"Truth, Justice and the American Way." That used to be Superman's slogan, the words he lived by and the words I grew up with. I believe it was "Lil' Abner who said "good is better than evil because it is gooder!"
I do not like politics. A political discussion is mostly uncomfortable, seldom enlightening, often stressful and fraught with lies, always failed promises and contain contradicting statistics. We are contradicting creatures. We live in a very complex world.
To me, and by definition, to be a citizen is a verb. It is a gift. It is a right and comes with responsibilities.
To abandon participation in government is the system of China allowing a governance by committee and regulation by force. Mexico regulates by fear. By beheading and violence. In the United States we set up our government by agreement, by consent of the people. In order for this to work we have to have an idea of what is going on.
Sometimes I feel as though the different political camps in our country are the last vestiges of tribal beliefs.
Kind of like the Hatfield's and the McCoys. We develop our belief system and only feed it, afraid another plate might contain some kind of poison.
I eat from every plate. More than anything I want to understand. I like to know what is going on.
I want to play too! I want to participate, to be a citizen. I read both sides. Every coin actually has three sides and I read all of them.
When it comes to voting, when it is just me in a darkened booth, that is when I have my biggest dilemma.
There are all of the different issues and there are all the different facets of me.
Do I vote my pocket book or my morals? Do I vote my best interest or my children's? or for me or my neighbors? for the future or now?
It always amazes me how "American Idol" can muster more votes than an American election. How some could think that their votes count there but not in real life?
I grew up with Superman and still am after truth and justice. That takes some work on my part but that too is "the American Way".
I can be found HERE too!
I do not like politics. A political discussion is mostly uncomfortable, seldom enlightening, often stressful and fraught with lies, always failed promises and contain contradicting statistics. We are contradicting creatures. We live in a very complex world.
To me, and by definition, to be a citizen is a verb. It is a gift. It is a right and comes with responsibilities.
To abandon participation in government is the system of China allowing a governance by committee and regulation by force. Mexico regulates by fear. By beheading and violence. In the United States we set up our government by agreement, by consent of the people. In order for this to work we have to have an idea of what is going on.
Sometimes I feel as though the different political camps in our country are the last vestiges of tribal beliefs.
Kind of like the Hatfield's and the McCoys. We develop our belief system and only feed it, afraid another plate might contain some kind of poison.
I eat from every plate. More than anything I want to understand. I like to know what is going on.
I want to play too! I want to participate, to be a citizen. I read both sides. Every coin actually has three sides and I read all of them.
When it comes to voting, when it is just me in a darkened booth, that is when I have my biggest dilemma.
There are all of the different issues and there are all the different facets of me.
Do I vote my pocket book or my morals? Do I vote my best interest or my children's? or for me or my neighbors? for the future or now?
It always amazes me how "American Idol" can muster more votes than an American election. How some could think that their votes count there but not in real life?
I grew up with Superman and still am after truth and justice. That takes some work on my part but that too is "the American Way".
I can be found HERE too!
3 comments:
The American way use to mean something different I think than it does now. Truth and justice use to be a wonderful thing as well, now it's hard to come by. I'm the same way, I want to be a part of it all too. After all without citizens doing their part the original idea has no meaning. For me my vote always goes for whats best for the country as a whole. I never understood people voting party only. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Easy enough to feel as though your vote doesn't matter. Or at least that is how I feel. Wasted energy, wasted time, and no one listens to me anyway. Must admit that I vote my morals, ethics, and convictions. They have never led me astray. Emotions have, but those things? Never!
I vote. I registered when I turned 18 since that was newly allowed. I think it matters. My daughter hates to hear people say they won't vote for the person of their choice because "they don't really have a chance at being elected". Well, maybe they would if the voters would vote what they believe and not turn it into a game. Then, my sister won't vote anymore as she was accused of trying to vote twice in one election (someone voted on her name somehow before she got to the polling place) and another time she was threatened with arrest for the same thing. Something screwy was going on in PA back then but that was many years ago. Still, she "learned her lesson" and won't vote. Oh, there are all sorts of reasons for the way things happen but it's important to see all three sides of the coin as you put it and then make up your mind and vote. If peoples' tongues were truly kept from whining after an election if they didn't vote, everyone would do their voting as we really seem to want to whine, complain and harangue!
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