getting mighty interesting, the most interesting thing I've seen in 65 years. I'm talking about the big picture of course, not just what is happening in America.

As for these so called christians, the world would be better off without them.

I've already turned in my vote, and I'm not paying much attention to the run up to the election other than looking at the news in the morning.

I'm pretty sure that Obama is going to be the big winner. I'm almost as sure that once he gets in office that he won't be able to change things much.

We'll find out next year though. But I'm getting ready for harder times. Those that don't are on their own.

Your anger is normal, don't worry about it. Just balance it with some humor. All great men in the past were angry men.

Dawn Fortune said...

Come the rapture, can I have your bike?

I am worried about the anger in America today, but I am also a part of it. I am fed up with 10 years of the R's jamming shit down our throats, cutting essential services, screwing our vets and seniors and the exact members of society who need the most protection. I am angry that the candidate who has had taxpayer-funded health care his entire life wants to cut medicare and medicaid.

And I am sick and tired of people too stupid to see that voting for these wingnuts is voting against their own interests.

Thanks, Crum. I was pretty mellow until I got started there. Now I may have a rant of my own to write. I will be glad when this is over and we can breathe again and think not about how to survive for eight days but how to move forward.

BBC said...

I will be glad when this is over and we can breathe again and think not about how to survive for eight days but how to move forward.

Dream on...... Just because the Democrats gain control of the house of mirrors it doesn't mean they are going to get much fixed.

I'm telling you to get ready for hard times. Don't listen to me though, few do.

I'm not angry because there will be some hard times, I can deal with that, I'm angry because this is all so stupid.

Ruthi seems interesting, "if you really want to help our country... you don't need to be a politician. You can make a change in your own way and let it start within yourself."

*Pats Ruthi on the back*

I wonder if her tits are lonely, ha ha ha.

BBC said...

I also wonder why there is a trash can on my comments when there isn't on the comments of others.

Maybe it's a new blogger thing because I'm controversial. Hell, for all I know blogger is christian based, or capitalistic based, there has to be some reason why they give us all this space to post on for free.

Someone out there has a motive for all this or we wouldn't be here. And I'm pretty sure that motive involves money or power.

BBC said...

Did you know that the Internet is served by servers running on Linux?

Do you know what that means? It means that someday some good soul is going to write a software program that can't be destroyed, that destroys anything that attacks it and repairs itself.

That allows us all to communicate with each other without the restrictions of governments, capitalists, special interest groups, christians or other religions.

I look forward to that day.

Dawn on mdi. You don't have a bike? I have a number of them if you need one. I wouldn't be caught dead without a bike.

BBC said...

That's what Stub does to me when I am watching Football on Sunday afternoon.

Rolls eyes, why are you watching a christian based sport? I think that you should get more into gardening or something that will benefit you in the future.

But don't listen to me, no one else does.

Demeur said...

Sorry to stir up such mania. It's just that when I see such stupidity at this level I must bring it out in the open. Maybe now we can focus on the real issues and begin rebuilding from the mess created by the last eight years. There is so much to hope for with the right leadership.

Randal Graves said...

I also wonder why there is a trash can on my comments when there isn't on the comments of others.

Blogger hates campers.

Actually, you can nuke your own comment if you wish and the dude or chick who runs the blog can nuke anyone's comment.

BBC isn't too far off the mark. We're an empire and Obama is going to continue the empire, but it should, in theory, be a bit more of a benevolent one and not as overtly cartoon supervillain as it is now with Chimpy, Unka Dick and the rest of the torture porn watchers.

Denver said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gary ("Old Dude") said...

Your right MCrum---Obama will get elected, and no he won't be able to implement is entire program, but you can be sure the congress will not be running any tax cuts through, they will cut spending on defense (to help pay for some of the new welfare programs), Obama WILL be tested inside of six monthes of being elected (and so would any president new to office), but I worry about him making us look weak and indecisive with his Naive assumptions about foreign affairs.-----the big money will move outside the country where they can earn a better return---our recession will last a while---small business won't be quick to hire new people, knowing their taxes are going up---well you know the drill on that----hang in there---only 7 more days to go.

BBC said...

Blogger hates campers? Well then, fuck blogger because we will still be camping when blogger is dead and gone, replaced by something else.

Blogger will just be more monkey shit in the dust of the ruts of history of time and space behind us.

But we will still be looking for tits to kiss.

Joe the Homeless said...

You'r right bbc, and when you mosey into bum's jungle with your sleeping bag none of those bastards are going to notice there's one more former tax payer under the freeway.

I'll save you a spot by the burn barrel.

amidnightrider said...

I was fortunate not to have to listen to much of the political debate. My decision on how to vote was made in 1972, and I have always voted for the right person even though republicans won some of the time.

The Christians are the hippies of the 60's. They/we had our time in the limelight and got politicians to listen and had voting power.

Like the hippies, the Christians on the right have become irrelivent. They had their time, and now it's time to go back into the temples and STFU and pray.

Middle Ditch said...

We will patiently await you return.

Snave said...

I'm tired of all the angry, and I am tired of being angry. Those sick folks who run the modern Republican party WANT us to be angry. All of us. They want their own people to be united in anger. They want the people who disagree with them to become angry, so their own can be even more strongly united against the "angry others".

If I get angry at the Republicans, do the Republicans win? Probably, because I am allowing them to control my mood. And that in itself may be one of the things that makes me most angry!

If I was a praying type, I would be praying for change to occur, that a handful of rich people who control our country and manipulate millions of voters into voting against their own best interests would just STOP that kind of behavior. I would pray for changes of heart which would lead to changes of mind. I don't pray, but I think and hope a lot, and I try to think positive thoughts. Is that like praying? Not to people from Focus on the Family, but to me that is exactly what it is.

I saw a bumper sticker once that not only had me in stitches but also full of righteous anger. It read "Focus On Your Own Damned Family". In light of what you have posted here, I can't think of a more appropriate bumper sticker that addresses one of our nations's worst problems.

So let's hope/pray/whatever for a lot of wins from the left on Tuesday. The GOP is not going to slow down, whether they win the presidency or not, or whether they keep seats in the House and Senate or not... If they turn up the propaganda a few more notches, they could get some seats back in 2010... but I don't think they would get enough seats back to do a lot of damage. I think if Obama wins we will have four years of uninterrupted Democrat control. And four years might be enough time to truly get things back on the right track.

That's worth praying or hoping for.

BBC said...

The sky will not fall and I feel safe in saying the Rapture will not begin.

I feel safe in saying that something will begin. Hopefully a great spiritual awakening.

MRMacrum said...

To all - it seems that I have gotten my wish. Because I could not restrain myself from getting over amped and frantic as the election madness crescendoed, prayers somewhere by someone were answered and a mild smiting was passed down my way in the way of a flu bug. Remember, there are no accidents. God has a plan and apparently my words ticked the Big Boss off. Soory Dude. Now make me better, okay?

I feel bad as it seems to have resulted in some collateral damage. The divine smart bomb was not as accurate and precise as it could have been. My wife got sick also. Or maybe it was a message that I need to be careful when criticizing the faithful. That those I hold close could become innocent victims.

amidnightrider said...

Your illness had nothing to do with anything. Like creation, it's all part of the chaos of the big bang. Not to worrry about invisible little fairies who live in the clouds.