If you follow me on Facebook, (and you should, I post much more there and most of it is hilarious), then you know that I have been refraining from posting about the election or the candidates. Quite frankly, this election is making me sick. I know who I am voting for and I know why I am voting that way because I have researched the candidates outside of the mainstream media. The blind acceptance of any political party or candidate based on what they say or what Fox news or MSNBC says about them is a foolish way to make a choice. However, relying on what you friends or favorite pages post on Facebook is equally as irresponsible. Yet many people are doing one or both of these things.
I know that many of you are very passionate about politics -- that is fine. I also know that many of you are passionate about your chosen candidate -- also fine. I have seen many "passionate" political posts in recent weeks that are full of misrepresentation, misinformation, and can best be described as inflammatory. They are meant to anger people. The people posting them are friends (some closer than others), and they post things without vetting them because they think that they are funny or because they have a knee-jerk reaction to hit "share" because the messages are so outrageous and they believe they will somehow hurt the opposition. I am not passionate about politics. I actually loathe politics. But I am passionate about America, and this election is ripping our country apart.
I have my own opinions about the candidates and their respective stands on the issues. But the last thing that you need is another political opinion. This post is not about my opinion on the candidates or on the issues.
This post is more of a bipartisan reprimand. If you see yourself in anything here, then yeah, I am talking to you.
I want you to quit relying on what you see on Facebook or mainstream media to sway your political opinion. You are adults. Don't let your friend's interpretation of whatever facts they think they know decide your vote. Do your own research. Use that research to find out which candidate best fits your ideas (or is least offensive) about what is best for this country.
I want you to quit bashing the other side and acting like your candidate is some sort of Messiah. These are both men who believe that their way is the best way. They are human and therefore flawed regardless of what their campaigns may tell you. Their supporters are as varied as America itself and there will be good and bad people among them.
I want you to quit talking about riots if Obama doesn't win or how you are moving to a different country if Romney doesn't win. Frankly, both of those things are unlikely. You will not find a better country to live in than America regardless of who the president is and what good would a riot do? Do you think that it will make the winner say "Oh, my bad. The other guy can be president." All you will do is succeed in destroying property, harming others, and getting yourself arrested or worse. I do not think that anyone truly believes that leaving the country is a viable option or that rioting would accomplish anything. The people who say those types of things are showing their immaturity and/or their lack of understanding of how the world works. (And frankly, it scares me that they are allowed to vote).
I want you to act like the adults that you must be in order to vote and not like a bunch of toddlers who are gonna stamp their feet and pout if they don't get their way. Regardless of who wins this election, we will all have to deal with the results and we will have to live with each other. Throwing a temper tantrum, belittling your friends (or in some cases family) that disagree with you, making threats about what you will do if your candidate loses -- they are all immature responses.
In short, I want you to grow up and then vote.
There is so much information on both candidates out there -- not all of it accurate and a great deal of it purposefully inaccurate and meant to mislead. If you are a voter, then it is your responsibility to research candidates. You should start on their own websites and then seek independent sources to verify, explain, and comment on what they believe (or claim to believe) is the best plan for our country. Nikki, over at Mom's Who Drink And Swear wrote THIS BLOG this morning while I was writing mine. (Fair warning, Nikki's vocabulary is a "bit" more colorful than mine.) It is a very good commentary on Bronco and Mittens and what this election is doing to our country. People are trying to boil these 2 candidates down to a soundbite and that is just not possible. We live in a complicated world. There are so many issues at play in this election that it is impossible to compare the candidates as Nikki so aptly put it as "Romney wants to take money from poor kids and Obama wants to kill babies." But frankly, that is what the candidates and their supporters are trying to do.
There are a lot of people screaming for change in the way the election process is handled -- abolish the 2 party system, let the popular vote negate the electoral college, make elected officials accountable for their campaign promises, etc. All excellent ideas. However, the time to scream for changes like this is NOT in the 6 months before the election. The way government works means that such changes will take years to bring about. So if you really want these things changed, start working on them now before the next election in 2016. Right now focus on what you can do with your vote in this election.
