Politics in a Nutshell

After a few discussions this past week with a friend over why politics is the way it is, I remembered something I had come up with a long time ago and felt it explained it perfectly. So, here it is, as I recall it: Conservatives vs. Liberals.

Conservatives and Liberals, as a whole, are basically the Jocks and the Brains that we all endured in high school. The jocks got all the glory and the brains got all the good grades. And usually the two didn't interact that much if they could help it. But I think what people fail to see is that both groups are insanely jealous of each other because they lack what the other has. Jocks are popular, brains are smart. Brains would like to be popular too, and jocks want to feel intelligent as well.

Being smart is one of the biggest threats in the world, it's why governments who want to completely control their people deny them books and education, etc. Keep them dumb, then they won't think for themselves and ask questions and we won't be threatened. Often times they are left with brute force as their main form of enforcement, something jocks are well adept at.

When somebody doesn't have smarts to rely on, they tend to rely on their fists. It's fast, easy, and effective. So take this attitude and apply it to members of the government who feel threatened by another person's intelligence. That's what they use, because it is their only tool. So people wondering why the patriarchy in this country are pushing back against progress, have only to see that this is why. They feel threatened, but don't have the intelligence to handle it. So they push back and try to keep others from progressing because it is so very threatening to their existence. Not having to think hard has served them well all their lives and they can't handle changing now. Their brains would probably explode.

So the next time you see some jackass conservative politician railing against liberals, don't hate him, and yes, I am saying "him" because I feel most of the guilty culprits as of ever have been men, though plenty of women do the same...Don't hate this person, pity him. Pity him because you know that he can't handle a simple intelligent discussion or the thought of change or having to share the power that has always been his automatically. You know it. He knows it, which makes it all the more difficult for him to handle. And worse, he knows that you know, and that kills him every time. If there's one thing I've learned in my lifetime, it's that saving face is very important. That's all these people want, a chance to not be humiliated. To save face. They know we look down upon them as being backwards and out of time and no longer welcome in modern society. This only makes them push back harder. If only we liberals could find a way to allow them to save face, but still have the progress the world so desperately needs, I think we'd all be a lot better off. I'm sure there's a way, I just can't think of it right now.

How I Became a Writer

When I was young, I used to shout and exclaim loudly. People always told me "Shh! You're hurting my ears!" "Quiet down, you're too loud!" So, I learned to swallow my voice and be quiet. Like a good, well-behaved girl.

When I grew up, my voice wanted to be let out. It was tired from hiding away all the time. But my throat wasn't used to it anymore, so it traveled around my body, looking for a way out. It found my hands and flowed out of my fingers while I grasped a pen. Words poured out of my fingers, dripping all over the paper, and wouldn't stop. And there my voice found its freedom. It cannot be silenced anymore.

Separation of Church and State

I have been thinking a lot lately about debating, whether in person or online, and the many themes that seem to come up. There is definitely a life-cycle to a debate. First you have your general arguments made for both sides. As this goes on it segues into the sharing of links to other sources to support your argument or to disprove the opposing side. This then leads to the trashing of any and all sources as either lies, completely biased, or just plain stupid. Then there's the section of the debate when both sides assure the other that Jesus is on their side. Were he still alive, he'd totally be out fighting for the cause of which we are fighting as well. And then it slips down to the level of name-calling and then of course the death knell of any debate: Godwin's Law. The first person who compares the other side to Hitler, loses. And ends the debate. And there you have, the life-cycle of the debate.

But what I am focusing on at the moment, is the part where people try to say that Jesus would have been on their side. I am a strong supporter of the separation of church and state, and I had the realization that this should trickle into my debating as well. Maybe it's time to leave Jesus out of it all. He was pretty non-political, really. He was more about stirring things up with religion, so maybe I need to try and leave Him to those types of debates instead. It might be difficult because it's such an easy thing to do. I will probably continue to fail miserably and continue to disappoint myself, but at least I am aware of it.

It's too bad we have to debate and argue sides in politics anyway. Instead of tearing each other down and trying to make others feel bad for their beliefs, it would be wonderful if we could all learn to see where each other comes from, and to find the good parts of each side, and combine them together into something strong and unbreakable. Maybe that was ultimately what Jeuse was about: If we could all learn to get along better and to live spiritually strong lives, maybe we wouldn't need politics at all?