We Have Nothing to Fear (Except Ourselves)

The climate in this county is so divisive!  There are days I just want to stop thinking, analyzing, and writing about politics.  It is too bad I feel that way.  I am a nerd, which I am very proud to admit, who worked all of those years on achieving that Bachelor’s degree in Political Science (currently working on my Master's), and now, I question my sanity in wanting to pursue a degree in politics in the first place.   It is so bad that I just want to walk away and allow the extreme right and the extreme left to fight and destroy each other.  The hyper-partisans are destroying our imperfect political system. No longer can one person talk, negotiate, and compromise with one another. We now must demand that everything goes our way or no way at all.  Arguments are being dumb-downed because people have to spin the facts so that everything they believe can be validated and praised.  An example of the dumbing-down of ideas and arguments can be showcased in this brilliant, factual meme that I found on Facebook:

Really?  We can’t talk about Social Security reform because no one on welfare has ever worked for their money?  I don’t know what troubles me more:  that someone actually believes this was such a witty argument that they decided they had to make this into a meme?  Or that this has achieved over 420,000 shares and 42,000 likes on Facebook?  Some may wonder why I would even bother with such pathetic displays like this.  I can agree with that to a point. The reason why I am confronting pathetic political arguments is so I can hopefully inspire people to research and critically analyze everything that comes their way in politics.  Knowing that this meme received 420,000 shares depresses me.  This many people found this worthy and witty enough to share with the world (as I do the same).  I don’t find it worthy and witty.  I find it sad.  It’s sad because people really believe that welfare recipients have never worked in their lives.  They really believe that welfare recipients have never contributed any tax dollars into the system, even though 47.8 percent of people currently receiving food stamps are working? 

I fear that the increased polarization and partisanship will lead to our destruction.  It will lead to our destruction because the gridlock within our government will continue to get worse because no one will be able to agree on anything.  If nothing gets passed then our problems will get worse and worse until there is nothing left of this country.  Here is some straight-talk in regards to the possible destruction of our country:  gay marriage will not be the trigger that destroys this country; taking God out of our schools will not destroy this country; our bloated debt will not destroy this country; our militarily over-extension in this world will not destroy this country. “We the people” will destroy this country because we want to have temper-tantrums over the fact that Congress will not pass all right-winged laws or left-winged laws.

To that I say:  shame on us! I am a moderate; I have evolved over my many years of political study and research.  I love that I have evolved, but there are many people out there that see me as the enemy or as an extremist because I use that awful “c-word,” compromise.  When I hear things like that, I just want throw up my hands in surrender.  I just want to leave the gutter-politics behind.  Why was I so crazy to study politics? I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the debate, but now, it seems like fewer and fewer people want to talk or debate.  It must be one way.  It must be their way or no way at all.  You either have to love President Obama and cheer at his every move or you must hate the President and declare him the worst president ever.  On the flip side, you must have loved President Bush or hated him.  You may not hold any in-between feelings about these politicians.  If you place yourself in the middle it is because you are an apologist, Kool-Aid drinker, or just an idiot.

When I first got interested into politics, I was more of a conservative thinker and voter. I voted for President Bush twice and I voted for Senator John McCain in 2008.  Within four years, my voting preferences had changed.  I voted for the re-election of President Obama.  I know, I am just an idiot, uninformed voter as some people on the conservative side of the aisle would call me for my vote.  I’ll tell you why I voted for President Obama.  I voted for the president because I feel like conservatives have abandoned me. Tea Partiers and staunch Republicans do not want moderates in their party. Conservative one-time darlings like Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie, and Paul Ryan have fallen from grace in the eyes of the right-wing. This has happened because Republicans, like Jindal, have taken more moderate (or more liberal) positions on issues like immigration, big business, and trying to be more inclusive. Conservatives mock the moderates in the Republican Party and I could not handle that anymore.

Another reason why I voted for President Obama was that I believe that conservatives are hypocritical when it comes to true conservative values. Conservatives want to protect their right to bear arms (which I agree with) but they want my private, personal life to be outlawed because gay marriage is icky and the Bible says it is a sin. I thought conservatives believed in limited government, but I found out, they do not believe that. They just want to be free to pursue the things they like while at the same time stopping things that they do not like. I must say, I was not thrilled voting for President Obama because he is not much better. His decisions have not dazzled me.  My vote was a protest vote against the Republican Party for allowing the few hyper-partisans within their party to hijack the entire group.

I also was upset with the Republicans because I cannot handle the hypocrisy of their treatment of President Obama. During the Bush years, conservatives were appalled at the calls for impeachment against Bush or the insane accusations that Bush was a liar. I defended Bush then and I will still defend him today. That is why I defend Obama against these asinine calls for impeachment and name-calling. It is the same pettiness that has been used again and again.  You disagree with them, then you better call them names.  I feel like our politicians, media personalities, and the entire country has reverted back to using high school tactics when it comes to our political discourse.  When I watch shows on MSNBC and Fox News, I half-expect Brenda Walsh from West Beverly Hills High School to show up as a political pundit.  That’s how juvenile the environment has become in the country.

I will always support the president who is in office even if I disagree with his or her policies. If the president is successful then that means I become more successful, and in turn, the whole country becomes more successful. When I say these things, people call me an idiot or an Obama-lover, when I am just trying to be fair.  Unfortunately, when a Republican becomes president again the tables will be turned.  Liberals will be on the attack and the Republicans will be on the defensive again and this disgusting cycle of name calling and finger pointing will continue.

