I Fucking Hate Politics

I don't talk about politics much on the internet or in real life.

In real life, it's because I am a minority in a land where diversity is not celebrated. Anything different is viewed with antipathy and suspicion.

New ideas and fresh perspectives are rarely embraced. Those who express them are treated as interlopers. Outsiders. Infidels. They are a threat to a heritage that runs deep and finds validation in the pages of history.

I don't like being looked at as if I am an insect or an idiot, so I except myself from those conversations.

I don't talk about it online anymore, becuase I learned during the last election that political fervor, not unlike religious fervor, makes people intolerant, inflexible and mean.

And that's what I want to really talk about today.

People...why are we passing moral judgement on other people for choosing differently than ourselves?

Isn't that one of the most basic principals upon which our country was founded?

Honestly.

I have heard the most insulting things from both sides about the other. Democrats are immoral. Republicans are stupid. Liberals have no values. Conservatives can't think for themselves.

And you know what? Sometimes the ones fighting the hardest for freedom and choice, are those most vociferously denigrating those who choose to exercise theirs.

Yes, Liberals, I'm looking at you.

Sometimes, those most doggedly defending American values, are those most willing to compromise them if the ends justify the means.

Yes, Republicans, I'm looking at you.

This is why, for many years, I opted out of any and all political folderol. There never was a "side" that I wanted to be on, because both sides were just....badly behaved.

But I'm older and wiser now and I can't bury my head in the sand any longer. This country is a legacy to our children and our grandchildren. We have a responsibility to them to see that it's one worth leaving.

This election, perhaps even more so than the Bush/Kerry election, is very emotionally charged. The winds of change are blowing and people are scared. That means tempers are short, emotions are high, and the rifts will be deep.

But I actually think that if we can get through all this stuff, the country will be better off for the experience.

Some things that have needed addressing for a very long time now, will be adressed. And though it's going to take some time, I think we are going to see America going back to some of the principals and ideals with which previous generations were raised.

There will be a shift in priorities, a change in how we see America's place in the global community, and a new understanding of how to manage ourselves fiscally, environmentally, and governmentally.

But we have to stop the fighting amongst ourselves.

People who don't agree with you are not stupid or immoral. They just believe differently.

We earned that right when we fought for and won our freedom from Great Britain. It's the cornerstone of our values system. It's what our people have killed and died for in countless wars, and still do.

By being assholes to one another, we cheapen the sacrifices they have made so that we can all choose.

Nobody wants to make a bad choice, after all. Everyone, I believe, is trying to do what they think is best for our country. Their children. The future.

I can't fault someone for that. I can disagree. But I can do it quietly, respectfully, and kindly.

And so can you.