So, where to start.
I meant to start this blog about six months ago because--at the time--my life was full of adventure. Within 3 weeks my then boyfriend and I got married, drove 3000 miles across the country, moved into our own condo, and essentially completely started our independent lives. At the time, I figured I'd do everything in my power to document at least our journey from Florida to California. Of course, I took only one picture in Texas with my husband's phone which we subsequently deleted to make space to take a picture of one of our cats.
But since that's all old news (and I have no pictures to post), I figure this blog could be about something else. Maybe just my own musings on things.
First things first, to explain the title. I've been really coming into a better understanding with my own political beliefs recently, and I've come to an unfortunate conclusion. It seems to me that the running of our country is a football game. No really, it is. I'm serious.
God, I miss having a foosball table.
We have two major teams--the Reds, traditional, thick necked, and brutal and the Blues, young, peppy, and pumped full determination. Our teams have a bowl game every two years, and every 4 years, have a Super Bowl. Television producers absolutely FLOOD the airwaves with political propaganda as the elections grow closer, even though many of the ads amount to nothing more than a protracted "yo momma's so fat" contest. We get radiowaves filled with political John Madden's calling plays and making predictions. What's the big deal, you ask? For some people, there is no big deal. They just filter it out and go on with their lives. With others... Well...
Let's look at the Superbowl. Pretty much everyone watches it--even people who don't like football. People like me. In the run up to the Superbowl, I don't really have a stake in things. I don't care who makes it, because I haven't picked a team to root for. So when the Superbowl finally happens, I generally "cheer" for whoever my family/friends happen to be rooting for. If they win, cool, but if they lose, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
It doesn't work that way for the fans of the teams at play--and the more extreme the fan, the more extreme the reaction. These are the fans that REVEL in all the trashtalk that goes on in the background. They're the ones who feel like they have a personal stake in the game. The other team--and its fans by extension--are the enemy, no matter what. If the enemy wins, it means we lost--and we can't ever accept that.
Back to politics--the derisive ads have this tendency to swell the two teams--Red and Blue--into a fervor. Before you know it, you have one side talking about how the other one wants to kill old people in their sleep in lieu of giving them medication. The more extreme the political leanings, the crazier the rantings get. Suddenly, *ALL* Republicans are gun toting, convict frying, oil loving, racist, Iraq bombing zombie rednecks and *ALL* Democrats are tree hugging, tofu eating, pot smoking, fence hopping hippy Mexicans. The country is divided into red and blue, and NO ONE can agree.
And we get so distracted by the infighting that we let really stupid things happen to the country.
They're having a very strongly worded conversation about the capital gains tax.
When I was younger, I was one of these "teamsters". I was on the blue team, and anyone on the red team was my enemy. I didn't completely subscribe to the blue way of thinking (I believe in frying criminals as much as any Red blooded Texan could), but I still always made sure I voted for our guy. I always hated their guy, because he wasn't on our side.
I'll fully admit that that was stupid, short sided, and completely illogical. It doesn't matter what side you're on. We're all AMERICANS. Since then, I've met plenty of Conservatives who believe in a woman's right to chose, or who favor fairer immigration, and I've met plenty of Liberals who will rail about illegal immigrants enough to really make you raise an eyebrow. Everyone has a diverse opinion, and trying to assign a color to it is impossible.
Recently, I've seen a convergence in thinking among our two sides. Everyone's unhappy with the way the country's going. But instead of blaming who they should (Congress as a whole, bankers, crooked businessmen) a lot of them are still blaming the "other guys". Right now, that happens to be Obama. I can't tell you how many comments I've seen on news websites blasting Obama for things that are frankly out of his control. (While I'm at it, Bush caught an unfair rap too, so don't start.) Dude's a figurehead. But because he's on the "other" side, it's easy to blame him and his team mates for the mess our country is in. Surely, Conservatives reason, if McCain had won the election, things would be better.
