I started voting as soon as I was legally able to vote, and had participated in every election since then. First, I voted as a Democrat, then as a Republican, and then for an Independent nominee. My wavering was not due to fickleness, but rather the uncomfortable feeling that nobody really and truly reflected my beliefs and I couldn't find a way to reconcile that with the two-party system that we've inherited from our elders. Each election has felt dirtier than the last until this year when I couldn't even bring myself to vote at all. Before you start objecting to my Un-Americanism and tell me I don't deserve to have an opinion at all, please hear me out.
I grew up in a conservative, small town with a Christian influence. I was taught by teachers that racism and stereotyping is wrong. I experienced life outside of the U.S. for six months as an exchange student living in Europe and saw our country the way other countries see it, which offered me a perspective that many do not have. I learned what it meant to be publicly discriminated against myself for the first time in my life. (Something I think everyone has to experience in order to truly understand).
Now, I find myself a concerned parent and citizen. I watched in shock as our primary elections eliminated candidate after candidate and left us with two extreme opposites to choose from on election day. On one side you had the ultimate insider; seen widely as dishonest, unethical and dangerous. On the other side you had the inflammatory, hate-filled billionaire who somehow convinced people that being president couldn't possibly serve his own interests as a business man. I looked at both of them and thought "Dear Lord, I fear them both equally... now what do I do?"
Analysis paralysis set in. I watched the debates and thought over and over again "Is this really the best our country can produce?" and "Are these really the two people who best represent the ideals of the American people?"
Here is what I see in our country right now and why this makes me nervous and conflicted.
I see a broken education system. Our own kids know so little of American and World History that it's outright scary. If the schools are all following a Common Core curriculum, why is history so absent? We make a point of bringing up important figures and events in history to discuss with them because we're always shocked to find out how much they DON'T KNOW. I do believe that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, and our children are not being provided with that information. It isn't just history that is lacking either. The little rural school they attend "doesn't believe in homework". The kids come home and joke about how the teachers change the grades of the entire class because everyone did poorly, or tell me how they were excused from class to go sit in the library because the content upset them or they needed a "safe place" to be in during that chapter because it made them uncomfortable. This infuriates me. Excusing our children from learning about things because it makes them upset or uncomfortable is inexcusable. It is precisely the things that make us uncomfortable that allow us to learn and see the world in a different way. Not allowing that to happen is an absolute crime. I am not a fan of this mentality as it breeds intolerance, ignorance and hate. You can't isolate yourself from everything that you dislike without becoming intolerant, ignorant and hateful.
I also sense that reverse discrimination and political correctness had silenced many Americans for so long that it created an environment in which someone like Donald Trump could be elected president. Being white, or male, or working class and having an opinion has not been allowed (read as "politically correct") for my entire life because they were the majority, and the majority is surely unjust by definition, right? Whatever your feelings, you had better keep them to yourself because otherwise you'll be labeled a racist, or sexist, or be plied with some other form of retribution.
Democrats believe that they are protecting the minorities because they are lacking opportunities, yet dismiss the minorities that do succeed as anomalies and not a product of determination and hard work. Perhaps they see discrimination afoot and think they can change people's minds. They believe that with a little more effort, and a little more money, and a little more compassion from the other side, they could solve all of the inequalities in the world and make everyone happy. What they don't seem to realize, is that nothing is free. For every person who receives government assistance, another person had to work for and earn that money. This makes those who are contributing that money resentful. If they were able to keep their money, how much more could they do for their families? If they didn't feel as if they were already "doing their share" by paying taxes, how much more would they want to invest in their communities on things that they personally believe will be of benefit? The act of taking a hefty sum of money for taxes to "support the poor and underprivileged" allows the working class to mentally wash their hands of the problem because they have already done their part. The forced contribution has backfired because instead of having people doing things in their own way, for things they personally believe in and are invested in, it has become impersonal. It goes to "them" that they don't know and can't connect with as a human being... an abstract concept that is easy to hate.
