Why I Hate “Politics” and Election Years

Most everything to hate about human nature comes out during election years.

It’s really disgusting.  It is embarrassing to a country, and should be embarrassing to the human race.

Here are a few things that bug me:

Voting for your party.  Too many people are staunch this or staunch that… they have been forever, or their parents and grandparents where.  And so that’s how they vote, regardless of the issues, regardless of the individual polititician, regardless of how the party votes/thinks (which evolves, doesn’t it?). Parties are flawed, and it’s ugly business on either side.

Voting based on superfluous stuff.  I heard that many middle-aged women voted for Bill Clinton because he was hot/cute/attractive. Seriously?  That’s how we make a decision on voting for a four year position to rule the country (and have a huge part in ruling the world)??? Because he is cute?

Not voting at all.  What’s the voter turnout rate? Ridiculously low.  Wine about where we are at but you have to realize the people voted into office can have a huge impact on our current laws, spending, budget, freedoms, etc.

All the talk about the Constitution without knowing anything about the Constitution. I’ve said that Americans, in general, are ignorant and lazy thinkers.  Some of the other things on this list show that (voting for cuteness, etc.).  I think stereotyping and generalizing help us become lazy, and not critically assess situation.  I’m guilty of this, but I know it is worse than where I’m at right now.  Even people scream about the politician might not have read the constitution (I haven’t, until recently).  No, reading it in high school does not count.  Personal study is where it’s at. I read an awesome quote (I can’t find it right now, it’s from The 5000 Year Leap) that says the Constitution deals more with human nature than specific government policy.  In that case, when will human nature be outdated??

Generalizing and Grouping and Stereotyping becomes rampant.  I remember last election the four candidates were described as “the black man, the Mormon, the woman, and the white man.”  Seriously? The news perpetuates our inability to think by continuing to use the labels.  Oh, if he’s black he must think this way.  Or if he’s a Mormon, or if she’s a woman, that must mean ____ and ____ and ____.  Just wrap it all up in a one-word-label so the dumb, lazy Americans don’t have to study the issues, and we can vote by how we generalize.

Voting based on who we are.  I think there’s an assumption that all blacks voted for Obama, because heck, wouldn’t it be cool and historical to have a Black man in office?  So, Blacks vote for Blacks.  People think Mormons are supposed to vote for Romney because he’s Mormon, right?  Folks, let’s vote for leadership and politics and ability to make change happen, not because they are our gender, or race, or color, or religion, etc.  Here’s a horrible headline on my local news site: An unprecedented presidential race for Black Mormons. (I’m not even going to link to the article)  Seriously?  This insinuates they are torn because they want to vote for their religion (not the right reason to vote for someone) and for their race (again, not the right reason to vote for someone).

We put too much emphasis on what a politician says they will do. A friend of mine said to study how the politician has voted on things in their past.  Study what they’ve done to learn who they are.  Don’t listen to campaign speeches because they are ALL LIES.   I watched a few speeches from both conventions but I thought “wow – how stupid are we to trust 20 minutes of promises from anyone… we need to go back to what their record has been!” But all over Facebook you’ll see people who are so passionate about what their politician promised…. folks, people lie all the time.  ALL THE TIME.  Politicians are in the business of saying the right thing to get the vote.  They are like the guy who is trying to impress the girl to get a date (or more).  But once the relationship progresses, they might change.  Common story, right?  Why put ALL your confidence in what is promised for 20 minutes, instead of looking at what has happened.

I got to get back to work, but these are some things that bug me about politics.  And it’s not just a U.S. problem.

1 thought on “Why I Hate “Politics” and Election Years

  1. reinkefj

    I’ve been voting for a long time and it doesn’t seem to make a difference. In fact, it only seems to get worse. I’ve been a Ron Paul fan for a long time. And, I thought this election it might be different. Einstein & insanity. He’d have given the folks a clear choice — anti-war, anti-big government, sound money, a pro-choice pro-lifer, strict constitutionalist, non-intervention foreign policy, but strong on national defense.

    In short, my dream candidate. But, the Republican establishment — specifically the liberal Rockefeller wing of the establishment — saw all their cushy crony capitalism going out the door in a Ron Paul administration. Heaven forbid, here’s a crazy old coot who means what he says and says what he means.

    So instead, we have one empty suit who wants four more years to bankrupt us, and another empty suit who promises the same destination but a slower trip.

    Argh!

    Pity the youngsters who have to suffer all this debt.

    imho!

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