This thought came to me as I was discussing the recent counter attack by the White House accusing the Democrats of wiretapping…all in response to the unending claims of Republicans knowingly collaborating with Russia in their attempts to affect the election.
I was asking the wife what she thought would happen if it was proven that Obama (or people by his order) actually did illegally wiretap the Trump campaign. She replied that the Democrats would claim that all the evidence was fabricated and none of these events ever actually happened. Sadly, I had to agree…but it got me thinking.
Much as Islam and Christianity both started from the same god stories until Jesus showed up on the scene and the paths diverged to a point where they began warring…Republicans and Democrats started from the same political cloth and have now also diverged to a point where they are warring upon one another as well. Doesn’t it feel as though people are only looking for faults in the other party?
The similarities continue…religion is faith based. Followers adhere to a doctrine as laid out by the leadership with no proof or evidence necessary. Politics has frighteningly become the same thing…
Example: the leadership of the Republican party says something and it is accepted as truth by the party followers without need for evidence. The Democrats declare the statement to be incorrect. Even if the Democrats have proof that the Republican statement is false, the followers of the Republican party will believe what their party says and declare any Democrat statement to be invalid.
Or…and I watched it repeatedly on a post making the rounds this morning…they will deflect or pose a different question in response. These people were using their opinions of Trump’s presidency to date when challenged on Hillary’s nefarious deeds of the past. You can’t do that…imagine that argument elsewhere:
You: “Hey McDonald’s, your fries are too salty!”
McDonald’s: “Carl’s Jr. ads are offensive!”
It has become so noticeable that the Freethinkers (a group mainly focused on rebutting religious dogma) are now showing up in places rebutting political dogma.
This is a problem. While religion was built upon faith without the need for proof, our political system cannot be. We can not set about blindly following a party stance simply because we are told it is so. This goes for both sides…there must be factual information upon which to base your opinions. You cannot stand up and declare that Obama (or Trump) said it, therefore it must be true. Your opinion should be formed by you after research, not given to you by your party.
People…you must read and gather information for yourselves (and yes…venture outside of the news geared towards your party). It is perfectly acceptable to not agree with 100% of your party stance. Sadly, people will forward anything that aligns with what they have been told to believe, whether true or not…and in fact, many people don’t even read the articles which they purport will bolster their cases.
One of the strengths of this country is that the people have some say in how they are governed. One of the great weaknesses of this country is also that the people have some say in how they are governed. Why is that a weakness?
There are people whose total sum of political knowledge comes from memes on Facebook (which we all know are always accurate). There are people who can’t name their Senator or Representative…people that voted for them, yet can’t name them. These people are allowed to vote with absolutely no idea who or what they are voting for (or against). This is like people who spend their time on Facebook taking quizzes where two apples and a banana and an orange added together equal 40 as preparation for a Calculus exam…
Sometimes I feel as though Charles Manson could run for office, and whatever his party affiliation, followers of that party would vote for him no matter who he was up against. Sure he killed a bunch of people, but at least he wants to replace Obamacare, right?
Even Donald Trump said during his campaign that he could stand in the middle of 5th Ave, shoot someone, and not lose votes…the sad thing is, he probably wasn’t far off. I truly believe that even if the current administration solved all the problems facing this country, Democrats would still be angry and vote them out.
Ben Carson called slaves, immigrants and Samuel L Jackson lets him have it with expletives. I would like to see the F-bomb laden tweet he sent to Obama when he said the exact same thing…repeatedly. You won’t because he is blinded by partisan religion. A true believer of the Word of Democrat.
Even more frightening to me was a statement I read the other day.
As a young Democrat was confronted with the Bill Clinton/Barack Obama speeches calling for more deportations and asked why that didn’t anger her, but Trump calling for the same thing did, she said, “It wasn’t the message, it was the way he said it.” Holy crap…now we have voters who aren’t angered by the policies, just the tone used when describing them. Am I supposed to believe that she actually feels that way, or was it a move to protect the stance she and her party have adopted and attempt to save face? If Donald Trump had said, “I want to very gently extricate the illegal immigrants from this country and tenderly return them from whence they came,” this Democrat (and others like her) would be on board?
People are so quick to rail against the other side, that they often forget what their own side believes or has done (and that we all have the internet available to look it up). It isn’t just voters, but politicians as well. Senator Claire McCaskill inserted herself into the dialogue by tweeting that she had never met, or had a call with, the Russian Ambassador (and she meant it because she followed that with “Ever.”)…she was so caught up in this idea that anyone who met with Russians was up to no good and that Sessions was lying that she forgot something very important.
She *had* met with the Russian Ambassador…at least twice that she tweeted about. She very quickly backtracked and claimed she meant they had never met one-on-one. Oh…so she just mis-remembered (#antitheticalcharacteristics) or…she said something that she maybe should have said with more clarity. Sen. McCaskill, if the character limit was keeping you from correctly sharing information perhaps Twitter isn’t the proper medium for telling your story.
But Democrats will jump to her defense with non-related phrases like “Sessions was under oath” or “He deliberately misled us”. Never will they say anything about her lie…once again with the religion of political party.
Senator Al Franken decided he needed to leap further into the fray by letting everyone know that Trump is merely distracting America with the wiretap claims. Distract America from what? Not the big problems facing everyday Americans, but from the Russian interference allegations, that’s what. Which they are using to distract us from whatever they don’t want us to pay attention to…like perhaps the 250,000 jobs filled in January, or the rise of the stock market…which is good for anyone with a 401K or savings, or investments…or a business…or a job…or looking for a job.
It isn’t that he went out of his way to be sure that his flock knows that they have nothing to fear from the wiretap claims…I expect that. It was that he had no evidence to back his statement, merely that it was a distraction from their party’s questions…which should always remain in the forefront of all of our minds. So let it be written and all that….
I cringed as I watched the smug look of pride on the faces of the Democrat leaders as they talked about not shaking Trump’s hand after, or applauding during, the recent speech. The funny thing is, if any of the Republicans had done that to Obama, they would have been called out for acting like babies (or worse, racists!)…why not demand better behavior from your own party, whichever party you support?
My hope is that as the major parties become more radical (and yes, I chose that word specifically) those who see themselves being drawn away from what they truly wanted to see from their government find themselves getting out of the cult of partisan politics. I am surprised that I haven’t seen Fox News label the protests that turn to riots as “Radical Liberal Terrorism”…though I suppose it won’t be long.
The point of all of this is that politics is not (and should not be) a religion…I am not talking separation of church and state…I mean that your politics can’t be faith based. You must demand evidence from your party leaders…you must hold them to tell the truth and only the truth…we must stop taking everything our parties tell us as factual.
Ask yourself, “Why does my party so badly want to destroy the other?” Sadly, the answer to that question isn’t, “They are looking out for the best interests of the people.” Who do you think stands to gain the most from being the party in power? Is it you…or is it more likely the elected folks who are now being lavished with all sorts of love from the lobbyists?
If you doubt that, why then did the Clinton Foundation take a massive hit to donations after the election? Why are they closing shop on the Clinton Global Initiative? Because they don’t have the power to influence as they once did. It isn’t because there aren’t any more people in the world who need help.
I have an idea…Republicans, take a Democrat to dinner…or vice versa…and don’t talk politics. I think you will find that once we get past the rhetoric and look at each other as people, we will find we aren’t so different. We want safe places to raise our families, good schools for our children, fair paying jobs, and a country that looks out for its citizens…or at least we used to…before the Democrat/Republican wars began.
Above the Nonsense 