On the receiving end of those funds is a sense of entitlement. "I can't afford everything right now so the government should help me pay for my electric, food and telephone." It's easy to think of the money being received as coming from a giant, hugely rich and abstract "government"... but the money is really coming from their neighbor who went to work every day last week and noticed that many around them were home all the time and don't seem to have to work. It's coming from the person who gets a rare day off in the middle of the week and see's that the stores and roads are packed with people, wondering "How are so many people not at work right now?". It starts to sink in... there are that many people who don't work. At all. They feel jealous because they would like to be able to be there with their kids when they get home, and be able to coach soccer or attend school plays that occur at 9am on a Tuesday but their job doesn't allow those types of hours. Now it becomes personal. Any suffering of the working person's family becomes a reminder that they aren't earning enough, or that they aren't home enough... it's a double edged sword.
Republicans believe that owning guns, stopping same sex civil unions and banning abortions will create a better country where God and Family come first. They seem to think that this will somehow cause everyone to love one another and bring us back to the idealized "Good ole days".... as if love is not found in anything but a God fearing home. For every action, there is a reaction, just as there is on the other side of the coin. Children die from gun related accidents because parents didn't lock up their gun. The concept of a union, which is founded on love and respect becomes a target for hatred and condemnation. A woman may birth a child that is unwanted and spend 18 years teaching that child only anger and resentment before that child brings a lifetime of hurtful experience into the civilization they are so carefully crafting.
On the receiving end of those funds is a sense of entitlement. "I can't afford everything right now so the government should help me pay for my electric, food and telephone." It's easy to think of the money being received as coming from a giant, hugely rich and abstract "government"... but the money is really coming from their neighbor who went to work every day last week and noticed that many around them were home all the time and don't seem to have to work. It's coming from the person who gets a rare day off in the middle of the week and see's that the stores and roads are packed with people, wondering "How are so many people not at work right now?". It starts to sink in... there are that many people who don't work. At all. They feel jealous because they would like to be able to be there with their kids when they get home, and be able to coach soccer or attend school plays that occur at 9am on a Tuesday but their job doesn't allow those types of hours. Now it becomes personal. Any suffering of the working person's family becomes a reminder that they aren't earning enough, or that they aren't home enough... it's a double edged sword.
Republicans believe that owning guns, stopping same sex civil unions and banning abortions will create a better country where God and Family come first. They seem to think that this will somehow cause everyone to love one another and bring us back to the idealized "Good ole days".... as if love is not found in anything but a God fearing home. For every action, there is a reaction, just as there is on the other side of the coin. Children die from gun related accidents because parents didn't lock up their gun. The concept of a union, which is founded on love and respect becomes a target for hatred and condemnation. A woman may birth a child that is unwanted and spend 18 years teaching that child only anger and resentment before that child brings a lifetime of hurtful experience into the civilization they are so carefully crafting.
Too many American's don't believe that those around them are capable of making "good" decisions (also known as "The decision I would make if I were in your shoes"). To counter this, they support more laws, and more restrictions so that everyone will act and think the way that they do. If it's against the law, surely people will have to change. Right? What they don't realize is that each new law is a building block for the next, and the next, and the next. There is absolutely no end to the amount of things that can be regulated, permitted, and made illegal... and each one of these laws is another vote against the idea that people will make good decisions on their own. This includes you, reader. There are seat-belt laws and helmet laws to tell you that you must protect yourself, because you aren't smart enough to want to do that on your own. There are laws to tell you how to properly build your home because if left to your own devices, you'll surely kill yourself and your family with bad construction. There are laws to tell you to buy car insurance and health insurance because when you don't have it, it makes it more expensive for others to have and you won't be "protected" if something happens. (The actual benefit of having insurance is more in favor of insurance companies because they are an actual business that needs to generate money... but I digress). The creation of new laws should only be done with the utmost care and caution with regard to the greater good to be done properly, but our local, state and federal governments are a vast sea of things that you, dear citizen, could potentially do wrong. The existence of all these laws allow people to rely on someone else to tell them what is right and what is wrong. No thought must go into abiding by the laws, because the law is the law, and so it must be right. You have handed over your ability to make your own decisions and to manage your life to "the lawmakers" who think that they know best how each of us should live our lives.
