Friday, November 9, 2012

The two party deception


I have a lot of time on my hands. I also think a lot. That can prove to be a very scary combination. I had planned on posting this to facebook but decided not to and to post here on my blog. I am writing in a little different style than I usually write on here (my blog), but I think that might be good for this one.

I am also writing out of turn. Something happened on my ride from Boston to LA that is the reason I have so much time on my hands. I won't even try and summarize here at this time. I will instead suggest that you friend me on facebook here and you can see there, what happened. Trust me, I have started the post several times, but since I tend to agonize over every word here, it is proving to be more difficult than I would like. I will finish it in the next few days.


Anyway, my friend wrote something on facebook that prompted a response from me that I felt summed up an overall theory that I have, politically. I think more and more people are sensing  this truth, but I don't see it articulated very often. I know I have talked about it many times, perhaps too much, but I feel it is so important that I will risk overstating my case (and annoying everyone) to CLEARLY spell it out.

My friend wrote:

Today I am thankful to be an American. I may disagree with a lot of people for what they say...but I SO STRONGLY believe in that right to say it!!! As a country, we are so blessed and we shouldn't forget that.


I responded:

I agree fully!!! We do live in an amazing country, first, because of the wonderful landscape. I have seen so much beauty, through my travels, but I still feel like I have only scratched the surface. There is still so much to see.

Second, the people that I have met are amazing!! We constantly hear how scary and terrible everything and everyone is out there in the world. It's enough to make you not want to leave the house. But, I can tell you, from all my experiences, that it couldn't be further from the truth. 99.9% of the people I meet are kind, loving and helpful. And they are that way to someone (me) whom they could certainly judge and ignore, but they don't. And here is an important point, they don't know, and I don't know, if they are Republicans, Democrats, conservatives or liberals. It doesn't matter. We are just people. Those divisions are false divisions. The country may be "divided" by a line that serves certain agendas very well... BUT we, as human beings, are not divided. In fact it is quite the opposite. We are all connected.

Third, what we can't forget though, is that this country is great because there were a group of people that hated tyranny and believed in freedom and fought for that freedom. People sacrificed their lives for an idea. It was an idea that had never been tried before. We formed a Union, it wasn't perfect, we still had slavery and we didn't completely believe in liberty and freedom for all people but we put in place a form of Government that would at least give us the means to right things that were wrong. It is the mechanism of that Government that is good and that we have to defend at all costs. It is also the concept of freedom and the basic principles of liberty that are exciting and .... well.... liberating, that must be cherished and defended. We must be constantly vigilant lest we take for granted and lose those liberties. We were warned by the architects of this gift that we were given, how easy it would be to lose it. Trading liberty for security is one of many ways.

The biggest mistake that any of us can make, is thinking that the danger only lies with one party. That it is just "them" that want to "fundamentally change America". That if everyone would just convert to "our party" we could fix everything. Step back and you will see that both parties want to strip us of freedoms or have the government control our lives. They just each want to do it in different areas. It is a very sobering realization once you see it. In the interest of keeping this relatively short, I won't list both platforms and the blatant hypocrisy. Besides, I think everyone knows in the back of heir heads already. That is why, I believe, there is such heated and vitriolic debate. If one "side" was truly for freedom and liberty, across the board and the other  "side" wasn't, would there really even be a debate?  If those really were the two sides of the aisle, would we even need such a large Government? Perhaps, stoking this "division" ensures one thing.. Big government, ironically, to fight big Government. The big government that half of both parties claim they don't want. Is it by design? I will leave that for you to judge.

So why do I say all of this? What is my point?

I AM proud to be an American. We are a great country! We are, for the most part, great people! We need to try and love one another. We need to protect ourselves and our country from the real  enemy. And its not the one you think it is by watching one of the cable news shows or listening to one of the talk radio stations. They are entertainers. Their advertising dollars, hence their jobs,  depend on you continuing to hate the wrong people.

I see a lot of people filled with anger and hate. I was filled with anger and hate for a long time. It is the majority of the reason that I left a pier in CA and ran to the Statue of Liberty in 2010 on my "Run for Liberty". I did find my liberty. I found it by letting go of my hate. I found it by doing my best to find love and joy again. It's been hard for me to reconcile that sometimes though. Do I not fight things anymore because I want to get along? Do I say, "oh well", and never fight for the things I believe in, in the interest of "getting along"?

The answer is simply this. You must fight the REAL enemy. I assure you, if you are a "Democrat" the enemy is not the "Republicans". If you are a "Republican" the enemy is not the "Democrats". No, if you are an American and you TRULY believe in the constitution and you truly believe in freedom and liberty and all the wonderful things that come with those, along with all the scary parts, and how with freedom and liberty come responsibility and faith. If you believe in all of those things, then the  enemy is tyranny! The enemy is all of the forms and threats to liberty and freedom that it disguises itself as.

So, are there 2 sides to all the  issues? Yes, but if you divided it along the real lines. The TRUE lines, it wouldn't be close to the 50/50 division we see in our country, like we see now. It would be more like 95/5 and there wouldn't hardly  be a debate. And, more telling, there wouldn't be a need for such a large Government (and lobbyists, etc..).

So, yes, we need to get along. We need to find common ground. But the common ground cannot be to accept half of each of the big government platforms. Or to compromise some of our liberties in the interest of "getting along". The common ground of both of the two major parties is that half of each platform believes in freedom and what this country was founded on and what it's core principles are. Lets take those 2 parts, the  common ground and adopt them and throw the hypocritical, tyrannical part out the window. Yes, it can be done. After all, our two conventional parties are an invention of politicians and we can choose to shun it just as easily as we have chosen to adopt it.

Paul

3 comments:

mike miller said...

I have asked the question "What societal benefit do political parties serve?" many times. I have never received a single answer. All they do is divide people, create disharmony, and attempt to retain power. I say the way to get rid of them is simply to register as an independent. If everyone did that the parties would lose their power. Then perhaps we could get publicly financed elections and avoid the motivation for desiring that power in the first place. Then perhaps we could be presented with a choice of politicians that are truly interested in public service rather than personal gain. Just a thought....

Paul Both said...

That is a great idea Mike. I am registered independent but lean Libertarian. Public servants should be just that. Servants, yes earning compensation but not at 4 to 5 times the median income.

Paul Both said...

Term limits wouldn't be a bad idea either.