What's with us? That's a Question I often have to ask myself after the elections, and some of the junk that has been reported to me about how people are already so outraged at Obama winning this election. Frankly, I'm not going to offer my outright and blind support to Obama, and wasn't the best fan of either candidate this election. I was even lucky to be living on a college campus where even though the majority of the campus goes the way of the Republicans, they're the same peaceful majority that politely let Sen. Harry Reid present his own disagreements with what they said in a forum address, and wrote their editorials the following days, without some mass rally against him. The most I heard election night was not a series of Boos, but a light series of cheers when, as I later found, Obama won that night. So the Republican majority here acted in peace, fairly enough, at the dominantly Republican, heavily LDS school known as Brigham Young University, as far as I saw.
But, given the news that I had heard elsewhere around the nation, that wasn't quite the case, as well as the massive bombardment that came across the internet to me from some of my friends, that we are finally in an "Obama Nation" I was absolutely fed up with this crap, being an independent and a non-partisan. The fears annoyed me heavily, but reminded me even more about what has happened four or eight years earlier, with two other presidential elections for another candidate. I remember similar reactions going on when Bush won the White House, once because he won through the electoral college, and another time because he won completely, whilst many in the nation were against the Iraq War, and against the way we were waging the war on terrorism. In both cases, I remember seeing the same bombardment of things claiming how much Bush would screw up the nation for the right-wing. I would ask myself, why predict the end of the world on Bush already, when there's plenty of stories circulating about what he's done? But how many of you have asked him? Or have many of you driven around with the bumper stickers saying No More Bushit! Or predictions reaching back as far as 2000, that he would screw up our nation totally, or that when terrorists attacked us on September 11, 2001, in a number of key places, that we would have some sort of failure, and be cynical about his politics so easily. Or maybe, though you would certainly not admit to this possibly now, thought he would actually amazingly reform America for the Conservative Good, after 8 years of Clinton?
I write this now because I see the same negative attitudes reported about Obama, even though he has not yet taken office, or even performed a presidential action. I ask the same question to you. Have you already hoped cynically for the man with regards to terrorism, or the economy, or him instituting Communism? I certainly don't, and neither should you. Neither should you be part of hoping for stuff when American lives are at stake, or when the world's economy is at stake, and many of our jobs are at stake, all for the sake of getting a guy who believes what you want into office? The truth is you shouldn't. You shouldn't be hoping for a man to make a bad decision, but you should hope that he'll try his best. If he doesn't make your expectations, you don't have to just agree with his decisions, you can be polite about it, and express this through appeals, through peaceful protests, or simply not voting for his re-election in the next 4 years. But it's just as irrational as the anti-Bush antagonists, as cynical and rediculous as they were 4 or 8 years ago, to simply hope for the worst in Obama, just like Bush's, dealings with the economy before he takes office, or is re-innaugurated.
And then again you ask, where's the real "change that we can believe in" this election. It starts with you the people, it starts with you the people learning about what our president's constitutional duties really are, and learning that though the laws and government policies don't favor your views, you can take it, and you can endure it. It begins with you learning to overcome your passion for liberalism and conservativism. Not to abandon your beliefs altogether, but to actually carry some positive hope, or even pray that Bush, in his last days as our president, and Obama, in his first term in office, may be guided to do the right thing. Of course, neither will do "the right thing" all the time, but it's the attitude that we have which counts. American and world lives are on the line, and it's not worth it to hope that Obama or Bush in his last days will totally screw us up, it's our lives on the line, and they're not worth it for the sake of anyone's political gain. Respect the official in office whether you agree with them or not, if you don't agree with what they're doing, you have the right to ask of them, or to not vote for their re-election.
As for expectations of Obama, just as it's not rational or a good expectation to expect failure from him on behalf of terrorism and the economy, it's also important not to expect too much of him. No president is 100% moderate, and no president makes decisions based on what exactly any voter wanted him/her to do. If it was true, why sign any bills, because the president's perfectly open to such a wide variety of beliefs, that conflict one with another. If someone has any beliefs in Obama as being supernaturally better than previous presidents, it's wise to drop them now, because no president ever has reached everyone at any one time, and there are plenty of problems that aren't Obama's or the government's to solve, he's just a human being and prone to error, so start seeing him that way or you're bound to be either seriously disappointed through him not making what you wish, or disappointed through being a supporter of him beyond all reason of what's really going on.
