Julie at Another Chance Ranch is the hostess for this month’s Fun Mondays! She wants to hear about Politics.
For a lot of people, politics is a dirty word, and there’s a reason for that: politics is nothing more than a dirty game that people play. Some of them want money, some of them, power, some of them, fame. Some just want to get things done, but the game is still dirty. Since I live in the US, I’ll give a brief overview of how I think things are going. That is: about as good as they can be, considering what the state of our economy is. The truth is that our economy has been going sour for DECADES not months, and you can’t blame this on any one person or political party. The deficit started years ago. On the flip side of that, let me tell you about the ONE biggest problem we have in the US. Fear. Yup, not crooked politicians, not the economy, but plain old fear.
For me, it can be summed up with a passage from the final Harry Potter book in which fear mongering was making things worse. Fred, always the joker, says the following on a pirate radio program for the resistance: “For instance, this new idea that You-Know-Who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. That’s a basilisk, listeners. One simple test: Check whether the thing that’s glaring at you has got legs. If it has, it’s safe to look into its eyes, although if it really is You-Know-Who, that’s still likely to be the last thing you ever do.” Primer for the under-read: A basilisk is a giant serpent that kills with it’s stare. You-Know-Who is the villian, an evil wizard that pretty much wants everyone dead. I think what Fred is getting at here is that fear and wild rumors are only going to cause more troubles…
Let me tell you why you shouldn’t vote on fear — if you vote on fear, you lose. Because basically, you’re voting on an emotion that you believe things are truly out of your control. Guess what? Things aren’t in your control anyway. We have to remember what is truly important. Is it who is in office? For the most part, no. Your taxes might go up, you might have to switch a few things around, but for the most part, unless you listen to the garbage propaganda out there, the only thing really different depending on who is in office, is who is spewing the negative crud around. If you listen to someone tell you that if so and so is in office, that the world is going to end, that people are going to be massacred in great numbers, that America will no longer be Christian based because the President is Muslim –which I find HIL-ARIOUS!–where’s the proof folks? secret photos of him leaving a mosque? Don’t exist. Baptismal records into a Muslim outfit? Don’t exist–oh yeah it’s Republican fanatics playing on people’s FEAR OF EXTREMIST MUSLIMS aka twin towers plane crashers* that are telling this story… Long standing proof exists of the man being linked to Rev. Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s south side for the past 20 years. Remember the stir that caused when the guy ran his mouth during election time? We all ‘forgot’ that did we? Or was it fear of the concept of Muslim that jumped our heart to our throats and made us blind to the proof right in front of our eyes? See what I mean? BOTH can’t be true, can they? It’s fear you’re seeing if you believe that, not truth.
When you go to vote, don’t vote on FEAR. Take a listen to those campaign ads and see how many of them play on emotional hijacking to try and sway you towards voting for them and away from the other guy. If we stop living FOR fear and start DOING to help others, help ourselves, then in the long run, not really much is going to change, except that we won’t be paranoid all the time, and we’ll have solid proof that SOMEONE (aka ourselves) is doing good for the world. Rise ABOVE the emotional aspect of it, and think with your head when you vote. Here’s a way to figure it out: if the campaign ad makes you angry, scared, want to lock your doors or clutch your kids a little tighter, then it’s probably a fear-mongering campaign. So what is truly important?
I will end by telling you this, I’m not a democrat OR a republican. I vote for who I want, when I want, end of story. My biggest belief, though, is that if you’re a Christian (or you have a God that you believe in) — then he wouldn’t want you to base all your decisions on fear– he wants you to put your trust in him. Faith in HIM. If you don’t have a God, well, then think rationally. Live within your means. Take only the risks you can afford to take. Love others and do good, just for the fact that others need good in their lives, and so do you. Make the world a better place.
*I’m a Christian, I don’t think Muslims are all evil, nor do I take any of this lightly. I think we all need to get a grip on reality and recognize that we’re not that different from our neighbor, no matter HOW you see their differences stacking up. In the long run.. what does it matter?
I believe in living by good morals and values and practicing the Golden Rule also…If we could only get our government to live by them also. Everything these days is suppose to be “Politicaly” correct! so this is why they took prayer out of school!!! I judge my vote on how all this affects my life. I have lived a good life and experienced a different world, things were much more respectful back then.. This is all I want for my childredn and grandkids. If we went back to the basics and had politicians that were honest and really did want to make our country a better place the USA would be a better place.
Excellent, excellent post, Jill. You are a very smart young woman. One of the most detrimental trends in this country is the belief that we must all be the same–in appearance, language, beliefs, religion, values. And by “same” I mean just like me. No! There’s room for differences in this country.
Yes, there’s room for differences.
I love the parallel of american politics to harry potter. very fitting. 🙂 I’m with you – vote for who you want when you want. If you don’t like what’s going on, vote for the guy that’s not already in office. Great post.