There is a page that I follow on Facebook called "I'm Just Heavily Medicated." I do not know if her recent posts are supposed to pertain to this election or not, but I am going to close with a small sampling of her recent meme-quotes. Take from them what you will, but I found campaign correlation with each and every one of them:
"We all see the world differently, based on our experiences in life. Someone else may not see things the same way, and that's okay, because we don't have to agree."
"People won't always see things as you do; let it go. You won't always see things as others do; let it go."
"Don't be pretentious. Nobody is perfect and nothing is more annoying than someone who acts like they are."
"Never waste your time trying to explain who you are to people who are committed to misunderstanding you."
"Friendship isn't only about saying the right thing, sometimes it's knowing when to say nothing."
This is me...
I'm having a mom moment....
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Friday, September 10, 2010
Another Political Rant
I have had a lot on my mind lately about the way the events of 9/11 are being recognized. I know exactly where I was that day -- I was getting onto I-85 in Buford, GA on my way to have an ultrasound for my first child. It was my husband's birthday, as well as my dad's, and I had just gotten off of the phone with my mom who told me that my dad was en route to Washington DC for work when the news came on the radio. The initial impression was that this was an accident -- not a terrorist attack, so while I was horrified for those involved, there was no fear yet. By the time I reached the doctor's office, the second plane had hit and there was speculation forming about what was going on. Then we heard about the Pentagon, and I began to think of my dad who was "en route" to Washington. Then the 4th plane went down and I began obsessively switching from CNN, to NBC, to Fox News looking for ANY new information. Panic doesn't really begin to describe that feeling. Fear is a short word with heavy meaning that I never fully understood until that day. It was afternoon before I got through to my mom who told me my dad was safe. But even then, I knew that there were thousands who were personally effected by these tragedies, even if I had been lucky enough to have not lost anyone. The coming days and weeks were full of stories of tragedy, heroism, loss, and rescues. There was hope, and lost hope, and this country went on an emotional roller coaster ride that I do not believe any of us will ever forget or would want to repeat. There were images of people celebrating this attack in other countries -- dancing in the street chanting "Death to America," and there were little children who were being taught to trample and burn our flag by their parents. Those images made me angry. Angry at any country who celebrated the tragic death of innocent men, women, and children and thought that it somehow proved that we were infidels and that "Allah" was on their side and not ours. That anger took a long time to dissipate.
Some people in our country are still holding onto that anger. They spout off without thinking at the drop of a hat, and go into tirades about the Muslims, the Arabs, the terrorists as if they are all one in the same. While I relish the fact that we live in a free country, and I understand that the Freedom of Speech applies to everyone (even those who make an ass out of themselves every time they open their mouths), I believe that this particular freedom is frequently abused. The men most directly responsible for the terrorist attacks on our country died along with their victims. Many of those who helped to facilitate those attacks have been captured or killed in the War on Terror. As for the thousands, or perhaps millions, who relish in America's pain...well, they have their own pain. They live in countries where their freedoms are few, their luxuries far between, and their "government" cares little (if anything) about their plight. I learned in elementary school that you cannot make everyone love you -- or even LIKE you -- so it should come as no surprise that there are countries out there who do not think America is awesome the way that I do. However, the key is the same with countries as it is with a 7 year old -- you may not like them, but you have to share the classroom. So while I do not believe that we can force them to like us and our lifestyles and our religions and our way of life, I KNOW that we have to coexist with them.
So why, would ANYONE in their right mind think that burning the Koran would accomplish anything other than inciting more anger and hatred? I am not suggesting that we all hold hands and sing "Kumba Ya" or get together for a picnic, but how is burning the sacred text of Islam going to help anyone move forward? How would this Pastor Jones feel if a Muslim group recommended that everyone burn a Bible on December 25th? It is ludicrous. On the flip-side, why would anyone think that it would be a good idea to build a mosque on Ground Zero? I personally believe that that is sacred ground -- not "religious" sacred, but patriotically sacred. It belongs to our nation -- not to the Baptists, the Catholics, the Mormons, the Jews or the Muslims. NO church should be allowed to build there. The men who caused all of that mayhem, death, and grief did so in the name of Islam. And while "true" Islam (as I understand it) does not support their actions, they did what they did in the "Name of Allah." Building a mosque on that site would be like building a Nazi Cultural Center at Auschwitz -- completely inappropriate.
