Politics Time... Again...
With all of the attention on the political landscape lately, and all of the fun little bits of information that keep coming out on various and sundry related topics, I felt that I'd get in on some of the little bits of underlying fun and games that I've noticed occurring.
You just gotta just loooooove those double-standards. No, seriously, you *have* to love them, otherwise everything we're being told about ourselves as citizens or as a country are nothing more than hot air and propaganda. We apparently have nothing to be proud of as Americans, we only created the majority of the modern world's major technologies, we only made some of the hardest moral decisions before they became popular, and we only worked hard to make and keep ourselves as free as we could.
But, before you actually get a chance to remember or realize this, you first need to listen to what you're being told with everything you read or hear. Want to watch a movie or a TV show? Chances are it will paint anyone who isn't an ultra-liberal and/or a Democrat as someone who often can't stand to meet reality head-on, often showing those people as having some form of religiously cult-ish views on, well, anything and everything... And if they're *men* too? Well then you can just forget any sense of them being rational or intelligent as soon as you add that nasty high-testosterone cocktail into the biological mix.... but that's a different topic, though still a pet peeve, and is slightly beyond the "simple" politics. But, alas, there's little chance for that changing these days with the media outlets and the education systems geared almost entirely toward pushing such a socialist and pacifistic agenda as they are.
It's too bad that all of the sedition and undermining that we've been experiencing started all the way back when we *thought* we could trust our fellow citizens to do the same things *we* were to keep ourselves and our country strong. The current Democratic way of life, as suggested by many of the current Democratic presidential candidate's views, is to become the very thing we once went to war against. We, as citizens, apparently need to have more government control over every aspect of our lives. We should be spending more at the federal level to support more public services where the people who can barely afford to pay the taxes to support them won't qualify to receive them. We need to blame anyone other than ourselves for the problems we helped cause, and we need to make *lots* of money while doing it. You, as a citizen, or, heck, even as an illegal alien, *deserve* to have everything that your neighbor had to work hard to attain *handed* to you with a pat on the head and an 'attaboy' while that same neighbor gets one step closer to losing everything because he now has to pay for *your* stuff as well as his own. You also need to believe that physical conflict is the last option of a desperately ill-mannered person... After all, no physical conflict ever brought anything but tears and broken hearts. Forget past wars. Forget everything that we have fought and died for as a country, forget what we stand for and embrace your Socialistic... er... Democratic heritage and think mean thoughts about anyone and everyone we don't like (which is anyone but us Democrats, but don't tell *them* that).
I'll admit that the Republican party is doing a small fraction of this kind of thing too, but it seems to be happening more either as some twisted form of self-defense (you poke me, I can poke you back), or by persuasive individuals "switching sides" and following the same playbook they had memorized from their old party.
Unfortunately, all of this ties together in a way that's disturbing enough to anyone willing to see it, but few actually have the time to pause to do so.
I'll guarantee that a lot of people out there can't even define half of the terms they use to describe anything they don't like.... I'd even say that many of them couldn't even define the terms used for the things they *do* like. Things as simple as "liberal" and "conservative", or even "democracy" and "republic," better yet the parties named after those particular types of representative government. Don't believe me?
Before I go on, a bit of a disclaimer: I am neither a Democrat, nor am I a Republican.... that ever so helpful and informative little voter registration card I filled out railroaded me smack-dab into that little checkbox labelled "Third Party" (or "Other" as I've seen on a few registration cards). That means that I don't get to vote in *any* primary (uness that mythical "Third Party" actually has primaries, which I've never heard of). So for a three-party system, that third one sure doesn't seem to get much press, or mention... or notice for that matter..... The closest actual political party I've come across that shares many of my political beliefs besides "Me, Myself, and I" is the Libertarian party, and even then, I don't agree with them on everything... but I digress.
I'll include the definitions I use that I have understood, through observation and through the shameless use of dictionary.com, in any political or economic debate or argument:
liberal
non-political: lavish; generous; tolerant of change; given or giving freely; not literal
political: lavish; characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts; favorable to progress or reform whether necessary or not; feel no need for "the old ways"
conservative
non-political: cautiously moderate or purposefully low; traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness; having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative
political: advocating the preservation of the best in society and opposing radical changes; avoiding novelty or showiness
democracy
A form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system
republic
A state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.
capitalism
An economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.
socialism (economic *and* political... this one has two aspects to it)
economic: A theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
political: The stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.
communism
economic: A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
political: A system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.
fascism (I threw this one in because I've actually heard it used against anyone not a liberal Democrat)
A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
For contrast, this particular bit [markshannon.com] is more interesting if you replace "Republicans" with "conservatives" and "Democrats" with "liberals", though a good number of people out there will automatically and mindlessly equate the two as the good little trained monkeys that they are... though in all fairness, you'd likely be better served by replacing them with "capitalists" and "socialists/communists" respectively.
Here's an interesting little comparison between Democrats and Republicans [americanpolitics.com], which actually points out several problems with *both* parties, though the Republican side of things is a bit over-blown, almost like the author couldn't really find anything obviously wrong and had to make something up. Generally anything concerning religion, criminal prosecution, or military control are all obviously overblown for all but the most extreme of the extremists.
