The Political Minefield

I felt the need to write this in response to some of the comments I have received regarding a hub I posted about why I thought Barack Obama was wrong for the United States. I got an overwhelming number of comments, some of them agreeing with me, some of them thanking me for the information I provided, and a great number of them telling me that I was wrong. I appreciate all of these comments, even if someone is disagreeing with me. At least people are speaking their mind, and I'm glad that what I wrote got them thinking. However, some of these comments had little to do with my Hub, the actual issue of Barack Obama, or the 2008 election. I approved every comment I received. I will not deny someone's comment just because they don't agree with me; even when they call me names. I feel it is the last resort of a person with no valid argument, to sling insults and start name calling.

I am neither Republican nor Democrat. I am not a Libertarian, nor am I a member of the Green Party, either. I really don't feel that I have a political affiliation. I do not agree with any one party on every issue. I am very liberal when it comes to certain issues, and very conservative when it comes to other issues. I define things more in terms of leanings between liberal and conservative, than I do along strict party lines. In fact, I am not a huge fan of the two party system at all. I feel that it forces the American public to take a "lesser-of-the-two-evils" stance on things. We end up asking ourselves, "Who is less scary? Who do we feel less worried about?" I don't like that. There is something fundamentally wrong with that.

I also have a problem with the current voting system as a whole. The electoral college is kind of a weird thing. We vote for who we want, but it's really up to them? It hardly seems fair. Who are these people that make up this electoral college? I don't entirely understand the system, and therefore, I am wary of it. But, since I don't understand it entirely, I am not going to say it is right or wrong, just that it concerns me.

I do not like Barack Obama. I have watched a lot of news coverage on both of the major candidates, I have researched several of the candidates to see where they stand on issues that really matter to me, and have read, and seen, a lot about both John McCain and Barack Obama. There is very little information out there about any of the third party or independent candidates, which I see as a little unfair. It gives the whole system a strong two-party bias. In response to that, I had done a series of hubs on all of the candidates, and may do so again, for the 2012 election. I gave an overview of who they are, where they stood on a variety of issues, that sort of thing. I had set it aside, and almost decided not to do it. Considering the attention that I got for that one Hub about Obama, I reconsidered it. I figured it would be a good way to get information out there for everyone to see about who ALL the candidates are, and where they stand.

-Since originally publishing this, I have gone ahead with my original idea of covering every candidate, including a brief biography and their stance on a variety of issues. It was a lot of work, but I feel that it was worthwhile, especially for me.

I don't like Congress. I feel that there should be term limits on Congress. I feel that it should be the way that it was originally intended in the very beginning. We should elect someone from the states and areas that we live in, to represent us, and they should go to Washington and actually represent us and our wants and needs, instead of their own. I don't feel they should be able to vote themselves raises again and again, while taking months and months to accomplish anything that would do real good for this country. After serving their time, representing the people, they should return to their lives and let someone else have a crack at it. This helps to end the problem of lobbyists, career politicians, and a lot of the problems we have in this country. If these politicians had to return to the private sector, they would probably be a lot more careful about how the laws they pass would affect themselves. Of course, that will never happen, because Congress would have to vote on it. Who would voluntarily vote themselves out of a cushy job?

In one comment, someone said I was hiding my true racial hatred behind my long speeches. I am not racist. Why does this person think I am racist? I have no idea. The only thing I can think of is because I was writing less than glowing things about Barack Obama. The issue of his race never came up, except to talk about Rev. Wright, and the culture of African-American churches. I never said anything bad about African-American churches. I said that they were more than just a place you went on a Sunday. I said that it was a culture all its own, and that people go for community and social interaction. Isn't community a good thing?

Am I racist just because I brought up actual facts about Barack Obama that someone didn't want to hear? Am I racist just because he happens to be black? I don't care what race he is. I don't agree with a lot of the things the man has to say, and I don't trust him because of the associations that he has had. The biggest thing I don't like about him has to do with the Tony Rezko scandal. It has to do with corruption in Chicago politics (corruption in Chicago politics? For those from Illinois, this comes as no surprise), and a majority of the people involved in the political scandal involving Tony Rezko are white!!! How does that make me racist?? I really don't know.

I honestly don't know what else to say about this. I am not racist. I could say all the usual things, but it wouldn't matter. I could fight back, and argue until my fingers fall off, but unless you actually know me, you may never believe what I have to say. I have never said anything remotely racist to anyone, and I don't feel that there is one racist comment in anything I have published here on HubPages.

It is true, when two people are running for the same office, and one of them is of a different race, the issue always comes up in one way or another. So far, the only person to bring up the issue of race in this election has been Barack Obama himself. He made a comment about not looking like the other guys on the dollar bills. McCain has never said one word about his race, or that we should be afraid of Obama because he isn't white. Who cares what race he is? Can he do a good job serving as President? That is the only question that matters to me.

Since writing this, the race issue has become a rather hotbed all it's own. Liberal nuts like Chris Matthews at MSNBC have found racism in everything from mentioning Chicago to owning a gun, to a plethora of other ridiculous things. Playing the race card has become so commonplace, that after the Emmys the other day, people flooded Twitter with cries of racism because Claire Danes won for best actress instead of Kerry Washington. Both are fantastic actresses, both very deserving of the award. Cries of racism in this case just seems rather idiotic.

Re-reading through this, I have come to believe that little has changed in the political landscape. There is still an abundant amount of name-calling, mud-slinging, and terrible behavior. It comes from politicians, pundants and ordinary people, alike. The race card is still being thrown around in regards to Obama, no matter what the real issue is. "I don't like Obamacare!"..."Oh, you're just a racist!" It really makes no sense.

Why can't we get past the petty, surface BS, and get down to the real issues? Why is Congress spending more time trying to make our lives more difficult, and less time trying to fix the problems we have? It falls on both sides of the aisle, and also on the head of the President, himself, no matter who he chooses to blame. That is a part of leadership; taking responsibility. That is something that Obama seems opposed to.

This current election cycle has been especially ugly. Obama still blaming Bush for everything from war, to the still struggling economy, to global warming, and who knows what else. People on the side of Obama still playing the race card (that thing has got to be getting a little worn out at this point), those on the side of Obama calling Mitt Romney a felon, murderer, and many other things, and then calling for civility in politics. Hmmm...doesn't seem right, does it?

I don't see the major issues with the political system changing any time soon. It makes me sad to see how far down we have dragged ourselves, but I do hope we start to claw our way back up to the top.

Every time I revisit this page, I find so much has gotten worse, instead of better. I saw a picture the other day of the adopted grandchild of Mitt Romney. This found it's way to Twitter, as so many things do, where I was appalled at the hateful, evil comments I saw about this baby. The baby is African-American, and the comments from those that seem to hate Mitt Romney were deplorable. I saw comments saying that the Romney's were going to make him a slave, or teach him self hate. Why do people have to be so terrible to each other?

I have seen comments from liberals saying that people they disagree with should be killed, or that they wish death upon their families. It is disgusting. My faith in humanity is shaken. I just don't understand how people feel that it is ok to treat others that way, and then turn around and preach tolerance. How tolerant are you if you are wishing death upon the children of someone you disagree with? That isn't even close to the definition of tolerance. Unless you define tolerance as being tolerant of anyone, as long as they agree with you.