Disjointed Kitsch

I generally vote Republican although I consider myself and independent. I’m not on the far right wing and I’m definitely not as far left as Billary. My first vote ever was for Regan’s first presidency. I voted for Ross. I’ve voted for Democrats when I thought they could do the job better than a Republican and I’ve voted straight ticket Republican when I thought the democrats were just too far left.

Ever since Nixon I feel like we’ve lived in a “gotcha” politics world. Some part of the political segment, the press, or some special interest is out there to rip the target “du jour” up and cast him/her in an unfavorable light in order to score on their political agenda.

As an American first, not Republican or Democrat, I find this behavior disgusting. I’ve gotten so fed up that I’ve refused to engage in political dialog with just about anyone until the political discourse in this country moves away from the “gotcha” politics and move into one that represents the true spirit of America.

When I review how our country was founded and how it grew, I see cooperation and consensus building as cornerstones of our political process. Where has that gone? Are we so caught up in proving the other side wrong that we’ve forgotten that the best solutions are often forged out of compromise and blended ideas rather than a black and white choice between punishing alternatives? Frankly, I hate the political climate today.

I am interested in Barack Obama’s message of unity and hope, not a divided America, not red vs blue, but red and blue, all colors, facing the challenges and grabbing opportunities in a spirit of mutual respect, trust, and a willingness to cooperate. I find it extremely interesting that the candidates generating the most excitement in either party are not the ones on the fringes appealing to the party base but those attempting to move the discussion toward the middle. John McCain isn’t a far right Republican and Barack, although more left than I’d like, has a message that’s more in line with my hopes and dreams than Billary’s mesage of division and discontent.

I’m not predicting an outcome but whomever is elected I hope that the political dialog in this country stops being about “gotcha” and start being about finding common ground through compromise and mutual respect.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.