Now, This is a good rundown of the main differences and stances of the two major parties [blogspot.com] if you're looking for a good, non-biased (or as close as I've ever seen to one) comparison between the parties.
You just gotta just loooooove those double-standards. No, seriously, you *have* to love them, otherwise everything we're being told about ourselves as citizens or as a country are nothing more than hot air and propaganda. We apparently have nothing to be proud of as Americans, we only created the majority of the modern world's major technologies, we only made some of the hardest moral decisions before they became popular, and we only worked hard to make and keep ourselves as free as we could.
But, before you actually get a chance to remember or realize this, you first need to listen to what you're being told with everything you read or hear. Want to watch a movie or a TV show? Chances are it will paint anyone who isn't an ultra-liberal and/or a Democrat as someone who often can't stand to meet reality head-on, often showing those people as having some form of religiously cult-ish views on, well, anything and everything... And if they're *men* too? Well then you can just forget any sense of them being rational or intelligent as soon as you add that nasty high-testosterone cocktail into the biological mix.... but that's a different topic, though still a pet peeve, and is slightly beyond the "simple" politics. But, alas, there's little chance for that changing these days with the media outlets and the education systems geared almost entirely toward pushing such a socialist and pacifistic agenda as they are.
It's too bad that all of the sedition and undermining that we've been experiencing started all the way back when we *thought* we could trust our fellow citizens to do the same things *we* were to keep ourselves and our country strong. The current Democratic way of life, as suggested by many of the current Democratic presidential candidate's views, is to become the very thing we once went to war against. We, as citizens, apparently need to have more government control over every aspect of our lives. We should be spending more at the federal level to support more public services where the people who can barely afford to pay the taxes to support them won't qualify to receive them. We need to blame anyone other than ourselves for the problems we helped cause, and we need to make *lots* of money while doing it. You, as a citizen, or, heck, even as an illegal alien, *deserve* to have everything that your neighbor had to work hard to attain *handed* to you with a pat on the head and an 'attaboy' while that same neighbor gets one step closer to losing everything because he now has to pay for *your* stuff as well as his own. You also need to believe that physical conflict is the last option of a desperately ill-mannered person... After all, no physical conflict ever brought anything but tears and broken hearts. Forget past wars. Forget everything that we have fought and died for as a country, forget what we stand for and embrace your Socialistic... er... Democratic heritage and think mean thoughts about anyone and everyone we don't like (which is anyone but us Democrats, but don't tell *them* that).
I'll admit that the Republican party is doing a small fraction of this kind of thing too, but it seems to be happening more either as some twisted form of self-defense (you poke me, I can poke you back), or by persuasive individuals "switching sides" and following the same playbook they had memorized from their old party.
Unfortunately, all of this ties together in a way that's disturbing enough to anyone willing to see it, but few actually have the time to pause to do so.
I'll guarantee that a lot of people out there can't even define half of the terms they use to describe anything they don't like.... I'd even say that many of them couldn't even define the terms used for the things they *do* like. Things as simple as "liberal" and "conservative", or even "democracy" and "republic," better yet the parties named after those particular types of representative government. Don't believe me?
Before I go on, a bit of a disclaimer: I am neither a Democrat, nor am I a Republican.... that ever so helpful and informative little voter registration card I filled out railroaded me smack-dab into that little checkbox labelled "Third Party" (or "Other" as I've seen on a few registration cards). That means that I don't get to vote in *any* primary (uness that mythical "Third Party" actually has primaries, which I've never heard of). So for a three-party system, that third one sure doesn't seem to get much press, or mention... or notice for that matter..... The closest actual political party I've come across that shares many of my political beliefs besides "Me, Myself, and I" is the Libertarian party, and even then, I don't agree with them on everything... but I digress.
I'll include the definitions I use that I have understood, through observation and through the shameless use of dictionary.com, in any political or economic debate or argument:
liberal
non-political: lavish; generous; tolerant of change; given or giving freely; not literal
political: lavish; characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts; favorable to progress or reform whether necessary or not; feel no need for "the old ways"
conservative
non-political: cautiously moderate or purposefully low; traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness; having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative
political: advocating the preservation of the best in society and opposing radical changes; avoiding novelty or showiness
democracy
A form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system
republic
A state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.
capitalism
An economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.
socialism (economic *and* political... this one has two aspects to it)
economic: A theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
political: The stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.
communism
economic: A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
political: A system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.
fascism (I threw this one in because I've actually heard it used against anyone not a liberal Democrat)
A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
For contrast, this particular bit [markshannon.com] is more interesting if you replace "Republicans" with "conservatives" and "Democrats" with "liberals", though a good number of people out there will automatically and mindlessly equate the two as the good little trained monkeys that they are... though in all fairness, you'd likely be better served by replacing them with "capitalists" and "socialists/communists" respectively.
Here's an interesting little comparison between Democrats and Republicans [americanpolitics.com], which actually points out several problems with *both* parties, though the Republican side of things is a bit over-blown, almost like the author couldn't really find anything obviously wrong and had to make something up. Generally anything concerning religion, criminal prosecution, or military control are all obviously overblown for all but the most extreme of the extremists.
Now, This is a good rundown of the main differences and stances of the two major parties [blogspot.com] if you're looking for a good, non-biased (or as close as I've ever seen to one) comparison between the parties.