You know, normally I’d be all over the person(s) who’ve bought into the whole Obama = Arab/Terrorist lie. Those who know me know that I am not one to hold my tongue when it comes to people who speak from bumperstickers rather than fact. In fact, I’ve been known to tear into them like I tear into a buffet at my favorite Chinese resturaunt.
But I will step out of character this one time, out of respect and love for the person to whom I refer. I will not shoot for her jugular nor verbally bang her over the head with my usual militant attitude.
This time.
Instead I’d simply like to inject a little reality and common sense into the discussion between Seth and the respondant.
The political back-and-forth that I read (left as comments on my post “Debate This“) left me wondering why, after the last eight years, so many people still refuse to open their minds to, at the very least, researching BOTH sides of political candidates. By this I mean, don’t only look into what a candidate has accomplished in their career (be it long OR short), but also what issues they’ve changed their stances on, why those stances changed, who they did it for and what they stood to gain by making such turn-arounds. Also, research what they say, about themselves and/or their opponents.
In short, what they have lied about and to whom they have lied just to get a vote.
It isn’t enough to research the opponent to the party you happen to be a member of…to be truly honest and educated, you also have to look into and uncover all the bullshit the candidate you’re backing has been feeding you.
No candidate – Democrat, Republican, Independant, Green, etc. – can ever claim to never having walked across the white carpet without dog shit on their shoes. No one (especially politicians) can honestly claim to be completely honest or above the fray. There is just no human over the age of 1/2 years who has not lied about something. Even if they think they are doing it (or have done it) for all the right reasons.
Essentially, none of us knows these two candidates personally. All you know of them is what you hear or read in the news, or what they say in front of an audience with a microphone in front of them.
In truth, I no more believe that McCain is a doddering old fool than I believe Obama is a terrorist sympathiser or that the Clintons had someone murdered. I simply refuse to believe the slanderous shit that EITHER side wants to sling, just to score points with either the politically-uneducated ot the weak-minded.
That’s not what will ever get my vote.
My vote is far too important to me to waste it on someone just because they try scaring the shit out of me when they were talking about their opponent. My vote can’t be bought, stolen or otherwise undermined.
Because I value my vote so much, I choose to educate myself about anyone who could end up in a position of governing my life and the lives of those I love.
Over the past 6+ years, I’ve heard from many friends (who just happen to be Republicans) who are of the opinion that their votes seemed to have been wasted in 2000 & 2004, and they base that opinion on just what they got for their votes. All the lies of those campaigns were revealed (and many more yet to be exposed) and these friends feel the same outrage that I do.
That isn’t to say that there isn’t buyers’ remorse on the Democratic side. I was less than impressed (pissed off, actually) at the lengths John Kerry decided to go just to snag those extra votes in 2004.
Ever since then, I do a lot of fact-checking on both sides. If the candidate I am backing lies about the opposition, I am going to post those lies because I want to help reign in the bullshit and have the candidates stay on message about the issues…not the wedge issues. And if my candidate decided to dodge issues/questions by ignoring them and rather choosing to sling mud at the other person, my vote is no longer heading in that direction.
Bottom line, I want to know who I’m voting for just as much as I want to know who I’m NOT voting for. And I want to vote/not vote for that person for all the RIGHT reasons…not because I will be so willing to vote based solely on my candidate’s (or their surrogate) party, religion, lies or talking points.
Show me the plan of action, not the bullshit.
