I am amazed at how much time I've put into my political discussions this year, and as a result, I feel a true shift in my personal political maturity. In the past, I've been more of a political party "fan" I guess you could say. My basic process was to side with my team as if it was a football game and I wanted Auburn to "win" and Alabama to "lose". Recognizing that this is reckless and certainly not a behavior I wish to pass on to my daughter, I've shifted gears and given a lot of my time over to pouring through articles related to this election, and not just those related to one candidate, but to everyone. I've been reading newspapers, CNN, FOX news, MSNBC, REUTERS, The New York Times, and as much information as I can find for both candidates (and their running mates). I listen to the radio and I've been sitting on my couch after putting Clare to bed for the last two weeks watching both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention. All the while, making notes and deciding what I like and don't like about everyone involved.
I watched both presidential candidates speak passionately about their vision. I was uplifted by both of their acceptance speeches and I am certainly looking forward to the next couple of months.
I do not feel like I can make an informed decision by not doing my homework, so I study. I study so that there is no doubt in me when I cast my ballot. I study so that I can have intelligent and calm conversations with people about issues rather than dwell on inflammatory topics that seem to make any conversation about politics backslide and really have no end. I study the party policies, I study the words of the candidates, I study the past as best as I can, and I study the vision of the future...the nuances of what they mean when they say "I will do
". I study the "truths" that both parties laud, I study the "lies" that they tell too (and both sides have been stretching a little so far). I absolutely despise the fear mongering that each side uses to mobilize their base. I tend to believe we as a people are smarter than this and as time passes I believe that more and more. I believe people want to check the facts now. I believe that people want to like or dislike someone based on truths, not half truths or mostly truths, but full truths. So, I study and I study and I study. Not with the ultimate goal of who will win this election only, but with the goal of understanding this process better and myself in this process. Both parties have some really great ideas. What sucks is that they cannot be combined. It's as if once one parties lights on something, the other one immediately has to disagree. It's such an interesting and tragic part of this formula. We talk about bipartisanship, but I think we're just outgrowing a two party system. There need to be more options because the two party system just promotes these cavernous disparities. It's the old "your either with us or you're against us" mentality. I suppose in my heart, I'm the true definition of an independent in that I pick and chose from both sides. I do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water by devaluing an entire subset of the American people and saying that your way is wrong...period, end of discussion.
In conclusion to this lengthy blog, I've determined that like it or not, both men love this country. Like it or not, both have a vision for the future with quite a few similarities about what needs to happen, but gaping disparities on how they will do it. Both men are making history with their campaigns (and this cannot be a bad thing no matter how much you dislike someone). Both men recognize that something in the system is broken, and both want to fix it (just in different ways). Both men are at least attempting to bring a positive side to politics even though thus far it's been crude and imperfect at best coming out of both campaigns. I regret that it's still a conversation had between two men, but I'm so proud that minorities and women have been such a HUGE part of the campaign up to this point. Ultimately, no matter what is right or wrong with this country, no matter what is right or wrong with this process, it's still the best process in the world and it's still amazing to have a voice and to be heard.