Let me start by saying that I am far from perfect. I am at a good place now in my life, but, in my younger years (pre-22) I did and was involved in all manner of things both morally and legally questionable. Don't take this as some sort of bragging. I just want to preface these comments by admitting my own faults.
What this post means to me is an expression of both concern and bewilderment with where our country is currently. There are, and have always been, extreme nut jobs in our country. Kind of the nature of the beast when we offer such freedom and have such a varied stock of citizenry. That being a given, I am going to be addressing what is spewing forth from what should be reasonable members of society. It is as if the Zombie Apocalypse has manifested itself by taking the rational thought from our society!!
As my friends will tell you I am an open book. Ripe for the taking. Ask about me and with very few exceptions you will get a complete and un censored answer. I am a fiscal conservative and a social libertarian. In matter of the law I am what is commonly known as one who ascribes to the "Intent of the Framers" of our constitution. I have my own views of right and wrong, both moral and functional in parameter. I try to weigh issues and candidates carefully and as completely as possible. I will give an example: I do not agree with our current administration on many issues. However, I don't doubt that there is conviction and true belief in what they THINK is right. Is there anyone else out there who thinks in this manner?
As you switch from news channel to news channel you hear different takes on the same continual spectacle of drama/hate/hyperbole.absolute exclusion. It is as if the ideas of common ground and principled disagreements have lost their meanings. How did this happen? What sort of parents taught their kids to think this way? How has our country divorced itself so completely from the concept of community in it's pure and loving state? I have my own idea on where it started but will reserve that for discussion......
Tell me friends, can you think about issues and candidates with logic and discernment without listening to the offensive rabble-rousing thrown at you by the media? I challenge you. Can we stop attacking those we disagree with? I strongly disagree with some of my friends on various issues (K and R know what I mean;p ) but I love them. They aren't "bad", "evil" or "stupid". They have different perspectives than I do and those perceptions color ALL of our choices. So please, engage in thought. Discuss if you like. Disagree if you must. But don't stoop :( We are better than that. God Bless America and save us all!!
My wife and I actually had a talk about disagreements and being able to talk about things objectively and not personally. In Ancient Greece they had Mars Hill: a place where everyone could come to introduce, debate, and refute ideas without the drawing of the sword (whether anyone drew a sword ever, is beyond me). The problem America seems to have sunken into is class warfare. The American people have taken the bait. Some of us have taken this bait and have forged themselves into militant defenders of certain ideas, and all along have forgotten that they are human. The Bolsheviks in Russia/Soviet Union acted like our fellow Americans are acting now. The Civil War could be characterized into a bloody conflict of ideas. History is peppered with examples of our current conflict and we will do well to study them. The bottomline is this: Our disagreements should stay in the battlefield of ideas lest they bleed onto actual battlefields.
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