I don’t claim to know much about politics and I’m sure that there will be folks who are going to read this and try to make me sound like I know less than I do.  I do however follow politics more than most anyone I know my age, which is pretty sad.  I watch the news and get pissed off every night.  I don’t know why folks aren’t paying attention to what is going on around them, but as I like to say, ignorance and apathy will be the end of us.  Hell, it will be the end of this country as we know it and from what I can see it is already in progress.

When I was a kid in high school I learned a little about the different political parties.  Mostly I learned that there were two parties, Democrats and Republicans.  The Democrats are more ‘liberal’ and tend to run a government that regulates more and is more likely to spend the taxpayer’s money.  Republicans on the other hand supposedly are opposed to ‘big government’ and support privatization and like to spend less.  The things you learn in school…  All the money in the country and we get Mickey Mouse educations.

Aside from their being a lot more than two parties (though some might say that voting for them is to ‘throw your vote away’) the descriptions that my government ‘teachers’ taught me was misleading, at the very least a gross oversimplification.  The evidence is all around us.  Take a look at one of the most worrisome position our government has take since the McCarthy era, the so-called Patriot Act.  It single-handedly reverses many aspects of our law system to suspect everyone and make the suspect prove ones innocence instead of having to prove the suspects guilt.  All of this in the name of the ‘War on Terror’, a war on a feeling of being scared.  Why is it that the government is the one that scares me most?  If the saying that if you are innocent then you have nothing to fear is true, why do I still feel insecure?  But who watches the watchmen?  Ours is a government that allows no oversight, denies wrongdoing even when it is obvious to all, apologizes to nobody.  Nixon wishes he had it so good.

I turned 18 later in the year that I graduated.  The first time I voted, I hadn’t registered under a party, mostly because I was new to it.  Though it wasn’t required, I decided to register under a party for the next election.  Having learned that the Republicans were into staying out of your business, I thought it sounded good to me, so I registered as a Republican.  Why I registered for a party that didn’t have any candidates that seemed to say something I personally agreed with I can only attest to having a simplistic understanding of the political system.  This was during the Clinton/Dole election.

At the time I had some gripes about both candidates, but also liked each for different reasons.  I liked Clinton’s stance on environmental issues and liked Dole’s personality in interviews.  Clinton seemed a little smarmy and Dole seemed like a stronger figure.  I didn’t like Clinton supporting the Clipper chip (yes it is a geeky issue, but it has a greater affect on the world as a whole than you might realize) and the V-Chip nor did I like Dole’s opposition to abortion.  I ended up voting for Clinton.  I had issues with Clinton, but I didn’t see a real alternative.  For eight years I heard people from my party (who I hadn’t voted for anyone from) say things about the ‘liberal’ Democrats and their ‘tax and spend’ ways.  However I also saw one of the biggest booms in economy (and a wipeout of national debt), environmental protections unseen in many years.  It was a fairly peaceful period of time aside from things like the war in Bosnia.  Of course there were some things like a welfare reform system that didn’t end up as planned, NAFTA which has largely backfired and of course the Monica incident (which really was an issue that should have been between him, Hillary and Monica, not the entire world).  However he did lie about the incident, which he shouldn’t have done.  Employment was skyrocketing (at least in the technology field which I am in).

I’ve watched my party grow in the past 12 years since I first started paying any attention to politics.  I’ve seen it co-opted by a fundamentalist Christian agenda.  While I myself am a Christian, I see no place in religion in the US government.  When religion and government mix, it only leads to trouble.  Look at the Middle East for plenty of examples.  Thomas Jefferson (remember him?) was very clear about this in countless articles he wrote in office as well as many historical letters.  Christians may have founded this country but no place in our government should religion or politics intermingle.  Bush talking about God during speeches shouldn’t happen.  That Bush uses Christians (and some are happily used) to promote his own agenda without abiding the same things they claim to support is appalling.  I’ve seen our surplus return to debt.  I’ve seen peacetime turn to two wars, only one of which should have occurred.  I’ve seen a national tragedy turned into an excuse for invasions of privacy.  I’ve seen government accountability disappear.

After 9/11 the entire country was united, and much of the world with it.  Bush had the chance of a lifetime to use this national willpower to find those responsible and take action against them.  Instead he found a distraction in Iraq and has stayed their ever since.  Bush has also divided this country more than I have ever seen it (which admittedly is not very long as I’ve only been around for some 26 years).  I have never seen a presidency that has done more to hurt the nation’s image, alienating all of our former allies and embarrassing the citizens with an image of incompetence.

It is amazing to me that any woman or anyone of a minority supports the Republican party.  Today’s Republicans only respect white males who are in tax brackets that most of us won’t ever belong to.  To everyone else, they are a good-looking [wo]man that loves you and leaves you after you put a ballot in their box.  Why do I stay in the party?  I’m not sure.  I guess I like the idea of voting against the party, making a stand for change from the inside.  I don’t know how much it matters (aside from not being able to vote in primaries and being counted as a member against what I stand for) in the bigger scheme of things.  However I can say that a single vote does count.  But with things fixed in this country the way they are, the last time it came down to a few votes, it still didn’t matter.  I can understand why people get sick of politics and young people don’t want to deal with it.  However it is something you have to deal with.  I don’t care who you vote for (though I do hope you vote the Republicans out of office) I want everyone to vote for somebody, anybody.

I know this article is disconnected and apologize.  I have a hard time writing about politics because it is a very emotional issue for me and tangents spring to mind that I can’t repress.  I just can’t stand the direction this country has taken, through an organization I’m a part of, in the name of ‘freedom’ for a people that are widely divided about the legality and righteousness of our actions.  Presidents come and go, but we still must be Americans.  When you leave this country and visit another, you should be proud of your nation and not feel the need to call yourself a Canadian due to our policies.  Our media has been co-opted by the same people in power and haven’t done their job to keep the government in check, as is their job.  Watergate’s are happening all around us but we will likely never hear about the truth until it is too late.  Why this nation isn’t angrier about the direction its going in either makes me wonder what went wrong.  The nation’s founders would be proud of many things about our country, but I’m sure they’d roll in their graves if they saw what is going on under the skin of the nation.  As long as the checks and balances they put into place some 220 years ago stay in effect, this administration will go the way of the dodo.

I’m sure there will be flames, please keep them honest by providing verifiable links to back up your argument.

-Hollywood

More:

Plan of Attack, Bob Woodward’s (one of the two guys who uncovered Watergate) book on the administration’s war on Iraq.

Air America Radio.  Politics and entertainment.  The leftwing media.  “The” leftwing media?  Yep, this is about all there is.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. 

Thomas Jefferson on Religion and government.  Why does it matter?  Because he helped write the rules.

Ann Coulter, traitor to her gender and humankind.  Also a heavily misguided Republican.