First of all, I should mention that this is the only piece of writing I have ever offered for public viewing. I apologize for any formatting/grammatical errors. It should also be known that this is an opinion piece meant to share my perspective on where we are heading as a country.
I was not paying real attention to politics until right around the time we saw the financial meltdown in 2008. I watched a documentary ("Inside Job")that exposed how deregulation and unethical/fraudulent practices contributed (if not caused) the collapse. It was at this time that I realized how much of a sheep I was. With the very first vote I ever cast-I voted Bush BACK INTO OFFICE for his second term...there was something about supporting someone so blindly-which had such serious consequences-that really snapped me back to reality.
My new-found appreciation for political discourse was greeted by a spike in blood pressure and frustration. Very quickly I realized that pretty much everything specific that came from the right was cherry-picked or simply made-up. I also noticed a fundamental flaw with politicians from the left-they rarely called them out! Over the last six years or so I have become aware of one thing: a lot of people, my facebook friends especially...just do not care what happens. Every egregious lie that spikes my blood pressure is always greeted by the same resounding "meh" from people I know. There are rare instances when a conservative friend/family member will comment about how I need to do research because the heavily researched thing I just posted doesn't match what they think is true...Headdesk.
So where are we now? I think everyone at this site can agree that a majority of what the right says/does is seemingly insane- based on a reality completely different from everyone else's. I always hear "get out the vote", but what has it changed? We elect the same people into congress because most of the time it's either that or a republican-not a difficult choice. It seems we are fine with the way things are.
I have recently become a father-my daughter will be 10 weeks old on Thursday. For a while now I have contemplated the kind of world she is going to have to live in: one where even if what you say is provably false-your opinion still counts...one where more than 90% of scientists say "we need to stop abusing fossil fuels or we're going to destroy the world as we know it for future generations"- but the most we can do is get half the country to have a discussion about what to do...one where congressional seats are gerrymandered to the point that they cannot lose- but we still have hope that "getting the vote out" can have an impact...one where the taxpayers fund corporations who pay executives obscene amounts of money- instead of everyone a living wage...and mostly, one where God whispering in your ear what your next move should be-is a good thing. The supreme court has just handed down a ruling that put the person-hood rights of a corporate entity above those of millions of individuals.
We are heading quickly toward a fascist theocracy. My biggest fear is that if the right ever regains control of government, the left will find out the true extent of their unwillingness to negotiate-their unwillingness to accept that there are other perspectives to consider. We are at a point where yes-there is progress being made in areas, but it has taken decades for 'no-brainer' legislation...and it stagnates in the red states. The amount of unwarranted hate/vitriol/lies being thrown around is incredible. We have seen 5+ years of investigations into manufactured scandals in an effort to impeach the president. 5+ years of rhetoric encouraging people to show no compromise-to manipulate an audience into thinking that the other half of the country is crazy. 5+ years of having 'discussions' that are only meant to appease the masses.
Our government is painfully slow by design. We are facing threats-like climate change- that do not allow for painfully slow decision-making. For every year we have the pointless discussion of what needs to be done-and in some cases IF anything should be done-the amount of time it will take Earth to recover increases exponentially. For every year we allow lobbyists to buy politicians-to write legislation-to essentially merge with state powers, the harder it will be to separate them. Letting the Supreme Court decide which religious beliefs trump U.S. law- and redefine what constitutes a person- is a cemented screw ensuring the future of this country as a Fascist-theocracy.
My question to all of you is- When we find ourselves at this impasse...can we really accept the circumstances as they are? What are our options?