But I'm sick of our party system.
I can't exactly say I'm sick of politics. I do care what happens to our country. I think we need some health reform (not socialism, just insurance reformation). I think tax-payers should keep more of the money they make.
And that's mostly it.
But why is it that a Republican has to disagree with everything a Democrat says? And why can't Democrats see things the way some Republicans see them?
I mean, can't I have conservative values, want to vote mostly conservatively, but still believe that Barack Obama is a sincere individual? Can't I agree with the things he says and maybe not agree with his methods?
And can't I hate McCain too?
The bottom line is that government can't solve your problems. And so the candidates who claim they can fix our world are... disillusioned or lying.
The private industry has to be the ones making a difference. That's us. The Church. And private hospitals.
And on that note, I'm having a really hard time convincing myself to vote this year.
Leave a note if you feel like persuading me.
If it's up to us and not the government, then we have to do the fundamental thing that a true democracy allows: vote. Otherwise, it IS up to them, and not us.
ReplyDeleteoh elise. i hear you. i may be a silly urban obama lover but i relate so much to the disillusionment with our political system as it stands. and the fact that i believe obama can be an integral part of changing that system is not even the point. something he said tonight really rang true for me: we can have differing opinions without challenging one another's patriotism. we can focus on what we believe is best for our country independent of the party that espouses those beliefs. we all just have to do the best we can. for me, the reason i vote is pretty far removed from any issue being debated in this election. i vote because too many women fought and were hurt and were separated from their families and jailed and degraded to win the right to vote for me not to exercise it. i love my country and i know you do too. that's why i hope you'll vote in this election.
ReplyDeleteps, i think you're great.
Hmmm... wish I could persuade you, but my friends and I were just having this EXACT discussion this afternoon. Seriously, exact same.
ReplyDeleteOur final decision: create a website called: www.writemittromneyin.com. =) I seriously might write him in! At least then I'd feel like what I was doing was more in line with my true feelings (I totally agree with you - Obama's pretty genuine and brings some freshness to the usual political sliminess, and I agree with some of McCainn's stances - but - man, I seriously can't stand the guy!). Not that you have to like Mitt Romney, that was just our end decision. =) Anyway... I *guess* I'll vote... and then I'll probably just close my eyes for the next 4 years and hope something better comes along. =)
Elise, I agree with Rachel. But with more emphasis on the revolution than the suffrage movement. You're not required to vote and I'll still love you if you don't. Just remember that people died for your right to vote...or not to vote. Again, no guilt trip and totally your decision.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, the two party system can be a bit ridiculous but it's the best we have. In England it seemed that people were dissatisfied with multiple parties and envied us for only having 2. At first thought you might think that with 30 parties, you could find at least one which suits all your opinions but that's not the case. You'd be torn between several. Also in a multiple party system you're voting for a party, not a candidate who has the liberty of challenging his party on a few issues. In England the candidate put up by the party is pretty much bound to that party's platform. In short, with our two party system you're voting for a candidate who belongs to a party he/she mostly agrees with. In a multiply party system, you're voting for a party you think would best run the country and they put up a candidate for you.
Dave and I were talking about this the other night. He wouldn't even listen to the DNC and told me to turn it off (but I really wanted to know where they stood)
ReplyDeleteI also feel like we should combine the goods from both parties, leave out the bad and find a way to solve the problems. But there are so many more people involved than just the president when it comes to making decisions for this country that how can you decide just by what he says he "thinks" he can do. I will vote (but I don't know for who yet) as long as I can figure out how to vote in whatever state I happen to be in and as long as I'm not in labor. He he he.
That's exactly what the radical minority is hoping for. They hope mainstream america sits on their couches this election year...then maybe they can finally push some legislation forward, like federal protection of gay marriage, or a SOCIALIST form of universal healthcare, or any other number of things. If you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain about the system, or the issues, because voting is the most elemental form of grassroots involvement...everything else in politics is an appendage to it.
ReplyDeleteVote for McCain.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Elise, one more thing: Kelley would like to be an invited reader to your blog. Please add her e-mail if you can. kelley_tenney@msn.com. Thanks! Love you guys!
ReplyDeleteElise, read my political rant if you want. jannatorials.blogspot.com. Love you.