And that is my rant for the day.
God bless th USA and may He be with all of the men and women who serve this country and often die to protect the freedoms that we so often misuse and abuse.
Some people in our country are still holding onto that anger. They spout off without thinking at the drop of a hat, and go into tirades about the Muslims, the Arabs, the terrorists as if they are all one in the same. While I relish the fact that we live in a free country, and I understand that the Freedom of Speech applies to everyone (even those who make an ass out of themselves every time they open their mouths), I believe that this particular freedom is frequently abused. The men most directly responsible for the terrorist attacks on our country died along with their victims. Many of those who helped to facilitate those attacks have been captured or killed in the War on Terror. As for the thousands, or perhaps millions, who relish in America's pain...well, they have their own pain. They live in countries where their freedoms are few, their luxuries far between, and their "government" cares little (if anything) about their plight. I learned in elementary school that you cannot make everyone love you -- or even LIKE you -- so it should come as no surprise that there are countries out there who do not think America is awesome the way that I do. However, the key is the same with countries as it is with a 7 year old -- you may not like them, but you have to share the classroom. So while I do not believe that we can force them to like us and our lifestyles and our religions and our way of life, I KNOW that we have to coexist with them.
So why, would ANYONE in their right mind think that burning the Koran would accomplish anything other than inciting more anger and hatred? I am not suggesting that we all hold hands and sing "Kumba Ya" or get together for a picnic, but how is burning the sacred text of Islam going to help anyone move forward? How would this Pastor Jones feel if a Muslim group recommended that everyone burn a Bible on December 25th? It is ludicrous. On the flip-side, why would anyone think that it would be a good idea to build a mosque on Ground Zero? I personally believe that that is sacred ground -- not "religious" sacred, but patriotically sacred. It belongs to our nation -- not to the Baptists, the Catholics, the Mormons, the Jews or the Muslims. NO church should be allowed to build there. The men who caused all of that mayhem, death, and grief did so in the name of Islam. And while "true" Islam (as I understand it) does not support their actions, they did what they did in the "Name of Allah." Building a mosque on that site would be like building a Nazi Cultural Center at Auschwitz -- completely inappropriate.
And that is my rant for the day.
God bless th USA and may He be with all of the men and women who serve this country and often die to protect the freedoms that we so often misuse and abuse.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Rant, Rant, Rant -- Not Sure What Has Gotten Into Me!!
I was listening to the radio today and they were talking about divorce -- what causes it, the statistics for it, how having faith effects it, how money issues are the main cause for it, etc. And a few things occur to me as I am listening. We live in a disposable society that wants immediate gratification. We get married and think that we should have everything that our parents have even though it took them 30 years to acquire it. Money problems are the number one cause of divorce. And these are usually problems that we bring on ourselves. The average American household with at least one credit card has nearly $10,700 in credit-card debt, according to CardWeb.com, and that number increases for those that have more than one card (and most do have more than one).
Debt is something I COMPLETELY understand because I have been in deeper than most. But I am lucky enough to have a loving husband who worked WITH me to clean up our mess so that we could start acting like adults about our money. I would love to be able to say that our debt was purely a result of our circumstance and that it was beyond our control, but that would be a lie. Granted, most of it was due to the move and the inability to sell the house for more than 2 years after the move, etc. and some was due to unforeseen medical issues, but lets get real here: we could have let the house go 18 months before we did and we could have cut up the credit cards and cut our expenses before we did. We could complain about the unexpected expenses caused by having 4 kids, but...well...we have 4 kids, so those expenses should not be all that unexpected. If there is one thing I have learned in the time that we have gotten all of our finances under control and started doing a written budget every month is that there is no such thing as a "Normal Month." I mean, sure, your house payment, your utilities, your phone, etc. will not change much month to month, but there will ALWAYS be some sort of "emergency" that is not in your normal expenses. That is why we have an "Oh Crap" line item in our budget. This month it may be 6 visits to the doctor (which exceeds our "normal" medical budget). Last month it might have been soccer or dance pictures or recital fees (or all of the above). Next month it might be a special contribution at church. My point is, it is always something and the key is to be as prepared for that stuff as possible. The idea that "Life takes Visa" is bassackwards -- Visa WILL take your life.
