Politics

I never divulge who I vote for, so read the “if I voted for…” as hypotheticals. I love that this country allows you to vote privately and to me, my vote is a private matter. Period. I never get political on my blog for several reasons. Politics are not what this blog is about and because quite honestly, politics make me nervous. People are SO opinionated about them. And to be honest, I have very little faith in politics.

Politics bother me. People have this black and white view where you are either Red or Blue. If you are Red, you are against equality, you are against human rights, you are against helping people, you are rich, you are religious, and you are shallow and narrow-minded. If you are Blue, you are helpless and dependent on government handouts, you believe in socialism, you want a classless system, and you are unsuccessful.

I hate that people generalize this way. It really bothers me that the assumption is, if I vote Red, I am against same sex marriage, I am against a women’s right to choose, I am against equality and that I am against human rights in general. It bothers me that if I vote Blue I have my hand out, I want the rich to take care of me and I have no traditional values and morals.

The only admissions I will make are these: I cross party lines. A lot. I vote Red. I vote Blue. I vote with my heart and 90%  99% of the time I dislike BOTH options. I have no faith in politics because all they are is hidden agendas with big money backers that push for what is best for THEM and not what is best for AMERICA.

My beliefs cross both lines. They are Red and they are Blue. I do not understand why we have to insist that if you vote one way, you are narrow-minded toward that one way of thinking.

All that to say, the red tape involved with politics makes it so that nothing gets done. We get so focused on the national politics that we forget that the most important politics are the ones that are local. Through local politics, we can make a difference in the communities in which we live. Education can be fixed on a community level – if you live in a place where families find value with education, they find a way to fund that education with their local votes on local measures and local leaders. I think that if we spent more time looking at who our local leaders were and focusing on that rather than the big government races, our communities would be places we are proud of that make important what we ourselves believe is important.

I am sick of assumptions and generalities – I am tired of people making people feel like they are terrible for voting one way or the other. We have the privilege of voting and that privilege is not extended to just the people who vote like you vote or like I vote. It is, in part, what makes our nation great.

And that is my political soapbox, or whatever you want to call it. It is probably the first and last time I will ever take up politics on my blog.  And one more thing, I am so sick of politics on Facebook. Some much hate…