politics

so politics and religion...these are the two taboo topics, right? well, i was raised that they're the only topics really worth talking about (and i would cede that politics falls by the wayside next to religion)

i enjoy politics (and religion, but this blog is about politics, so i'm going to let that one fall away for now). i enjoy listening to a bit of talk radio and NPR. i watch the TV news and read the drudge report (and the onion, lol). all of these seem to give different stories, or at the least, different perspectives of the same stories.

many people my age are interested in politics and it seems we're all strongly opinionated about it (including myself..i'm still mourning ron paul's failed presidential campaign.) what i don't enjoy is debating. when i start to feel my pulse race a bit, i know it's time to end the conversation. but i do enjoy talking with others calmly when both sides are listening to learn, not to convince the other to convert to their side. i really enjoy finding a topic that i don't understand how people could be on the other side from me, finding someone who is passionate about the opposite side and then try to see their point of view. through the years, i've made a couple observations:

1) whatever your views, it always seems that you're in the minority. i know people at every place on the spectrum and it seems that liberals feel surrounded by conservatives and conservatives feel suffocated by liberals. i wonder why this is. i tend to be in the middle (or at least not buying one side or the other completely) and i feel that i'm surrounded by people who toe the party line and leave no room for gray.

2) there is so much gray in politics. the war.....the stimulus package....this health care debate....what to do about public schools.... so many ideas that are great to some and horrifying to others. and i'm not sure there's ever a way to know what will work and what won't without a couple hundred years worth of hindsight. even with all our technology and information and experts, we're really just taking a shot in the dark at all this.

3) in my personal experience, it seems that everyone wants the same end result. we all want every individual on the planet to have a fair shot at life, liberty and happiness. to have a little money in the bank, plenty of access to food and education and basic (and more-than basic) health care, clean water and fairly made clothing and shelter (and decor for that shelter). we want all nations to have an american standard of living without colonizing them. and above all, to simply be safe and loved. the difference comes when we go about different ways to get there. should the government have all the control and dole it out? (communism has never worked as it should) or should it all be left to the private companies and trusting that if people get to keep the dollar they work for, they'll be generous enough to care for their neighbor? (great wealth has rarely existed without greed.) i believe we have to be careful and listen to each other as we strive for these same ends, but in drastically different means. i tend to lean a bit to the right and have several very liberal friends (i'm so in the minority!) however, i've been blessed that these friends are able to calmly, intelligently discuss their points of view (and listen to mine) so that i'm not left in rush limbough land (or the AFA) thinking that the liberals honestly want the terrorists to win (and i'm thankful to them that they can listen to me and hopefully learn that most conservatives aren't really greedy fat cats who want to rule the world and nuke 'em all)

4) what scares me more than any politician---the lobbyists. i'm really fearful that, on both sides of the aisle, what's really running this country isn't what "we the people" want, or even the agendas of elected officials. it's the money padding all this pork that gets passed. the current level of lobbying in washington today seems like pure corruption to me.

5) all in all, none of this is the end. whether we're living in the utopian nation that our forefathers dreamed of, or in a nation as oppressed as north korea or under the taliban rule, the fact remains that all this is temporary. it's temporary in the whole scheme of the world's history. but also--more importantly--in the scheme of eternity. one day we will live in a place with no politics. no one greasing palms to get a vote, no one having affairs with interns, no dilemmas of wars or recessions or poverty or greedy corporations or health care. i will wait for that day.