A Political Pre-Emptive Strike

 

Run for your lives! It’s that time again! In case some folks have missed it or, like me, are trying their best to avoid it, we’re getting ready for another major election year. People are lining up to see who will run for office. It’s a veritable Rogues’ Gallery of pundits, and professional politicians. By the way, why do we call it “running for office?” Maybe because when these people stand still long enough, we can see them for what they really are. They have to run. It’s the only way to look like you’re doing something when you’re not.

I don’t know for whom you voted in the last election and I’m not asking. The truth is I don’t really care. If you voted, fine. I did too. If you chose not to vote, that’s your business. The state of politics in the USA is rank and is rife with corruption, half-truths and outright lies. Any reasonable person with good sense and an inclusive attitude toward his/her fellow human being finds the political environment uncomfortable at best and repulsive at worst.

As I’ve had the chance to connect with people on Facebook (do I really have 282 friends?!) I’ve seen the politics of social media rear its ugly head. People find that a short, catchy status update can substitute for a real and reasoned opinion. That’s the problem with social media. Between Facebook, Twitter and those other web based substitutes for face-to-face and voice-to-voice interactions, we’ve glorified shallowness as a virtue. People can make a strafing run at someone they don’t like and disappear over the horizon before they have to explain themselves. Civil discourse has become a dinosaur – just a curiosity of an earlier time, stashed in a dusty corner of the museum of outdated American values.

Do I sound cynical? Well, I am. I’ve been around long enough to see potentially good people be dragged down by the win-at-all-costs, my-party-right-or-wrong, I-disagree-so-I-don’t-have-to-listen types who populate cable television and organize political rallies. I’m not sure if its naivety or dogged single-mindedness that keeps people buying tickets on this Crazy Train (thanks, Ozzy, for that one).

 So here, in part, is my personal Declaration of Independence:

“When in the course of making a living and trying to be a good, decent human being it becomes necessary for one person to tell other overbearing and self-righteous people to collectively take a hike, it is proper to tell them why (because they won’t see it for themselves).

I hold these truths to be self-evident:

1. That all persons have the right to their own informed opinions and that they should not have to be bullied or have their character assassinated by those who disagree with them.
2. That to secure this right for myself and others I am perfectly justified in telling a political bully to get out of my face. Now! Don’t make me angry – you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
3. That the system would work if we actually cared about making the world a better place for all of us instead of just those who look, act, sound and think like us.
4. That after the election is over and the final chads have been hung, we should all just go to lunch together.

There’s more, but you get the gist. Whatever your political opinion is, you have right to it. You do not have the right to make snide comments, question my patriotism or mock me if I happen to disagree. If you can’t deal with that, then by all means you are free to move on your next target. There’s no place for you at my table.

For the Facebook Mafia who choose to make this social media thing a soapbox of self-righteousness, please understand that we’re not really interested. Your rants may make you feel better, but they are not a substitute for actually doing something constructive. Go play on your favorite politician’s blog and leave the rest of us in peace.