No, I’m not talking about the sexual preference door, I’m talking about the political sides door. Close it! Lock it! Seal that sucker up tighter than a drum…never to be opened again.
When I was growing up, no one talked about who they were going to vote for. In fact, voting was like this big, secretive, grownup thing, discussed in quiet, reverent tones.
Kids knew which side of the fence their parent’s stood on, and I think most of us aligned our innocent political preferences with theirs, not really understanding the difference between a Democrat or Republican, or a conservative or liberal. Or, God forbid, an Independent.
Perhaps my memory is skewed, but it seemed to me that candidates spent more time building their platforms than they did tearing their opponents to shreds. Letting us know where they stood, rather than trying to make themselves look like the lesser of two evils by digging up every little piece of dirt they could on the ‘other guy.’
I really miss those days. And every time I log into Facebook, or check the trending news topics, I miss them even more.
There is a very definite ‘us’ against ‘them’ mentality in the world today. Specifically in the United States…which is the only political arena I know anything about.
Every day I see so much ugliness from both sides, it just stuns me. Of course when the candidates themselves have taken mud-slinging to the expert level, it’s not surprising that their supporters follow suit.
Instead of just promoting what ‘their guy’ does right, and wants to do, it’s always, always running ‘the other guy’ into the ground.
The saddest thing about it is that so much is taken out of context…
It doesn’t matter which guy I plan to vote for, I check everything out. I refuse to be a party to spreading what amounts to lies about either one of them. And sometimes it truly pains me to have to defend the person I’m not voting for…but honesty is important to me. Maybe more important than anything else.
I wanted to say ‘especially in politics,’ but honesty in politics…yeah. Right.
And for the next couple of months, ugliness will abound. I’m sorry, but the sky has already fallen, as far as I’m concerned. This election seems to have turned into another war between the states. The battle lines are drawn, and people are using hateful words, accusations…and the internet to spread the poison.
All I can hope is that someday…honesty, integrity, and decency will come back into fashion. Because let me tell you, there is only one truth about politicians.
They aren’t your family and friends. Remember that when choosing your sides. Politicians will be voted into and out of office…and frankly, (pardon my French)…they really don’t give a damn about you. So vote your conscience. It’s your right. It’s your duty to yourself and whatever party you choose to support. But they’re not your loved ones. Stop forgetting that.
So put it in perspective. And close the door, for crying out loud! Everyone old enough to vote can probably read and research the issues for themselves. We don’t need anyone to do our thinking for us, thanks very much.
That said, please stop making Facebook, and other social media venues, political hell on earth.
I love The Newsroom. I can’t stand all the political crap. The trend these days is horrible. Where did our manners go? This is the time of year when I start listening to the talk radio rather than music wanting to hear the candidates so I can decide for myself. Honestly, I get a gut feeling and I do tend to weigh that in. But that’s me. I can’t say that’s right for everyone.
Hmm. Manners? I’ve heard that word before… What does it mean again? 🙂
I’m with you…I tend to go with my gut. If someone gives me a bad feeling, that often works. A couple of elections ago, my gut was clueless. It’s disgusted more than one person to find that I literally did the eenie, meenie, miney, mo thing to vote that year.
Ha! I fall back on my party in that case. But I had a STRONG feeling last election. I don’t think I was wrong. I get the feeling by watching the way they look at the camera. If they believe the words they are saying or feeding the public lies. Some politicians avoid looking at the camera when they preach their glory campaign. That’s something to watch for.
Have you watched The Newsroom, Kristy? It’s really good and focuses on a lot of the issues you’re talking about.
I have never heard of The Newsroom, Emma. I’ll have to see if Hulu has it. 🙂
I can’t describe how much I hate all this crap – and I’m a writer! I know people on both sides who have this attitude that their party is all good, the other is evil.. it’s disgusting. I had to LOL at your statement about defending the guy you’re not going to vote for, because I find myself doing the same thing! You can consider yourself lucky in one respect… you don’t live in a swing state. If you really want to see ugliness, come to Ohio! Good thing I don’t watch TV.
Hi, Jennette! Still waiting to hear when your third time travel book is available for sale. Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. Okay. Is it ready yet? 🙂
Wow, if Ohio is worse than Michigan…I’m SO sorry you have to deal with it. Because let me tell you, there’s a whole lot of ugly going on here over the upcoming election. I don’t watch much television, but I do use a lot of YouTube videos for my blog…and I swear that ALL of the ads now are from politicians…all running the other into the ground.
If only all of these ‘passionate’ people would realize…all of them LIE. None of them tell the truth, and none of them actually care about the people. They care about their agendas. I just want to scream, WAKE UP, EVERYONE! But they won’t. I guess we all have to have something to believe in, right? 🙂
I am amazed at the dishonesty and vulgarity in this (and most recent) elections. I watch from across the 49th and see our campaigns moving in the same way and it saddens me.
I read that in England, if you lie about your opponent in your campaign and win, you are booted out of office.I like that idea.
in the meantime, I observe and wonder where has civility gone?
Well there’s definitely no integrity in politics anymore. And it’s getting more widespread all the time. It’s just very sad. Civility has gone the way of integrity. The ONLY reason the majority of people get into politics is because they make one heck of a lot of money at it.
Take our former governor…no offense to any Canadians…but Jennifer Granholm sucked! Yes, I’m still a little confused as to how a Canadian could be a governor in Michigan… I don’t care what side of the fence she was on, hiring her HUSBAND’S company to come up with a campaign to convince state employees that it was more important to do their jobs with integrity (LOLOL!) than it was to be upset because they would lose 2 days pay per month…that was just wrong. But she and her family are at least a million dollars richer because of her smooth business move.
I hate politics, lol. But I do LOVE what England does. That needs to be a worldwide practice!