I just want a fair and honest debate. It just amazes me that I am considered a turncoat to people who believed I was a conservative, while people who are liberal, think I am phony because I am now defending the liberal positions on some policy issues.  All I want is to be someone who analyzes things in a fair and non-hypocritical way.  It seems like fewer and fewer people want honest analysis.  The hyper-partisans want a biased opinion that will bolster their ideology.  Everyone be damned if you disagree with these people.  What a sad state of affairs.

This will lead to our destruction, but people will find other reasons to blame on why our country was destroyed.  People will always blame the opposing side.  What we will never do is to look in that mirror and determine that it was “we the people” that allowed for our destruction.

E pluribus unum, indeed!

I'll Have a Side of Bias with my News

"There is nothing wrong with holding an opinion and holding it passionately.  But at those times when you’re absolutely sure that you’re right, talk with someone who disagrees.  And if you constantly find yourself in the company of those who say ‘Amen’ to everything that you say, find other company." – former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

No matter what feelings you hold about former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, I hope we can agree that her words in this instance are quite true.  Partisan bickering and polarization are becoming major obstacles in the American political landscape.  Politicians and their stubborn political supporters are halting progress.  The American political system is deadlocked.  We as a nation cannot find conciliatory solutions to immigration, tax reform, budgetary issues, etc.  The list goes on and on.  One of the causes for this deadlock is due to a biased news media where political purists get to speak the loudest.

In a peer-reviewed study titled “Partisan Differences in Opinionated News Perceptions:  A Test of the Hostile Media Effect” by Lauren Feldman, an assistant professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, it was discussed that: “52% of cable news stories on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox offered only a single point of view about controversial issues, compared to 20% of stories on the network evening news.  Further, the expression of journalist opinion appeared in 28% of cable news stories, twice what was found in network evening news broadcasts and nine times that on PBS’s evening newscast, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”

Some of you might be wondering why this is a big deal.  Some of you might be saying that Fox News is the only news organization that tells the truth, while others might think that MSNBC is superior when it comes to reporting the truth.  But the real truth is that not one news organization holds that magic key to the truth.  I am not saying that everything on Fox News or MSNBC is complete garbage; every news organization has their positive traits.  What I am trying to say is to not put all of your trust into one news outlet and claim that they are the only true voice in the media.  These news outlets are creating ideological bubbles that are endangering the political process within this country and within the entire world.  These media outlets brainwash their viewers into thinking that the conservative side of the argument is the superior way of thinking and the liberal way will destroy this country, and vice-versa.  This is dangerous because you end up with political ideologues that will not compromise and, in turn, end up hurting the country (last year’s federal government shut down).  Is this how we want our country to run?

Besides, does any one person or any one organization hold the entire truth to politics, science, religion, life, or life-after-death?  I ask this question with hesitation because I know some people would say yes.  That troubles me.  I would never allow one person or one organization to say to me that they have all of the answers.  No one has all of the answers.  If they say that they do, in my opinion, they become highly suspect.  I must then question their motivations for saying such things.  Someone who is truly honest and sincere would never suggest that they have all of the answers and that any opposing thoughts are wrong.

Believe me, I question everything in life, and sometimes that gives me anxiety.  In today’s information age, it almost seems like you must know everything and have an opinion on everything to be listened to.  People feel stupid if they respond to a question with “I do not know.”  In my case, I might be somewhat intelligent (some would probably disagree).  I am book-smart, but I am quite awkward, and I am somewhat unintelligent when it comes to street-smarts.  I might be somewhat competent when it comes to politics, but compare me to someone like Albert Einstein and I end up looking like a fetus, intellectually.  But that’s everyone in existence.  We have our strengths and we have our weaknesses.  Even brilliant minds like Albert Einstein would never suggest that they have the answers to everything.

Be suspect of information, even if you tend to agree with it.  As Condoleezza Rice suggests, if you are in the company of someone or in a crowd where you say “Amen” to everything that is said or written then it is time to seek a differing opinion out.

Every day I visit numerous media outlets.  I visit CNN, Fox News, The Huffington Post, The Drudge Report, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal for national and world news.  Locally, I visit KSL (the local NBC affiliate) and The Salt Lake Tribune.  If there are stories that I want to research or read more about, I search for these stories in other publications.  At the end of the day, depending on the type of news day it has been, my head hurts.  Some of the opinions and comments that I read just depress me.  It is somewhat upsetting to read about all of the horrors that are taking place in this country and in the world.  I want to be informed.  I want to be informed on multiple levels, where multiple sides of an argument are presented.  This information helps me make more informed decisions.  Sometimes my decisions on public policy are liberal (social issues) and sometimes they fall more conservative (budgetary issues).  But knowing both sides allows me to see both perspectives.  If I can see both perspectives then I am more willing to compromise because I know most issues are more complex.  They are not black and white.  They are problems that lie in that murky gray middle of life.  Compromise may not bring about the total solutions to our problems, but at least we are addressing our problems and not kicking them down the road until they develop into full-blown crises.  If we can get things done and compromise, if we discover that our solution is not fixing the problem, then we can go in and find what is not working and fix that.  It is not an easy process but it is a better place to be at then where we are now:  in a deadlocked, frustrating political landscape.

Even though it may be tough to tolerate the opposing view side,  I would rather stomach the other side (while opening up my mind) then sounding or looking like this:

The top comment came from a news story on welfare benefits that was linked from the Drudge Report.  The bottom comment came from a news story on Governor Susana Martinez (R-NM) from Mother Jones.