Political Parties:
I can't consider myself a Republican because of stuff like this:
It's run by a bunch of authoritarians all stampeding around, trying to stamp out everything as if life itself were a threat to the American Way. It doesn't help that most of them are doing exactly what they're fighting. Somehow it seems that a moral compass that works on guilt-trips brought on by a 2000 year old book doesn't...well...work. I'm thinking my way through a blog on morality right now, I'll go into depth more about that later.
And here's why the Democratic Party sucks:
Ok, well, apparently Republican political cartoonists aren't really capable of anything more than character assassination by pandering to the emotional responses of the public. Either that or I suck at finding anything worth thinking about. You decide. Onward! It appears that the best the Democratic party has to offer is ineffectual complaining. At worst, they give lip service to the ideals they "support" while completely ignoring them. Democrats are in charge of congress right now, and they can't even get a real investigation on the White House going.
"Give us the information about Gonzales' firings of the US Attorneys."
"No."
"Ok." Worthless.
The Iraq war? Regardless of your opinion on the subject, you should be able to respect this idea: If you want something to change, you have to do something. Congress had an idea about what to do. Check this out:
"In this budget bill, we're not providing money for the war past this date. Good luck."
"Hey, we know you don't like the war and all, but you should keep paying for it."
"Ok." Worthless AGAIN.
Authoritarianism:
It doesn't help that both sides are increasingly authoritarian and society is too dumb or blind to see any other choices. Ideally, the government's job is to provide for the welfare and protection of its citizens. Too many rules and people become enslaved to the government. Too few, and the government can't stave off anarchy. Just enough rules to keep people safe from enemies foreign and domestic, to protect them from predatory corporate interests, keep them healthy, happy, whatever. In the real world, the government is in the business of control. Giving itself more control is in its own interest. The founding fathers knew this and balanced the federal government the way they did to STOP it from being the way it is today, to slow down the law-making process. Nice Try, TJ.
Over time, politicians of all stripes have enacted legislation designed to look like it was in the interest of citizens. Sometimes it actually helps, mostly your elected leadership is just cushioning itself. Each successive generation of politicians gets uncomfortable in the padding left by the previous group, so they expand it bit by bit. There's no incentive to peel any of it back. The only way to get anything changed is widespread revolt. The riots of the 60s, unbelievably massive protests during Vietnam (Kent State helped fuel that change), the civil rights movement, and almost the whole of the roaring twenties are all good examples. Unfortunately, the government has learned its lesson and is making its changes in smaller chunks so they're easier to digest. Give up a little here and there, let the state take a little more money from you paycheck each year, whatever. You don't even notice that it took less than 6 years for you to subconsciously replace the Pursuit of Happiness with the Pursuit of Security.
The Republicans want to legislate morality by passing a shit-ton of laws. Barring that, they just want to shove the word of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior and Belgian Waffle into our throats through those same laws. Here's a hint: It's no longer religion when the state forces it on you, it's Theocracy. Guess what America isn't. That's right, a Theocracy. Your religious flavors are yours, enjoy them. I don't want your kool-aid, and don't you dare tell me that I can't have mine, or even that I have to have any. Not too be too offensive, but if your beliefs can't deal with outside interference (like, I don't know...maybe science? Rational thought, perhaps? Jeez, possibly even simple dissenting opinion...) on their own and need legislative help, maybe it's time for some different ones?
On the other hand, the Democrats are all about equality by the numbers and turning the government into an overbearing and overprotective mother. Bussing kids half-way across a city to make sure each school has the proper percentage of minority students doesn't make things equal. Affimative action is a good idea, but terribly executed. It gets rid of symptoms of racism, sexism, and classism. They're trying to fight AIDS with Tylenol. It's the same thing with Political Correctness. By forcing people to remove hateful words from public speech, you disguise the hatred that made those words in the first place. The problem is much harder to fix if you can't find it. This is more like fighting AIDS with brain cancer. Now that they've ``fixed'' the issue of equality, they've gone and decided to cure everyone's vices too. NO SMOKING ANYWHERE EVER. I'm glad that I've got plenty of space where I can breathe without smelling that disgusting stuff, but smokers aren't using my lungs to smoke. Here's where that weird balance thing comes into play again. Good idea: Improve public health by providing smoke-free environments (hmm, slight tax credit for smoke-free establisments, perhaps?). Too far: complete smoking ban everywhere. Marijuana prohibition is a similar issue, but the circumstances are too complex to go into here. Maybe I'll do that later.
My mind is my own, my beliefs are my own, my hopes and dreams are my own too. My privacy and free time are also mine to do with as I please. As long as I'm a productive member of society, and not doing so at the expense of others, I have every right to expect to be left to my own devices. Stay out of my business. "You fucking hippie!" you say? You didn't let me finish! Besides, I never said anything about having it handed to me. Along with that right comes the responsibility of protecting it. Yeah, weird, eh? Having someone else looking after your freedom is an open invitation to abuse it when the price is right. If your rights are being abused, you have to do something about it. If the police or applicable government agency are doing their jobs, you report the issue. They'll do their best to figure out the problem and solve it as they can. If they aren't doing their jobs? Hmm...sounds like you need to take care of that issue too, but you may need some help. Good luck there! Find someone that agrees with you and start protesting. Rock the boat! Oh, crap, sorry. I forgot. Dissent is treason. Well, good luck, I hope the meanies will spontaneously start doing the right thing.
This gives me the ideas for a new blog about media, its instant access, and the slow destruction of rational thought. I'll give you the short version here: Think for yourself. This means think as in "How did this get from point A to point B?" and not "I'm angry and lashing out". Emotions are good, but harnessing them with rational thought is the key. Never take press releases at face value, and that goes double for anything a politician says or does.
And here's my last thought for this rant. I don't think it's completely necessary to say this yet, but I can see it happening sooner or later: Don't let the rules get in the way of doing the right thing.