Debt is something I COMPLETELY understand because I have been in deeper than most. But I am lucky enough to have a loving husband who worked WITH me to clean up our mess so that we could start acting like adults about our money. I would love to be able to say that our debt was purely a result of our circumstance and that it was beyond our control, but that would be a lie. Granted, most of it was due to the move and the inability to sell the house for more than 2 years after the move, etc. and some was due to unforeseen medical issues, but lets get real here: we could have let the house go 18 months before we did and we could have cut up the credit cards and cut our expenses before we did. We could complain about the unexpected expenses caused by having 4 kids, but...well...we have 4 kids, so those expenses should not be all that unexpected. If there is one thing I have learned in the time that we have gotten all of our finances under control and started doing a written budget every month is that there is no such thing as a "Normal Month." I mean, sure, your house payment, your utilities, your phone, etc. will not change much month to month, but there will ALWAYS be some sort of "emergency" that is not in your normal expenses. That is why we have an "Oh Crap" line item in our budget. This month it may be 6 visits to the doctor (which exceeds our "normal" medical budget). Last month it might have been soccer or dance pictures or recital fees (or all of the above). Next month it might be a special contribution at church. My point is, it is always something and the key is to be as prepared for that stuff as possible. The idea that "Life takes Visa" is bassackwards -- Visa WILL take your life.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Political Rant (Try Not to Be Offended)
This is the 4th blog I have started about the presidential address last week and current state of our great nation, and if it weren't for the delete and backspace buttons, I would probably be on some sort of extremist watch list. I got so aggrevated watching Obama's press conference last week, and I get increasingly annoyed by the liberal views in Washington. I am feeling a little better after 4 personal rants to myself, but it has brought me to another, related subject: Why is it that because I am a Southern, white, Christian, I am automatically a racist bigot? Have you noticed that the liberals in this country are all for free speech unless what you say is "As a Christian, I oppose abortion, and same-sex marriage, and here are the passages from the Bible to support my views?" They do not recognize the authority of the Bible, so they say that none of what it says is relevant. Well, I disagree. I say that MY opinion is just as important as theirs (isn't THAT what they are arguing for?) and doesn't MY voice deserve to be heard? That is the problem with equal rights -- they are EQUAL. If I have to listen to you drone on and on about how it is a woman's choice, not a life, or how government should step in and get everyone a job, a car, and a house, or how gays should be allowed this that and the other, then you cannot complain when I quote scriptures and disagree with you.
And let me say this: As long as the choice does not have an impact upon me or any other human life, I don't oppose it. I believe homosexulity is a sin -- it is one of those black and white issues from the Bible, it is not open to interpretation. If you are gay, and believe in the Bible, then I do not know how you reconcile that, but that is between you and God. Am I politiacally or socially against gay marriage? Not really. I know it is going to happen. I fear the long term consequences on our schools when the family ideas are challenged to accomodate same sex couples and how I will have to explain that to my kids, but beyond that, it does not effect me -- I am not God, so I pass no judgement. As for my stance on abortion, I am vehemently opposed to it. I consider it a life at the moment of conception, so to me it is murder. Would you expect me to not protest murder? Now, I do NOT understand the people that bomb abortion clinics or shoot abortion doctors, since that is also murder. I guess that I am anti-abortion, but I am also anti-Extreme-Anti-Abortionists....
