Color Me Purple

I have never particularly felt the need to wax political in my blog. Today is a little different, mainly because I have reached a point where I am just sick and tired of all the political rigmarole currently in the news. The frank fact of the matter is, both political parties can suck it! For the record, yes, I am registered as a Republican – but I am seriously considering changing that to Independent. Notice I said Independent and not Democrat. As I implied with my “both political parties can suck it” comment, I have no use for either of the two. The political scene in the United States has become so partisan and divisive that it is a wonder that anything gets done. The two parties spend more time arguing with each other and trying to prove how evil the other is to pay any attention to what the citizens of this country want. Don't get me wrong, I am quite aware that the United States is not a pure democracy – it is a republic (i.e., the people don't vote on every issue; we elect other people to represent us who then vote on said issues ostensibly on our behalf). But that still does not change the fact that the people do get to vote for who represents them in said republic, and those representatives simply have come to a point where they are so concerned with their own agendas that they are failing to do their jobs, namely representing the people.

I will be the first to admit that I am really no expert on politics, but it just seems to me that most people I talk to are more likely to take each issue on its own merits while the pundits and politicians vote on party lines or automatically jump to the conservative or liberal side of every argument. They don't weigh each issue, they just go with whatever their political party's stance is like lemmings over a cliff. I don't subscribe to that point of view – I believe each issue needs to be weighed individually. Our so called leaders have demonstrated that they either don't have the ability to think for themselves, or they just don't give a shit what the opinion of their constituents is on the issue at hand. For example, the health care issue. Now, I'm not trying to debate this issue here, but it is very much a hot button issue so I'll use it as an example of how our government doesn't care about us as much as it claims to. The health care bill was largely unpopular (at least, the way it was written). Even people who voted as they did in the 2008 election because they wanted the health care that Obama promised largely disagreed with how it was being handled by Congress. Yet, it passed anyway! Approval ratings of those involved in passing it dropped virtually over night. Some states even threatened law suits against the federal government. As I said, I'm not here to debate health care, but it is a prime example of how the political machine has started to break down and fail, if for no other reason than that our leaders have decided we're all children to be seen and not heard. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off of the Louisiana coast is another prime example of a government that does nothing. They had weeks to formulate a plan to keep that oil from reaching the coast, and several ideas were given. Alas, the government again sat their holding its dick, and now we have oil in the marshlands and making its way to every beach that touches the gulf.

So, without going into an overly long diatribe, here's my (very brief) take on both parties:

Democrats – claim to be for the poor and working class, but clearly don't get the fact that over regulation of big corporations stagnates the free market and eventually costs jobs because the companies that employ the poor and working class will eventually lay them off or fire them to keep their profit margin (not saying I believe in big corporations, just saying, those companies will fire the little guys before the executives give up their large salaries). The Democrats, in my not so humble opinion, really are leading us down a path toward Communism by their seeming desire to make the Federal Government have its hand in every cookie jar in the country and having a say in everything. They are flaming hypocrites who are themselves millionaires but like to criticize the rich. They come up with social agendas, not out of a sense of wanting to help those less fortunate, but because they feel guilty for having more or feel superior and think only they know what's best for those with less.

Republicans – their claim of wanting smaller government and less government control is total bullshit. Example, how can you say you want more civil liberties and less government control, but then deny civil liberties such as marriage between same-sex couples? Explain that? How can you claim separation of church and state when you perceive that a church's rights are being denied, but still insist that there be prayer in public schools? The Republican party has allowed itself to become entirely to inundated with fundamentalist Christians who want the US to become a theocracy. They've also adopted the attitude of opposing anything the Democrats put on the table just because it was proposed by a Democrat – an “us versus them” attitude that exacerbates an already torrid working relationship.

Yes, I realize that opinions are like assholes – everyone has one and it almost always smells like shit. These are my opinions. Don't like them? Great, that's your right. Now, ask yourself why you don't like my opinion – is it because you sincerely and thoughtfully disagree with my conclusion? Or is it because I prefer to combine Red and Blue to make Purple? As I said, I didn't write this to express my opinions on all the issues and topics ranted about in the news everyday. In general, I don't even really like talking about politics, especially recently, because all it does is lead to arguments. We have become so polarized over the last few years in this nation that it's a wonder our government still functions at all. And with the so called mid-term elections coming up, things are already getting heated even among candidates are in the same party! There are run off elections going on because so many people are vying for the same seat that no one can get a clear majority of votes. Hell, maybe I should have put my name in for consideration; I doubt I would have won, but hey, maybe it would have gotten me a book deal and a chance to be on TV. I mean, that's why these other assholes run for office right? At least, that's how it seems to me.

Until next time kids,
~ JC