*This is an edited version of a post I made in a FB group not long after the election. My audience was people who didn't mind reading my alternative take on the news and I was trying to be diplomatic and get both L and R friends step back to take an honest empathetic look at the other POV I really feel strongly that their is power in numbers and society needs to start waking up, in one way or another, one person at a time.*
I have had this idea in my head for a while, that rather than the linear political spectrum we so often picture, from left to right, that maybe there is a way to come full circle by changing the way we approach certain issues, and my questioning how we define our political priorities.Politicians who are politically moderate, have blurred the lines between democrat and republican.
There is very little difference to me between say Clinton(s) and McCain. They both lean respectively right and left socially to appeal to their voter base, but I see that as an insincere attempt to play a political game. But when I look at the issues they really feel strong about it, a huge theme is globalism, imperialism, inciting war for the theft of resources from foreign countries to the benefit of their corporate benefactors.
While social issues are extremely important, and the fight against prejudice and hate and sexism and bigotry should be constant, it feels like the media gets us so worked up that we actually think American hate crimes are worse than the foreign death. I am really genuinely confused as to why as a country we have completely glossed over the fact that Obama dropped a bomb every 20 minutes of 2016 and killed a countless amount of innocent foreigners. But, because he advanced social issues in a positive way, it's somehow ok? Is it ok?
I love that he legalized same sex marriage personally, but because he's charming and likable to so many liberals, I feel like there has been a huge blind eye turned to the fact that on war and foreign policy, Obama was actually worse that W. Bush, who I remember very well joining in the liberal outrage of. (I am digressing from my main point, but I will take a moment to say I am genuinely disheartened that neither political party has decided to step up and be the bigger person and stop playing the blame game while naively ignoring faults in their own candidates).
I think that politicians/leaders/media take real issues that are important, largely social issues, and hijack them, and exploit them, to advance their own agendas. They do it in such a way that if you question the motives and the pitfalls within a topic, you are attacked for opposing human rights issues.
I feel like I am mostly a liberal progressive. I am anti-war, anti-globalism, and above all else want us to stop spending money and lives on wars that are really about political and financial agenda above anything else. I care about the environment and education and human rights, and getting continuing dialogues to transcend discrimination. But, I kind of also embrace some really conservative views, too. I believe strongly in the right to bear arms. I think government spending is out of control and that some issues should be funded and handled on a state level (although I don't think Trump's axing of federal programs without addressing the dire state of many state's budgets is not the way to get there). I'm worried about my kids growing up with Common Core, but I'm not sure I have the extra budget to put them in a private school to try to avoid it. A lot of things on a federal level, start to turn into a one-size-fits-all solution that is not practical.
When I try to make sense of my own views, and the fact that I am no where near the moderates, but somehow straddling these two supposedly "Polar Opposite" sides, it really makes me wonder how we can change the conversation and HOW we talk about issues, in a way that actually promotes compromise and progress instead of the same old same old running around in circles.
I actually do not have strong views on some of the more polarizing issues, like abortion, because I genuinely can see and appreciate both sides of the narrative. At the end of the day, I do not think that abortion should be legal. Aside from the extenuating circumstances, of health risks/rape, etc, I feel very strongly against any form of government intervention on any medical procedure. Because conservatives typically want less government in their lives, I feel like that is an angle that should allow an engagement in productive discussion. We agree in less government, so let's not let them force a woman to make certain choices, but at the same time, what can we do to completely minimize the chances of a woman having an abortion - and do so in a way that is also sympathetic to the Christian values that founded this nation. Yes, providing birth control and sex education can do its part to curb unwanted pregnancy, but we still are not at all addressing the moral concerns of half of our country.
I think we need to have programs in place to educate on some basic ethics and human decency and respecting ourselves and others.
Teaching kids to have a self-esteem and to know its OK to say no and to understand the gravity of how precious life is before they engage in behavior that can recklessly alter and change the lives of both themselves and others. Why don't we talk about having incentive programs for those who are considering abortion. If a woman was willing to go to counseling, and take their pregnancy to term and give the baby up for adoption to save a life, then maybe they earn government assistance with the medical bills and maybe some kind of college scholarship to help them get back on their feet and move forward with the next chapter of life.
There has to be away to address the morality of the issue without infringing totally on human rights, and we have had far too many elections where passionate Christians are casting votes on this issue and this issue alone.
I have similar thoughts on how I think we could change the dialogue on climate change, but I'll let this be a starting point to hopefully open up discussion. Does anyone else feel they are on both sides of the aisle? Does anyone else every think about issues from a different perspective than the one that is beaten into us through the national narrative?
GOAL: find the common ground where those two end points in my sketch come closer together until they meet, and we can gravitate towards the top of that circle and abandon the war hawk mentality that is dominating our current leadership