I have a serious issue with this concept that the Government is supposed to take care of all my problems. Since Uncle Sam doesn't have any money that We The People do not give him in the form of taxes, I am slightly offended by these programs that pay for mortgages, cars, and even cell phones for people who do not work. Now, don't go get on your soap boxes about those that cannot help their situations, I am not talking about them. But I do not understand why the lady at the grocery store used food stamps to pay for groceries with her obviously manicured and blinged out hand and then put said groceries into an Escalade while chatting the whole time on her i-Phone (meanwhile I am digging in my purse for my Kroger card, my coupons, and my CASH to pay for my groceries). When we couldn't sell our house in Georgia after we moved here to Texas, I made it work for as long as I could then we let the house go. We looked into government programs, but there were none. So we cut our expenses down to next to nothing, we sold stuff on Craigslist, we cut coupons, and we did WITHOUT. It wasn't enough. We lost the house. And the world kept on spinning. We had a very high opinion of ourselves and our "stuff" and God shook our lives up and taught us a lesson about humility, necessity, and ingenuity. If you give people everything that they need, they will not only not appreciate all that they have, they will cease trying to get anything for themselves. Very few people will refuse the things that the government provides in order to get to work and get better things for themselves. And it is contagious -- the children and the neighbors see that the government is providing people with everything that others are working for, and they wonder why they should work. If you think I am wrong, look at the statistics of welfare and other government aid programs 50 years ago and today. Look at how many people started out on welfare and got off of it 50 years ago and those today. Look at just how many MORE programs there are now -- it is ridiculous. Here is the bottom line -- we are a selfish, snobby, country who thinks that the world owes us something when we used to be a God fearing nation who helped ourselves.
I have a whole other post in my head now, so I better stop there before I get going again. Please pray for our country and its leaders.
And let me say this: As long as the choice does not have an impact upon me or any other human life, I don't oppose it. I believe homosexulity is a sin -- it is one of those black and white issues from the Bible, it is not open to interpretation. If you are gay, and believe in the Bible, then I do not know how you reconcile that, but that is between you and God. Am I politiacally or socially against gay marriage? Not really. I know it is going to happen. I fear the long term consequences on our schools when the family ideas are challenged to accomodate same sex couples and how I will have to explain that to my kids, but beyond that, it does not effect me -- I am not God, so I pass no judgement. As for my stance on abortion, I am vehemently opposed to it. I consider it a life at the moment of conception, so to me it is murder. Would you expect me to not protest murder? Now, I do NOT understand the people that bomb abortion clinics or shoot abortion doctors, since that is also murder. I guess that I am anti-abortion, but I am also anti-Extreme-Anti-Abortionists....
I have a serious issue with this concept that the Government is supposed to take care of all my problems. Since Uncle Sam doesn't have any money that We The People do not give him in the form of taxes, I am slightly offended by these programs that pay for mortgages, cars, and even cell phones for people who do not work. Now, don't go get on your soap boxes about those that cannot help their situations, I am not talking about them. But I do not understand why the lady at the grocery store used food stamps to pay for groceries with her obviously manicured and blinged out hand and then put said groceries into an Escalade while chatting the whole time on her i-Phone (meanwhile I am digging in my purse for my Kroger card, my coupons, and my CASH to pay for my groceries). When we couldn't sell our house in Georgia after we moved here to Texas, I made it work for as long as I could then we let the house go. We looked into government programs, but there were none. So we cut our expenses down to next to nothing, we sold stuff on Craigslist, we cut coupons, and we did WITHOUT. It wasn't enough. We lost the house. And the world kept on spinning. We had a very high opinion of ourselves and our "stuff" and God shook our lives up and taught us a lesson about humility, necessity, and ingenuity. If you give people everything that they need, they will not only not appreciate all that they have, they will cease trying to get anything for themselves. Very few people will refuse the things that the government provides in order to get to work and get better things for themselves. And it is contagious -- the children and the neighbors see that the government is providing people with everything that others are working for, and they wonder why they should work. If you think I am wrong, look at the statistics of welfare and other government aid programs 50 years ago and today. Look at how many people started out on welfare and got off of it 50 years ago and those today. Look at just how many MORE programs there are now -- it is ridiculous. Here is the bottom line -- we are a selfish, snobby, country who thinks that the world owes us something when we used to be a God fearing nation who helped ourselves.
I have a whole other post in my head now, so I better stop there before I get going again. Please pray for our country and its leaders.
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