Let me start by saying I do not intend to make this blog a politic blog, or a continuosly lengthy one. These are just some things I feel very strongly about and felt I had to share. I have been thinking about it a lot over the past couple of days and can't help but write about it. I am going to try to not get real political with this though it my be difficult at times as I am a very fervent follower of what goes on in the political world.
We are nearing a presidential election and are constantly bombarded with many sorts of differing opinions on everything that one could imagine, but one that gets me the most fired up is, being partisan is some sort of sin. The whole point of joining a party is to associate yourself with people who have similar beliefs. Let me get this o
uot;>
; ut now. This is a line that has been goi
ng through my head for at least 5+ days now. I don't remember if I have heard someone else say it or if it just came to me but here it is. If something is worth believing in then it should not be worth compromising, and conversely if something is worth compromising then is it really worth believing in?
My point is if someone is standing up for what they believe in, even though it is not popular to do so thats a good thing. It shows principles, character and leadership. If I tell someone that I am a Christian and I only act like a Christian when other Christian are around, but when I am around non-Christians I act like them just to avoid ridicule, what kind of person am I? If I am a elected Republican it is real easy to act like a Republican when I am at the RNC, but when I go out and do interviews with a Democratic oriented media I try to make them like me by acting like a Democrat, what kind of person am I? If I am a elected Democrat and I act like a Democrat every time I vote on a piece of legislation but go out campeinging like I am opposed to that which I voted for and vice versa, then what kind of person am I?
The answer to all three questions is a HYPOCRITE! If you truly believe in something it should not be worth throwing away just to get someone else to agree with you. That, to me, seems to be one of the main reasons we are in the predicament that we are in today in this country. We have a bunch of politicians that campaign on one thing and then end up doing something completely different once elected. We have people in congress that look at principles as bargaining chips, they tell each other "Vote for this and I will put this addendum on it for you." That is how a 3 page piece of legislation turns into a 500 page piece. They promise to change the way the government operates and then go operate the way they always have. We all know this happens but do we know why?
I don't claim to have all the answers but one thing I have noticed in following politics is, most of us do not pay attention to what is happening until the election is here or until there is a crisis. Most people don't know how their own government actually works. A couple of years ago I was asked to do a "man on the street" type of interview. I agreed to do it and they proceeded to ask what I considered to be some very basic questions. They were shocked that I got most all of them right. After every question they started smiling and as it went on they started laughing. The camera man told me to ask the reporter/interviewer a question. So I asked him the first one that popped into my head. "Who is Condoleezza Rice?" (They had already asked me the real easy questions.) Unfortunatley he did not know the answer.
I am not saying this to brag, the questions were not that hard and I did get some of them wrong. I am trying to make the point that the interviewers were shocked that I knew most of this stuff because everyone else they had asked did not. Mind you the first question was, "Who is the Vice President?". This is how we keep re-electing people with little or no principles. I am not talking about the President here. The President no matter how good or bad changes a least every eight years. I am talking about lifelong politicians. Do you know that there are people in congress that have been there for over 30 years. I am only 29 years old, they have been there longer then I have been alive. That is not a good thing. If you really stand for something you are going to make some people angry at some point in time. The fact that people have been there that long only proves that they are capable of pretending to agree with everyone. Which only proves that they are really good at lying.
The main problem we face is that most people that go to the polls and vote, for the most part don't really know anything about who they are voting for. They may know what they have seen in a clip from a tv show, or what they have heard on the radio, but they don't really know what that person has done when it came time to put you name on paper and vote on legislation. It is our responsibility to keep track of the people we put in government to serve us. It is our responsibility to know what they have voted on and how they have voted. The information is out there. We have to do our due diligence to separate campaign talk from reality, and sound bites from beliefs. If we get all of our information from the same source it is bound to influence our opinion. So watch the news, listen to talk radio, surf the web, read some books, but most of all check up on your representatives in a non election year. That is your best bet at finding out who they really are.
This is getting lengthy so I will wrap it up. There are certain things I believe and I am unwilling to compromise on. I want the people I vote for to be the same.
P.S. I have intentionally tried to make this blog about how being partisan is a good thing, ironically enough, bi-partisan. Let me see if I was success full or not. If you don't mind humoring me, leave a comment and try and guess which party I affiliate with. Just as my own little test to see if I was success full or not.
If any of you are interested in specifics of whom or what I am supporting my email address is at the bottom of this post. I am happy to share/debate them with you, under one condition, that it will be a friendly rational conversation.
castle.tracy@gmail.com
