I don't think that politics have changed much really, even in the past 20 odd years when so many advancements in communication and sharing of information have come to be. We all still believe we are right and will adamantly argue the point with anyone who disagrees. Sometimes coming to blows, most often turning to the tried and true method of labeling, undermining, and discrediting. Seems as long as our political opponent appears wrong, we appear right by comparison. It doesn't occur to anyone that they could both be wrong.
Take for instance when President Bush was in power. How many times have we heard the phrase that he "lied" to bring us to war with Iraq and Afghanistan? Really? Ok, why? And if he was lying, why in the world would a Democratically led Congress agree with him? Including one Barack Obama? If they didn't agree, they sure as hell went against their conscious when they declared war in Iraq. In truth, we finished the job that should have been done 10 years prior and removed a tyrant from power. And Saddam DID have WMD, he'd even gone so far as to USE them. His regime was even actively trying to block UN inspections teams. Rather shady behavior from someone who wasn't hiding anything. The sheer amount of animosity directed at Bush was just insane. Most of it I'd wager were due to the fact that he just disagreed with those who attempted to label him.
The best example I can think of to illustrate how divisive the arguments are was just after Bush was elected the first time. Half of the voting populace voted for Bush. Get it? Otherwise he would not have been elected. Granted he lost the popular vote (not by much as I recall,and I'm far too lazy at the moment to check) but he did win the electoral college vote. Argue as you may the viability of such a system, it IS the system we have in place and thus Bush was the duly elected President of these United States. And what happened immediately after he was elected? Everyone who voted for him was called an idiot, or ignorant, Bible-thumping morons. There were even cries that he had stolen the election, or his brother gave it to him.
And now Barrack Obama is President, and the pendulum has swung back the other way politically, but not the divisiveness. He's been accused of everything from being a Muslim (which is a derogatory phrase how???) to faking his Birth Certificate. What do I think of Obama as President? Not much, but then I'd rather have ANYONE other than a politician in such a powerful office. It's not that I don't trust him specifically, I just don't trust anyone who's job description includes trying to make everyone happy, especially those in their own party.
As far as political mindedness goes I'm pretty conservative. I support less taxation, less government intrusion and such. Other times I'm pretty liberal, for instance I agree that gays should be allowed to marry. Which is pretty much where I believe most of us are. Which in my eyes is the problem. We either elect a conservative, or a liberal, and only half of the population is served well. And the other half raises hell and pulls out their tinfoil hats. Maybe next time we can find someone who actually represents us and not some political ideal? HMM?
Freaking stupid people
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