My political heart bleeds red, white and blue all day long. My last name should tell you most of what you need to know. DeLay. Heard of Tom DeLay? My immediate family (brother, father, grandfather, aunts, uncles) are all very politically minded and are not out of the loop on much. I enjoy getting into debates and discussions about the issues of the day.
Well, I should amend that. I used to.
These days it seems the rhetoric from both sides has ratcheted up to near apocalyptic levels. A democrat representative recently said that Republican’s health plan is basically designed to kill you. He then compared it to The Holocaust. He’s labeled R’s all kinds of lovely names and labels without apology. He did apologize for insulting The Holocaust but was content to continue slinging mud across the aisle.
The Right isn’t immune. One of our guys shouted “You lie!” at the president during a speech. He duly apologized (but did not say the “Lie” part was untruthful) and then had the D’s spend time to draw up a condemanation even after President Obama said one apology was fine and it was water under the bridge. Several other R’s have taken part in the mud slinging.
Mind you some back and forth is part of the political system. Neither side is ever really “friends” in the way you imagine but they’re still across the board usually interested in taking the country into the future.
I could list page after page of representatives and media types from both sides of the aisle that have taken us a staggering step or two backwards but I would be wasting my time.
I’ve had people tell me that because I believe in something that isn’t what they believe politically that there’s nothing for us to even talk about. Whatever happened to having a discussion? Sure, we disagree on the how, when and maybe a little on the why but usually we can find some common ground to grudgingly respect each other.
Politics and the processes within should never be life or death. It should never dictate who you will talk with or won’t. It should never lead you to dismiss someone simply because they have a (R) or a (D) by their name. I’ve seen it happen and experienced it. It is galling, disappointing and enraging. Politics is a at times a game and at times a process of getting what needs to be done. It will never be fast, quick or easy. If it was, our country would probably be in flames at the bottom of some cliff buried under other failures.
If you would not talk to me, walk away from me or otherwise dismiss what I am and what I have to say simply because I exist on the other side of the political spectrum then you are truly lost. The kid gloves are off here, so hold steady. If you cannot have a conversation without letting your anger get the best of you, you’re done. If you still blame former President Bush for our troubles, I need you to sit down and breath.
If you think Obama is going to kill us all and put the rest in camps…move to Canada and never come back. If you think Barack is the next Hitler, you’ve done two things that make you useless in political discussion. One – anytime you compare any American politician to Hitler you’ve left the discussion reservation and clearly had too much of the kool aid. Two, taking the level of the discussion as far as to liken Barack Obama to a clearly evil man who killed millions and inspired his country to do the same…well, you know the rest.
If you think that the birth certificate of our president is in question…you may need to take the aluminum foil off your head and leave the house once in awhile. Sun helps clear up the paranoia usually.
Maybe the point of this is thusly – politics was never supposed to be Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly or Rachel Maddow. It was meant to be discussed with rational and clear thought. The idea that we can agree to disagree while finding to something to shake hands on and not look at the other side as the “enemy” and “what’s wrong with America”.
I’d pronounce politics dead right this minute if I didn’t believe there are others out there that believe the same as myself. As long as a few believers remain, there is still hope for the future of political discussion and process.
I hope you and others that read this will help us get back to that future. As Doc Brown said once, “Roads…where we’re going we don’t need roads!”
How about it?
Feel free to comment below agreeing, disagreeing etc. Just don’t throw mud. I just cleaned up the place.