If McCain had won the election, we'd be having the same arguments. Except that the Liberals would probably be twice as angry as you guys are now, since they'd still have hope that their side could do better. I know. I was on that side. I thought our sweeping the election would mean a bright new tomorrow. That they'd get something done. That America's issues were ALL BUSH'S FAULT, and that with he and Darth Cheney gone, things would be better.
Yeah, I got nothing.
But you know what, nothing really did get better. All the old problems were still there, only now WE were on defense. With nothing really changing, I came to a realization. It doesn't matter who's in the white house. Sure, there are two "teams", but they're essentially the same at the core.
Southpark said it best.
Our government has run away without us. We went to the bathroom to powder our noses, and when we got back, they had all gone on to the movies and left us to pay for the check. So we've begrudgingly taken our wallets out again and paid the bill, promising ourselves that next time we won't let it happen. But like a battered housewife we go back to our teams, content in thinking "next time it'll be better". "The next guy won't let gas hit 5$ a gallon. The next guy won't let Wallstreet pick our pockets. The economy will get better--it HAS to." These aren't givens.
We have the America that we have because our ancestors fought for it. No, I'm not talking about the American Revolution--or any other war, for that matter. I'm talking about the poor factory slob who walked out on a job that was feeding him to stand in the freezing streets with a sign demanding fairness. I'm talking about every family who went without so that maybe--just maybe tomorrow would be better. Every good American who paid their taxes on time and lived a clean life--even when it would have been easier to cheat. They are who we owe America to. Without them, our wages would be minuscule. Our benefits gone. The middle class revolution wouldn't have happened, and the majority of us would likely still be wage slaves. But no, they fought, and now many jobs have a good, fair wage and good benefits. But that's under attack. Their team doesn't like these things. They aren't... Good for business, so to speak. So over the decades they've slowly eroded them. In the meantime, they've called for us to spend more and more, even while our consumer debt went out of control. Inflation is insane at the moment, and I suspect there's an illegal cartel on Wallstreet dictating these gas prices, because seriously. But instead of the whole country rising up as one to demand someone look into this and put a stop to these business absolutely gouging American consumers (and making profits that are ridiculous off of us) we're too caught up with fighting ourselves. This year it's Obama's fault. If Romney (or whoever the Republican nominee will be this year) wins the election, I bet it'll be his fault from then on too. The reds will go on defense (content that their man is in the White House now.), and the blues will start the offense. We'll go through the whole cycle again.
By pitting the country against itself, they've given us an enemy that will never go away. Forget the Taliban--Americans will always be at odds with each other. America has proven in the past that it's quite capable of descending into all out chaos, and don't think it couldn't happen again--especially when we blindly follow our team without questioning it. They have us believing that the benefits our ancestors fought for are what's killing America. They have us casting stones at people who are down on their luck (I've lived on food stamps, and trust me--no one would chose that. It's a hassle, and they barely give you enough to live off of.) They proclaim that they're Christians, but they don't seem to have the first idea what Christianity is about. Instead, we've become a country of single bodies adrift in a digital sea. We never come out of our houses. Never talk to our neighbors. In times of adversity the old ways come out, but how long will even that last?
So at last, I come to the name of my blog. Life is Purple. We need to be purple too. There are no easy answers. No Red or Blue. Life is a mixture. You need the liberals to push new ideas and innovation, but you need the conservatives to hold our culture and morality in check. Liberals to hold a hand out to the down trodden and conservatives to build great empires. The two forces bounding off of each other in harmony, trading ideas--that is what we should strive for. Celebrate our differences, and remember that our standpoint isn't the only absolute. Forget the football game. Turn it off, and tune it out. Listen to the words that are spoken, and think to yourself. "If that was me, or my son/daughter/brother/sister, how would this apply to me?" Look at the least of us and think about how what that politician is saying will apply to them as well, because chances are, they'll feel it much harder than you.
We're one country. One people, under God, where there is liberty and justice for all. Don't let them convince you otherwise. Stand up and demand excellence from BOTH teams, because they're not supposed to be working against each other. They're supposed to be working in tandem.
So yeah, anyway, I'M ON THE BLOGSPHERE NOW! And don't worry, this isn't going to be a strictly political blog. Next time, who knows what I might talk about!