With this election, people have once again championed another human with being the answer to their anger and frustrations instead of taking ownership for their own misery. Eight years ago it was President Obama who rode in on the wave of "Change", and, without learning a single thing from that debacle, we've done it again, this time in the opposite direction. Now, a Republican administration will try to undo things done in the Democrat administration until the Democrat voters are so angry they lash back eight years from now with an extreme socialist nominee. The U.S. is like a tree that has been cut repeatedly near the base and sways back and forth, further and further each time. If this continues, the tree is going to break.
Seeing friends, family and strangers so wholeheartedly for or against Donald Trump feels wrong. Do all of his supporters truly believe that he is an honest, moral, respectable individual who represents who they are? Do all of Hillary Clinton's supporters believe that she is an honest, moral, respectable individual who represents who they are? Or were we once again trying to choose the "lesser of two evils"? In a country as vast as ours, we shouldn't have to choose like that. Not one single vote should be cast simply to keep the other candidate OUT of office; one that you would vote for even if it was the devil himself if it meant that so-and-so wouldn't be in office. Every vote in this country should go for a candidate that the voter truly believes in and agrees with as a representative of them and their beliefs. This is not possible with the two party system that we have, and so we settle, always believing that we must choose the one closest to our beliefs, even if they aren't perfect. When there are only two options, there is really no choice but to swing further and further in each direction in order to "win". This will be disastrous, and many argue that it already is.
I believe there are a lot of people in this country who feel like I feel about this election. There are people yelling very loudly on each side of the aisle and somewhere in the middle are people like myself who wonder what the hell has happened to us. People who look to history and then toward the future and see this same scenario playing out over and over again. People who wish that they were allowed to be both fiscally conservative as well as open minded to other viewpoints and ways of living. People who wish that supporting the second amendment didn't mean you must then be OK with mass shootings. People who value Christian beliefs, including the creed to Love Thy Neighbor (ALL of them) and to not cast stones. Those who believe in the ideals that this country was founded on, including that all people shall be treated equally in the eyes of the law, but recognize that all people are NOT created equal in terms of character, physical abilities, a desire to learn or a willingness to succeed through integrity, honesty and hard work. People who give freely of their money or time to things that matter to them but who understand the concept that helping in the wrong ways, though well intentioned, can become enabling and contribute to an entitlement mentality for those they are trying to help.
Knowing that we have huge problems, I agree wholeheartedly that something has to change. We've clamored for it in every election for as long as I can remember, but nothing brings about the change we really need. Just because Donald Trump is not a politician, doesn't mean that he doesn't have his own demons. Republicans may find out what it means to put all your hopes for change into a person and have catastrophic results. I'd like to think that since both sides have done this, first with Obama and now with Trump, that we would learn our lesson, but we won't. Instead we'll continue to tear ourselves apart.
Nothing is so clear cut, and yet we're being told that we MUST choose one side or the other. You can't be a Democrat and still support gun rights. You can't be a Republican and sympathize with minorities. You can't be American and not vote.
Dealing in absolutes is the surest way to topple what we've built and make sure that there is nothing but ashes left when our children inherit our mistakes, of that I am absolutely sure. (It's also the way of the Sith. Do you want to be a Sith?) Please tell me you get the irony here or I'll be even more discouraged.
I don't know how to fix it, but I do know that listening is the first step to solving most problems... and there is unfortunately very little of that happening right now. I encourage you to find someone who holds a different viewpoint and sit down to talk with them. Really listen to why they feel the way they do. It's our only chance for saving ourselves from the mess we're in. Stop believing the voices that tell you there is no common ground and get off the "Us Versus Them" train. That path only leads to destruction.