ReplyDeleteSo many of the commenters have related to your precise feelings.
ReplyDeleteI have never, for a single moment in my life, had any thoughts like that ever. Not once.
"Can't we all just get along?" No. We can't. Because there is real evil in the world. And I will not "get along" with evil. I will fight it. And I will certainly vote against it.
Evil would tell plotting terrorists that they deserve some respect. Evil would take away individual responsibility and thereby individuality and progression. And evil would let the living product of a failed abortion suffocate alone in a closet.
You may remove this comment due to the severity of the final comment, but do your research: evil has done this. Many people denied what Hitler had done too, because it was too much to be believed. But it turned out to be true. And we waited to long to end his reign.
This battle is real, and we get to vote in it. Do it.
:) Well said Elke.
ReplyDeleteWell nothing disturbs me more than to realize it required a political topic to get me to post my first comment ever on a blog.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading my moms jannatorial it's obvious where I get my political views from. Complete distain and apathy for everything political has been my motto.
But recently I have read some very sincere and heated comments on the presidential issue, and it has inspired me to speak my mind.
First of all I don't believe that Obama is evil. I believe that he is genuine in his desire to help lower and lower middle class citizens. However I do believe that many of the democratic values and ideals destroy the essential backbone morals that have created the united states from it's founding, to the civil war, to the post WWII emergence as the greatest country ever.
And so I begin. To believe that Obama is a magician who can cure every social issue of our time is ridiculous. Government based health care for those who don't have it through their employers takes away every incentive for any company to provide benefits, then everybody is on federal health care then it truly becomes socialized medicine. Which as we can see from Canada and Britain means that I may have died a month ago from an appendicitis.
And do I need to be taxed until I take home as much as those whose tax rates aren't going to increase.
However Obama is a great orator. He's very charismatic and motivating and obviously that's what a lot of americans are looking for in a president rather than fiscal knowledge and a belief that citizens should mostly be responsible for themselves.
no no no no no, elise, don't you dare apologize. this is so good. discussion and sharing of ideas is the most important thing ever...like i said in my own post, the worst kind of conversation is one where everybody thinks the same thing. it's only when i start to get uncomfy that i am forced to really look at where my beliefs lie. i'm really far removed from where a lot of the country stands and i'm so glad to get their perspective here. and i pretty much just think you're the bomb.
ReplyDeletealthough i will say to brad: you are so lucky to have had health coverage during your recent illness (and i loved the grody pictures, ps). just be aware that under the current system, i nearly died of double pneumonia this month because i didn't have health coverage and put off going to the doctor until i was close to suffocating in my sleep. and also, i am not some fool who has been duped by a "magician" orator. not every obama supporter is so naive to think he can solve all the country's problems with a magic wand. i support him not because he is a charismatic motivator but because i believe in his policies, (hopefully) the same reason you support whomever you do.
Rachel, I miss you. I miss your opinions. I miss the way you and Brittany would get into it during YW activities. I think some people were uncomfortable.... not me. You're a doll. Wish we could run into you some time. If you're ever on your way to the desolate country (no mountains, few trees, few natural lakes, basically the things I miss in WA) give us a call, we're already there. And tell your wonderful mother and Kathryn hello for me. I think of them often.
ReplyDeleteI just remembered why I don't like myself when I talk about politics. There's a bitter feud that takes place inside me where one part of me wants to violently attack all opinions that I believe to be ignorant, selfish, or immoral. Another part realizes that acting in this way would be unproductive and as ignorant as I feel like my rivals are being. And the third part of me (that usually wins) feels sick about expending that much energy that I simply don't have.
ReplyDeleteSince I can't decide what to do I will just say good luck to everybody and I'll consider all your comments, but this is probably the end of mine.
"I'm heeeeRRrrrrre"! Thanks for inviting me, Elise. I totally agree with you, it's a mess. It's a ball of tangled string. I don't think I'll be voting this year. Partly b/c I live in Utah and it will be Republican no matter what. If I lived anywhere else, I'd vote, though. The one thing to remember is the Dems are going to raise your taxes to pay for health care and other programs, (historically speaking) and that is one of the biggest issues to you and me.
ReplyDelete