I meant to start this blog about six months ago because--at the time--my life was full of adventure. Within 3 weeks my then boyfriend and I got married, drove 3000 miles across the country, moved into our own condo, and essentially completely started our independent lives. At the time, I figured I'd do everything in my power to document at least our journey from Florida to California. Of course, I took only one picture in Texas with my husband's phone which we subsequently deleted to make space to take a picture of one of our cats.
But since that's all old news (and I have no pictures to post), I figure this blog could be about something else. Maybe just my own musings on things.
First things first, to explain the title. I've been really coming into a better understanding with my own political beliefs recently, and I've come to an unfortunate conclusion. It seems to me that the running of our country is a football game. No really, it is. I'm serious.
God, I miss having a foosball table.We have two major teams--the Reds, traditional, thick necked, and brutal and the Blues, young, peppy, and pumped full determination. Our teams have a bowl game every two years, and every 4 years, have a Super Bowl. Television producers absolutely FLOOD the airwaves with political propaganda as the elections grow closer, even though many of the ads amount to nothing more than a protracted "yo momma's so fat" contest. We get radiowaves filled with political John Madden's calling plays and making predictions. What's the big deal, you ask? For some people, there is no big deal. They just filter it out and go on with their lives. With others... Well...
Let's look at the Superbowl. Pretty much everyone watches it--even people who don't like football. People like me. In the run up to the Superbowl, I don't really have a stake in things. I don't care who makes it, because I haven't picked a team to root for. So when the Superbowl finally happens, I generally "cheer" for whoever my family/friends happen to be rooting for. If they win, cool, but if they lose, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
It doesn't work that way for the fans of the teams at play--and the more extreme the fan, the more extreme the reaction. These are the fans that REVEL in all the trashtalk that goes on in the background. They're the ones who feel like they have a personal stake in the game. The other team--and its fans by extension--are the enemy, no matter what. If the enemy wins, it means we lost--and we can't ever accept that.
Back to politics--the derisive ads have this tendency to swell the two teams--Red and Blue--into a fervor. Before you know it, you have one side talking about how the other one wants to kill old people in their sleep in lieu of giving them medication. The more extreme the political leanings, the crazier the rantings get. Suddenly, *ALL* Republicans are gun toting, convict frying, oil loving, racist, Iraq bombing zombie rednecks and *ALL* Democrats are tree hugging, tofu eating, pot smoking, fence hopping hippy Mexicans. The country is divided into red and blue, and NO ONE can agree.
And we get so distracted by the infighting that we let really stupid things happen to the country.
They're having a very strongly worded conversation about the capital gains tax.When I was younger, I was one of these "teamsters". I was on the blue team, and anyone on the red team was my enemy. I didn't completely subscribe to the blue way of thinking (I believe in frying criminals as much as any Red blooded Texan could), but I still always made sure I voted for our guy. I always hated their guy, because he wasn't on our side.
I'll fully admit that that was stupid, short sided, and completely illogical. It doesn't matter what side you're on. We're all AMERICANS. Since then, I've met plenty of Conservatives who believe in a woman's right to chose, or who favor fairer immigration, and I've met plenty of Liberals who will rail about illegal immigrants enough to really make you raise an eyebrow. Everyone has a diverse opinion, and trying to assign a color to it is impossible.
Recently, I've seen a convergence in thinking among our two sides. Everyone's unhappy with the way the country's going. But instead of blaming who they should (Congress as a whole, bankers, crooked businessmen) a lot of them are still blaming the "other guys". Right now, that happens to be Obama. I can't tell you how many comments I've seen on news websites blasting Obama for things that are frankly out of his control. (While I'm at it, Bush caught an unfair rap too, so don't start.) Dude's a figurehead. But because he's on the "other" side, it's easy to blame him and his team mates for the mess our country is in. Surely, Conservatives reason, if McCain had won the election, things would be better.
If McCain had won the election, we'd be having the same arguments. Except that the Liberals would probably be twice as angry as you guys are now, since they'd still have hope that their side could do better. I know. I was on that side. I thought our sweeping the election would mean a bright new tomorrow. That they'd get something done. That America's issues were ALL BUSH'S FAULT, and that with he and Darth Cheney gone, things would be better.
