Hello faithful readers - all 2 of you :)
It’s been a long time since I've posted and to be honest it’s because I don't have a lot of free time. What time I do get off I try and spend paying with my daughter (however limited that may be), trying to get a job or trying to take the swelling down in my back...but no sob story here. I also just didn't know what to use this forum for.
Well I think it’s going to become my way of getting my ideas about societal and political issues in our world today. While I don't hold hopes that my blog becomes a subject of national discourse, I do think it will make me feel better to get my ideas out there and maybe lay the foundation for further conversation amongst some and that is enough for me.
Let’s get down to it, I believe in the idea of responsible discourse and moderate politics. Today’s political landscape has been taken over by extremist on both sides of the isle who are so scared of looking week that they have forgotten how to discuss differences in a responsible and respectable manor. When is the last time you've seen our media present a "debate" that didn't consist of insults, yelling or rude behavior? It simply isn't role-modeled anymore, and part of this is the media's fault. However, part of it is our fault. We as a nation would rather watch people yell at each other and manipulate their opponents (I'm looking at you Bill O'Rielly) than a responsible exchange of ideas. It’s simply easier to watch an argument than to take time and listen to other ideas.
This tendency for Americans to like it simple has caused the political landscape to respond with idiotic sound bites and simplified platforms that are easier to post on a bumper sticker than in an article or periodical. Politicians now see the act of listening or learning as a hindrance to re-election.
What I mean by this is that I hate the term "flip flopper". What is wrong with a leader being able to listen to new info and changing their opinion when the new info they've received makes sense to them? I think this is true leadership, the ability to adapt and apply ones values and ideals to new and old information instead of forming solid and stagnant platforms with no room for re-examination. I'm looking at you Republicans, Democrats, Green party etc...
Yet, both major parties have vilified the term flip flopper to the point that if a politician changes their stances over a 40 year career, they can be labeled as someone who doesn't really know what they believe in or worse...a compromiser. John McCain, who I loved, had to move away from his decade’s old identity as a compromiser to even stand a chance in the 2008 election. He pandered so much to extremist in his parties and contradicted himself so much at the end that I just couldn't support him. I couldn't vote for the politician I had seen as a role model of moderate politics for decades. Yet lets be honest, would he have gotten any of the far rights votes without his reckless abandonment of his ideas and identity? Would Americans have voted for someone that they saw as unable to take a firm stance on "republican ideals?"
We as a people need to take a stand against simplified politics. We don't need a leader we can "have a beer with." We need a leader who listens to multiple sides of an issue. Someone who isn't afraid being challenged. Someone who can make decisions for more than a percentage of the American population...but that will never happen unless we demand that the game be changed and that intellectually stimulating discourse becomes something we look for, and not something we get scared of. I don't say this to sound Snoody or intellectual. I think politics should be open to all voters and not the Ivy tower, but that means we as a society have to take on more responsibility to education ourselves and listen to more than bumper stickers, advertisements...blogs.
It’s been a long time since I've posted and to be honest it’s because I don't have a lot of free time. What time I do get off I try and spend paying with my daughter (however limited that may be), trying to get a job or trying to take the swelling down in my back...but no sob story here. I also just didn't know what to use this forum for.
Well I think it’s going to become my way of getting my ideas about societal and political issues in our world today. While I don't hold hopes that my blog becomes a subject of national discourse, I do think it will make me feel better to get my ideas out there and maybe lay the foundation for further conversation amongst some and that is enough for me.
Let’s get down to it, I believe in the idea of responsible discourse and moderate politics. Today’s political landscape has been taken over by extremist on both sides of the isle who are so scared of looking week that they have forgotten how to discuss differences in a responsible and respectable manor. When is the last time you've seen our media present a "debate" that didn't consist of insults, yelling or rude behavior? It simply isn't role-modeled anymore, and part of this is the media's fault. However, part of it is our fault. We as a nation would rather watch people yell at each other and manipulate their opponents (I'm looking at you Bill O'Rielly) than a responsible exchange of ideas. It’s simply easier to watch an argument than to take time and listen to other ideas.
This tendency for Americans to like it simple has caused the political landscape to respond with idiotic sound bites and simplified platforms that are easier to post on a bumper sticker than in an article or periodical. Politicians now see the act of listening or learning as a hindrance to re-election.
What I mean by this is that I hate the term "flip flopper". What is wrong with a leader being able to listen to new info and changing their opinion when the new info they've received makes sense to them? I think this is true leadership, the ability to adapt and apply ones values and ideals to new and old information instead of forming solid and stagnant platforms with no room for re-examination. I'm looking at you Republicans, Democrats, Green party etc...
Yet, both major parties have vilified the term flip flopper to the point that if a politician changes their stances over a 40 year career, they can be labeled as someone who doesn't really know what they believe in or worse...a compromiser. John McCain, who I loved, had to move away from his decade’s old identity as a compromiser to even stand a chance in the 2008 election. He pandered so much to extremist in his parties and contradicted himself so much at the end that I just couldn't support him. I couldn't vote for the politician I had seen as a role model of moderate politics for decades. Yet lets be honest, would he have gotten any of the far rights votes without his reckless abandonment of his ideas and identity? Would Americans have voted for someone that they saw as unable to take a firm stance on "republican ideals?"
We as a people need to take a stand against simplified politics. We don't need a leader we can "have a beer with." We need a leader who listens to multiple sides of an issue. Someone who isn't afraid being challenged. Someone who can make decisions for more than a percentage of the American population...but that will never happen unless we demand that the game be changed and that intellectually stimulating discourse becomes something we look for, and not something we get scared of. I don't say this to sound Snoody or intellectual. I think politics should be open to all voters and not the Ivy tower, but that means we as a society have to take on more responsibility to education ourselves and listen to more than bumper stickers, advertisements...blogs.
1 comment:
You take 6 months off and come back with a book-length post.
Good to have you back with the internets. :-)
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