Politics are a hard game to play. For me, this is because it is not a game nor should it be played like one. I try very hard to keep an open mind in matters of a political nature and those of you who are regular readers know that I try not to influence others or coax them to side with me. But I was challenged tonight to share so here it goes. Take it with a grain of salt.
Everyone has the right to their opinion. Not everyone will agree and the majority will not always make all the right choices. But that does not mean we tear each other down for making mistakes or for making decisions the way we did. If I choose strawberry and you think peanut butter crunch would be better, you do not have the right to make me feel bad for choosing strawberry. You should feel free to highlight the benefits of the other and talk about all of peanut butter's accolades, but do not ridicule me as a person because I chose differently than you did.
Have a voice. If everyone has a right to their opinion, that opinion must not be suppressed by other opinions but at the same time, if the other is not expressed, how can we learn from one another? If you feel passionately, share your passion. But share it as your passion not as why it should be my passion. If there is an issue close to your heart, please, tell me about it and why it is important for you. But do not think that by you telling me, it will make me feel the same way as you do about it. And then be ok with that.
People make mistakes. We are flawed. So what? We learn from our past and we apply it to the future. There is no need to remind those of us that like strawberry about that one time when it melted or tasted funny. There are just as many flaws with the peanut butter crunch. And that is ok. Instead of focusing on all that has gone wrong with each others flavors, let's improve the ice cream making and be happy with the out come.
Separation of one passion from the other is not required. Here I will stop with the flavor analogy and shoot straight for a second. I love God. All other decisions about the other things I am passionate about (human rights, individual liberty, the role of a federal government in everyday life, etc.) all come from a core belief in God and the application of His word to my life. If I am asked to remove that part of me from the decision making process, I ask you try to drive without use of your eyes and see how far you get. It is only through the choice to follow Him, that I base all others.
I love to explore all sides of an issue and I will promise here and now to always vote, be open to new ideas, and never vote a straight ticket, but I will not waiver in what I believe or be swayed by the masses.
We all know "the system" is flawed. We all know that we would do things differently if it were us. Let's not berate each other in the process of coming up with solutions. Instead we should work harder at finding answers, help those around us, love one another, and live our lives to the fullest. In the end it is the difference we make in the lives of those around us that really matters. Let's not focus on what we can't change and change the lives of those we can at home, work, and only sometimes through politics.
I think the reason why people so easily berate one another when it comes to politics is that because while everyone is allowed to have his or her own opinion on only decision can be made. Taking your analogy of ice cream; let's image that we got a group together to go eat ice cream, however, while everyone could through in their opinion of the one of two flavor choices presented to the group everyone had to eat whatever the majority chose. If everyone was forced to eat peanut butter crunch ice cream there would be a possibility that someone is allergic to peanuts. This is politics...unfortunately instead of letting people choose whatever ice cream flavor they want our legislative bodies, executive heads, and judicial seats have gone from civil servants and statesmen to full-time career pursuits making millions of dollars by creating their own necessity by keeping themselves constantly needed through the creation of unneeded legislation over every aspect of our lives. We can reverse the analogy with the flavors because there are people with strawberry allergies instead of peanut allergies.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, the framers of the constitution created a Federalist Republic and not a straight Democracy where the mob rules. Unfortunately, in 1913 they changed the US Senate from being chosen as representatives of the states to being voted directly by the people which removed much of the state powers. Then during Roosevelts time in WW2 the US was moved into a state of emergency which has never been lifted allowing for each proceeding President to make executive orders and basically create law on their own. It really doesn't matter what your or my opinion is anymore because government no matter the political party is destined to get bigger and the people smaller. There is a lot of money to be made in the political industry no matter what the flavor of ice cream is as long as it's ingredients, flavors, and serving size is all regulated somehow.