Party Time!

I tend to avoid politics in my public everyday life, but I do have some strong views that sometimes go against the views of others of my beliefs. Confused? Let me explain.

I was raised Christian, which in the Northeast, means Republican. You vote for the person against homosexual marriage, against abortion, and against cloning and stem cell research. Lately, I've been disagreeing with this philosophy for a number of reasons.

  1. The President, while having the final say on a law, does not make or break laws in and of himself. Thus, their own personal convictions have less to do with the laws that are passed or not passed then those of our Senators and Representatives.
  2. This country is more or less a business. We have budgets, committees, other corporations (countries) that we do business with/against, shareholders (citizens), and products for sale.  Shouldn't our CEO (President) be the best person for the business, instead of the best leader in their Church/Synagogue/Temple/whatever?
  3. Morality shouldn't be legislated to begin with. For one thing, it doesn't work. For another thing, even Christians believe in "Free Will," since that's what God created us for to begin with. It's better for someone to choose to do the right thing, rather than be frightened into being moral under threat of punishment. Change of hearts, not change of government.
  4. All politicians lie. They don't all mean to, it's just how it works. They will give the "right" answers to whoever is asking the questions, so just because they say they're against abortion, or for educational reform, or they'll lower taxes doesn't mean any of that is really true. It doesn't matter what party they're from, or what part of the country they call home, or what religion they claim for their own.
All these things together, plus the last eight years not being quite what I'd expected when I voted for the good-ol-boy Texan, and I'm changing my party this time. I'm no longer a Republican. I'm a Libertarian, and I'm probably voting Democrat. Let the hate mail begin.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No news, just feelings (Imported from benvscancer.com 23AUG15)

23 August 2015 As the title suggests, there’s nothing new here, so if you’re looking for more news, you can go back now. Tomorrow I start the chemotherapy and radiation, and honestly, I’d rather not have to. I’ve been reading the information provided by the doctors, clinical studies, blogs, listening to podcasts (Jesse vs Cancer – not family friendly by any means), and hanging out on some forums, but I still feel like I’m not prepared for this. Despite how many people go through cancer and cancer treatments, it’s a disease that is very isolating. I have no idea what to expect tomorrow, and that’s partly because the treatments are very personalized. Bloodwork is done, and then the drugs are prepared tailored for exactly how you are that day. You may experience neuropathy, you may not. Your hair may fall out, it may not. You may end up with a different color hair after, or curly or straight, or you may not. You could get constipation or diarrhea (but not both) or you may not....
Read more

Waking up early (Imported from benvscancer.com 14AUG15)

14 August 2015 July 10: I went in for my upper endoscopy, and possible dilation of the stricture, not a big deal, but it was the first time I had an IV, and the first time I’d had anesthesia. My mother let me know that she often is more sensitive to the anesthesia than they expect, so I let them know that. The anesthesiologist was eccentric (as I expect they all are) but I had complete confidence in him. I asked how long the procedure should take, and they told me the endoscopy would be about 45 minutes, and if they were able to dilate the stricture it would be another 20 minutes. I was looking forward to being able to eat a piece of pizza or a McDonald’s cheeseburger after the procedure. When I woke up, I asked what time it was, and it was only 50 minutes after the procedure had started, so I knew there was no cheeseburger in my future that day. My wife and four kids came in. They had been at the park next door to the hospital for the procedure. The doctor told me that he found...
Read more

The Start of a Long Journey (Imported from benvscancer.com 13AUG15)

13 August 2015 July 1, 2015: A supper like any other. A cheeseburger with my wife and four kids. Unlike others though, I couldn’t swallow the cheeseburger. I choked on it, and coughed half of it back up in the sink. My dad, who has Barrett’s Esophagus, said “You’d better get that checked out.” Two weeks later, I had my diagnosis. After I cleaned up from supper, I went upstairs and messaged my doctor asking for an appointment (Hooray for the online patient portal!). The next day I had one for the day after that. I went into the office on Friday morning at 7 (right next door to work, so I wasn’t even late) and he set me up for a barium swallow at the local hospital the next Monday morning. I went to work, asked for the time off, and prepared for my routine exam. Monday came, I did the barium swallow, they could see that I was having trouble right then. By the way, (TMI alert!) you poop out heavy poops for a week after that. Little white things that sink right to the bottom of ...
Read more