And because I have to, now that I have Star Wars on the brain...
With this election, people have once again championed another human with being the answer to their anger and frustrations instead of taking ownership for their own misery. Eight years ago it was President Obama who rode in on the wave of "Change", and, without learning a single thing from that debacle, we've done it again, this time in the opposite direction. Now, a Republican administration will try to undo things done in the Democrat administration until the Democrat voters are so angry they lash back eight years from now with an extreme socialist nominee. The U.S. is like a tree that has been cut repeatedly near the base and sways back and forth, further and further each time. If this continues, the tree is going to break.
Seeing friends, family and strangers so wholeheartedly for or against Donald Trump feels wrong. Do all of his supporters truly believe that he is an honest, moral, respectable individual who represents who they are? Do all of Hillary Clinton's supporters believe that she is an honest, moral, respectable individual who represents who they are? Or were we once again trying to choose the "lesser of two evils"? In a country as vast as ours, we shouldn't have to choose like that. Not one single vote should be cast simply to keep the other candidate OUT of office; one that you would vote for even if it was the devil himself if it meant that so-and-so wouldn't be in office. Every vote in this country should go for a candidate that the voter truly believes in and agrees with as a representative of them and their beliefs. This is not possible with the two party system that we have, and so we settle, always believing that we must choose the one closest to our beliefs, even if they aren't perfect. When there are only two options, there is really no choice but to swing further and further in each direction in order to "win". This will be disastrous, and many argue that it already is.
I believe there are a lot of people in this country who feel like I feel about this election. There are people yelling very loudly on each side of the aisle and somewhere in the middle are people like myself who wonder what the hell has happened to us. People who look to history and then toward the future and see this same scenario playing out over and over again. People who wish that they were allowed to be both fiscally conservative as well as open minded to other viewpoints and ways of living. People who wish that supporting the second amendment didn't mean you must then be OK with mass shootings. People who value Christian beliefs, including the creed to Love Thy Neighbor (ALL of them) and to not cast stones. Those who believe in the ideals that this country was founded on, including that all people shall be treated equally in the eyes of the law, but recognize that all people are NOT created equal in terms of character, physical abilities, a desire to learn or a willingness to succeed through integrity, honesty and hard work. People who give freely of their money or time to things that matter to them but who understand the concept that helping in the wrong ways, though well intentioned, can become enabling and contribute to an entitlement mentality for those they are trying to help.
Knowing that we have huge problems, I agree wholeheartedly that something has to change. We've clamored for it in every election for as long as I can remember, but nothing brings about the change we really need. Just because Donald Trump is not a politician, doesn't mean that he doesn't have his own demons. Republicans may find out what it means to put all your hopes for change into a person and have catastrophic results. I'd like to think that since both sides have done this, first with Obama and now with Trump, that we would learn our lesson, but we won't. Instead we'll continue to tear ourselves apart.
Nothing is so clear cut, and yet we're being told that we MUST choose one side or the other. You can't be a Democrat and still support gun rights. You can't be a Republican and sympathize with minorities. You can't be American and not vote.
Dealing in absolutes is the surest way to topple what we've built and make sure that there is nothing but ashes left when our children inherit our mistakes, of that I am absolutely sure. (It's also the way of the Sith. Do you want to be a Sith?) Please tell me you get the irony here or I'll be even more discouraged.
I don't know how to fix it, but I do know that listening is the first step to solving most problems... and there is unfortunately very little of that happening right now. I encourage you to find someone who holds a different viewpoint and sit down to talk with them. Really listen to why they feel the way they do. It's our only chance for saving ourselves from the mess we're in. Stop believing the voices that tell you there is no common ground and get off the "Us Versus Them" train. That path only leads to destruction.
And because I have to, now that I have Star Wars on the brain...
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| See? Our American Education System Hard At Work Again... Spelling isn't that important when you have auto correct, aye? |
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| A Revelation |
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| Overcompensation And more spelling and grammar mistakes... |
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| Reality |
