Let's Talk Politics

I'm going to preface this post by saying it's going to get political in here. ;)

On Christmas I heard a cousin say something to the effect of "racist and redneck" in the same sentence as Republican as if the three were one and the same. As a non-racist, non-redneck Republican I took offense. Now I will say the individual she was speaking of is quite racist, likely redneck, and maybe Republican. However, I don't think being Republican made him a racist or redneck. (For purpose of this discussion I define racist as one who views people of other races as 'less than' one's own race. And I guess I define redneck as someone who is uninformed, and probably lacking in social graces.) Anyway it got me thinking about politics again. I haven't really been thinking about them since the election...

I was raised by Republican parents who taught me to respect others, to be tolerant of others' opinions and to make informed political decisions. No they did not sit down and lecture me with those three specific instructions. They taught by example. Some of my fondest memories are sitting around the dinner table having lively political discussions. I was never belittled for my opinion. I was encouraged to ask questions. My brother and I were always treated as equals with valuable opinions worthy of being heard. We all brought to the table (no pun intended) our own experiences and information. I still love discussing things with them now.

I am amazed at the number of people who are uninformed about politics, or rather about the government and current events. No I don't think everyone should get out and vote. I think you should only vote after you've researched at the very least the issues that are important to you. Making an uninformed decision is more irresponsible than not voting at all in my opinion.

After the election I saw a reporter interview several Democratic voters who supported Obama. He asked them questions about government and all the answers were wrong. For example they thought Congress was controlled by Republicans. They didn't know who key political figures were like Nancy Pelosi and they even didn't know certain quotes by their own candidate. I am sure there were McCain supporters who also didn't know key facts, but this interviewer was focusing on Obama supporters. My point is they were uninformed. Why would someone vote and not really know what the hell is going on, or have a basic understanding of the way government works? (ETA: I found the page with these interviews here.)

Oh well. It's all said and done now huh? We'll see how things shake out in the coming years. I think people give the position of President too much weight. I don't think Obama can single-handedly fix the economy any more than I think Bush was the sole person who ran it into the ground.

Okay jumping off the soapbox. More fluffy posts to follow! Thanks for reading.