SomaCow

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For some reason, politics and religion are dangerous discussion peices.  Raising children is another.  These topics tend to cut to the very core of a person’s ego.  Calling into question something someone believes causes synaptic overload.

The hard part about discussing these topics is the attitude by anyone listening or participating.  I’m a very gray area kind of person.  For most folks, there is a lot of black and white.  “This is a Republican, and anyone who is a Republican believes this.”  “Democrats do this and anyone who is a Democrat does this.”

The way the political machine is operating today is leading us, as a nation, as a world, as a species, to the brink of complete and total failure.

There is no listening, no compromise, no wiggle room.

I am, by most accounts, a Republican.  Not a George W. Bush fascist regime style Republican.  I am a Teddy Roosevelt, Barry Goldwater, Abraham Lincoln Republican.  Ok, I’m not gay, so maybe not a Lincoln Republican.

Normally when I discuss politics, I am cut short by anyone who is part of the discussion.  They only hear the first part of anything being said.  They do not wish to hear anything further because they have already been mentally condition to think they know what the rest of the statement is.

“I don’t believe the Federal Government should give money to the poor… ”
“Oh yeah well they give it to the rich to bail out companies and RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE BLAR BLAR BLAR.”

“I don’t feel that the Federal Government should take responsibility for bankrupt industries…”
“That’s stupid because RUMBLE ROBBLE ROBBLE GLAB GLEEB GLOOB.”

Democrats look at anyone with an R on thier shirt and instinctivly disagree because they see the Republicans as Fundamentally flawed.  Republicans will not even allow a Democrat to begin to speak because they see something wrong with the very foundation of the Democratic party.

It is all rhetoric.  All the articles written by left wing, right wing, fascist, neoconservative, hippy style magazines, all the claptrap spewing forth from the Liberal and Conservative talk shows, all the speeches, all the pomp all the circumstance… it is all bullshit.

Try watching any Political show that has opposing sides.  It breaks down into a cackling roost of hens.  Might as well just watch The View.  Watch a one sided show, and you get O’Riley regurgitating whatever fried over lied he has been fed or you get Obberman re-regurgitating what O’Riley said and picking out the nuggets.  You could watch Bill Maher and lose IQ points as he mugs to an invisible friend on the other side of the stage.  Listen to Rush and hear smarm ooze out of every drug addicted fat cell.

We are eternally stuck in an Us vs. Them bear trap that is leading this nation into the anus… err… annals of history to sit along other failed empires.  We are locked in a never ending tug of war.  The flag may scoot to one side or another for brief periods of time, but no one knows when to say when.

When my marriage was failing, we attempted counseling.  One of the only worthwhile things the “the rapist” said was along the same lines as the tug of war metaphor.  He described a box in the middle of the floor.  For the purpose of this article, the box is our nation, The United States of America. He said my wife, in this case, the Democrats, was on the left side of the box.  I (the Republicans) were on the right side of the box.  We were pulling as hard as we could, but never getting anywhere.  He said that we could still pull in our own direction, but also pull forward.  There would be some give and take, but the box would move forward.

We are not moving anywhere.  The nation is freezedried into “My idea is right, his idea is wrong”.  Here’s a secret Columbo… You are both fucking wrong.

Guy one has education plan a, guy two has education plan b.  Do you want to know something?  Both education plans are going to lead down the path to poor (financially and performance wise) teacher, dumb students, and new breed of politicians rolling out the same damn plan during the next election cycle.

Stagnate.  You pull left, I pull right.  We can sit here all day.

No one is willing to admit that the other side has a few good points.  No one is going to say, “Well, overall, our education plan is shit, but I think this and this and this would work, if we just got rid of a bunch of crap.”
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