Political Parties Explained

As I look around at what is becoming of the United States I am saddened and dismayed. I think everyone should feel this way to be honest, if you don’t I question whether or not you are able to see things clearly.

To be honest, it doesn’t come as a big surprise. The issues plaguing our country have not come over the last four years or the last forty. The problem is more insidious than that. It is that politics have gone from a “service to ones country” to being “serviced by one country.”

I’ve often cited sports when trying to explain politics, especially the party system. Basically it goes something like this:

The republicans and democrats are like two old school baseball rivalries, think Yankees / Red Sox. The constituents are the fans. We like to root for them, we like to bash them, but at the end of the day we still follow them. The extremes of the party are like the resident bleacher creatures. Now the individual politicians are like the star players and somehow the fans thing that these players are like kindred spirits to them. They honestly believe that they feel the same way they do. Now the team owners foster this spirit, because honestly without the fans, they’d be broke with a miserable team and they do not want this.

But what happens when the fans start really believing the hype and lose sight of reality? When do you wake up and think to yourself “my team sucks and I seem more stressed about it then they do.” 

I remember back in the early 2000’s when Johnny Damon played for the Red Sox. If you showed up for ones of the games with the Yankees you’d think he was the anti Christ by the way the fans hated him. Likewise, he was adored in Boston. In 2004 when he hit a grand slam to beat the Yankees I thought they’d elevate him to Pope. But what happened in 2005 when he………..signed with the Yankees?

Surprisingly, Armageddon DID NOT take place, although it was close. Let’s just say that the fans in Boston were less than thrilled, and the Yankee fans seemed to have all been issued a pair of rose colored glasses by which to view the new crowned prince of the Bronx.

You see, despite what the “fans” believed, Damon did what was best for him. That amounted to a four year deal worth fifty-two million dollars. You see what the fans don’t want to believe is that money is really the foundation of everything.

I don’t begrudge Damon, I laugh at the fools that don’t see the truth when it is standing before them.

Enter politics.

Both sides have convinced the “fans” that it is the other sides fault. Sadly, they buy into it because they don’t want to have to face the fact that they are being hosed. If they did, they might have to actually begin to take a long hard look at the candidates and make a choice based on where they stand as opposed to what letter is after their name. 

But sadly, most bury their heads and think like……..“fans”

We are having elections here for a number of city and township positions.  In my local paper they just ran a listing showing all the people running for office, what shocked me is the incredible number of people that are running as “independent”. It seems as if a lot of people are worried about getting affiliated with a particular party, so they are choosing to move away. It appears to be a trend that affects both the D’s and the R’s.

Now I don’t think it affects their world view, but I’m all for anything that makes individual voters “think” as it seems to be an ability we surrendered a very long time ago.

No matter what side you are on, I want you to ask yourself this fundamental question: “Why when my party does (fill in the blank) is it okay, and when the other side does (fill in the blank) it is an aberration?”

The answer is, it’s not. 

Until you are honest with yourself about that, nothing is going to change in this country because you will not have the moral courage to confront your “elected” representative and call them out.

If you are honest, you might realize that you have a lot more in common with those fans from the other team then you think. You also might begin to understand that you are just being taken to the bank to fund the salaries and perks of those two “teams” you send to Washington DC.

You and I will never agree about things 100% of the time. That’s not how God designed us.

For my friends in the scientific community:  that’s not how nothing exploded, and made something, that crawled from the ocean, and evolved into us, do things.

Come on, that was funny………….

If you are not willing to take a long hard look at your politician, don’t spend a moment talking about mine. It’s disingenuous.

Be passionate about the things that are important to YOU, and be willing to judge candidates, not by the party, but by which one more closely relates to the issues that matter to you.

Don’t make every discussion about the “talking points” supplied to you by the party. Most of the time they are filled with minutia, data and statistics for the sole purpose of turning otherwise well meaning individuals into talking zombie-eyed drones.

In fact, statistics have shown that in 99.9% of the time, statistics are just another form of lying……. (That’s another joke).

Seriously, think about it for a moment. If I tell you that 100% of the time the sun comes out, that doesn’t mean that it stays out 100% of the time!! They are only giving you one side of a coin.

Political parties and the media tell you what they want you to hear, they don’t tell you everything you need to know. That’s where doing your own thinking and research comes in.

There is a growing problem in Washington, D.C., and if you are voting by party alone, you are a big part of that problem.

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