Yeah, I got nothing.But you know what, nothing really did get better. All the old problems were still there, only now WE were on defense. With nothing really changing, I came to a realization. It doesn't matter who's in the white house. Sure, there are two "teams", but they're essentially the same at the core.
Southpark said it best. Our government has run away without us. We went to the bathroom to powder our noses, and when we got back, they had all gone on to the movies and left us to pay for the check. So we've begrudgingly taken our wallets out again and paid the bill, promising ourselves that next time we won't let it happen. But like a battered housewife we go back to our teams, content in thinking "next time it'll be better". "The next guy won't let gas hit 5$ a gallon. The next guy won't let Wallstreet pick our pockets. The economy will get better--it HAS to." These aren't givens.
We have the America that we have because our ancestors fought for it. No, I'm not talking about the American Revolution--or any other war, for that matter. I'm talking about the poor factory slob who walked out on a job that was feeding him to stand in the freezing streets with a sign demanding fairness. I'm talking about every family who went without so that maybe--just maybe tomorrow would be better. Every good American who paid their taxes on time and lived a clean life--even when it would have been easier to cheat. They are who we owe America to. Without them, our wages would be minuscule. Our benefits gone. The middle class revolution wouldn't have happened, and the majority of us would likely still be wage slaves. But no, they fought, and now many jobs have a good, fair wage and good benefits. But that's under attack. Their team doesn't like these things. They aren't... Good for business, so to speak. So over the decades they've slowly eroded them. In the meantime, they've called for us to spend more and more, even while our consumer debt went out of control. Inflation is insane at the moment, and I suspect there's an illegal cartel on Wallstreet dictating these gas prices, because seriously. But instead of the whole country rising up as one to demand someone look into this and put a stop to these business absolutely gouging American consumers (and making profits that are ridiculous off of us) we're too caught up with fighting ourselves. This year it's Obama's fault. If Romney (or whoever the Republican nominee will be this year) wins the election, I bet it'll be his fault from then on too. The reds will go on defense (content that their man is in the White House now.), and the blues will start the offense. We'll go through the whole cycle again.
By pitting the country against itself, they've given us an enemy that will never go away. Forget the Taliban--Americans will always be at odds with each other. America has proven in the past that it's quite capable of descending into all out chaos, and don't think it couldn't happen again--especially when we blindly follow our team without questioning it. They have us believing that the benefits our ancestors fought for are what's killing America. They have us casting stones at people who are down on their luck (I've lived on food stamps, and trust me--no one would chose that. It's a hassle, and they barely give you enough to live off of.) They proclaim that they're Christians, but they don't seem to have the first idea what Christianity is about. Instead, we've become a country of single bodies adrift in a digital sea. We never come out of our houses. Never talk to our neighbors. In times of adversity the old ways come out, but how long will even that last?
So at last, I come to the name of my blog. Life is Purple. We need to be purple too. There are no easy answers. No Red or Blue. Life is a mixture. You need the liberals to push new ideas and innovation, but you need the conservatives to hold our culture and morality in check. Liberals to hold a hand out to the down trodden and conservatives to build great empires. The two forces bounding off of each other in harmony, trading ideas--that is what we should strive for. Celebrate our differences, and remember that our standpoint isn't the only absolute. Forget the football game. Turn it off, and tune it out. Listen to the words that are spoken, and think to yourself. "If that was me, or my son/daughter/brother/sister, how would this apply to me?" Look at the least of us and think about how what that politician is saying will apply to them as well, because chances are, they'll feel it much harder than you.
We're one country. One people, under God, where there is liberty and justice for all. Don't let them convince you otherwise. Stand up and demand excellence from BOTH teams, because they're not supposed to be working against each other. They're supposed to be working in tandem.
So yeah, anyway, I'M ON THE BLOGSPHERE NOW! And don't worry, this isn't going to be a strictly political blog. Next time, who knows what I might talk about!