Though I guess, after having written all of this out that the real idea behind all of this is the extreme passion many of us have for politics, the idea that many of us simply just need to vote with loyalty to a particular party, because we stubbornly see that as something that guarantees our cause all the time. That part is what needs to change, generally because either party can have corrupt members, that fail to serve in certain capacities where they're really needed. Mitt Romney, a social and fiscal conservative, managed to find election in the Democratic State of Massachusetts, because they frankly needed to get a balanced budget, a storm of vetos to cut expenses, and ease the case against the corporate sector to encourage more employment from the whole and needed to get a break from the same ol' system. Frankly, the same thing happened when I ended up voting for Obama on election day, the grand old party, or GOP, wasn't truly conservative for the past few years. Their own candidate, despite his neccessity in being a compromising moderate in the Senate, already showed non-fiscal conservativism in his participation in the bailout, of the mortgage firms, which was simply turning loans and backing up the heavy debts taken by others into a taxpayer-funded enterprise, where the tax money from you or I goes into the government, which in turn, has paid for people, citizens of this nation, getting into debts which they cannot pay off, I'll direct you to another essay explaining more of this here, as I am pushing for time right now. We are being asked to pay for the debts of people who took so much through mortgages and could not pay them back, which is a crankshaft to what I, as a conservative profess to believe, when I believe that this government should leave much of our matters, including our debts, into our own personal accountability. I couldn't blindly follow a party ideology when they weren't truly being conservative, but being just as liberal as the other candidate. They needed to lose as a chastening mark to getting a true taste for fiscal conservativism back in play, and truly make the difference and the opposing voice between themselves and the Democrats, which has eroded away over the past decade. I hope the same is true for many of you in that you learn to get over a lot of the political passions that you may have, and learn that sometimes passions for certain values need to be overlooked when the officials or party that you sometimes support can do the wrong thing, and need a chastening through not voting, such as these two cases of promoting an agreeable social value, but not a conservative one, as well as find unity in this nation not just through blind following, but through respectful and constitutional disagreement with the candidates and elected officials in office, all of them are valuable and worth honoring, even when you don't agree with them, and you should always seek to decide what's best for America.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
What we should really be thankful for here in America
Now that some things are done and over with, I'm glad that the elections are through. Frankly, to me there's never been worse seasons of the year than the time when people can bring up a more distorted, less optimistic view about how life is in the U.S., or around the world in general. There's also never a more difficult time to make an informed decision about who we should elect into office when often I've found plenty of idiocy and foolishness spoken by both sides, or qualities in the candidates that I wouldn't want sitting in the oval office.
But, when push comes to shove, there's really another season in which I should be preparing for, and should be focusing on the very positive aspects of life which are availible to me. It's when I should be finding reasons to rejoice, and give thanks. Yes, it's none other than thanksgiving. I actually give plenty of thanks now, in my own opinion, rather than that of any other journalists right now, for a number of reasons. I also don't care if other false, or distorted opinion columns have been written similar to my own, because I still feel that there is a point to be had, and a point to be made, about how much there is for us here in America, and how much we often may take for granted.
We have a nation where most of us are employed, in fact, more than 90-95 percent, whereas many other industrial nations throughout Europe have actually have unemployment rates exceeding 10 percent. Isn't that a good situation to be living in? We are leading the world for that matter in how well we are faring economically at the moment.
It's amazing to see how many us have our own cars, enjoy our own computers, our own mp3 players, video game consoles, and so much more. We consider poverty to be in the teens of thousands of dollars per year. But how many people in today's world live on what is less than one dollar per day? Or even live in a home with heating, electricity, or other effective conveniences to keep it clean and comfortable. How many people live in a home without a floor, or without clean water? Or without so much more?
We speak of a war right now that devastates our nation. Considering war, we are doing well for the fact that we don't have a draft in place for both a major conflict and a nation building effort occurring right now. Those who fight in them do so out of their own volunteering. I am thankful that there hasn't been a terrorist attack as devastating on our homeland as that done during September 11, 2001 for a period of nearly a decade. Isn't that worth the thanks that we don't even have to hide or get regularly checked by the military as we travel across the nation's highways, or simply can have a right to say anything from a complaint to cursing about how horrible we feel that our president is doing.
That leads to even greater points when you think about the conditions of the nations that arguably supported or held the terrorists in the first place: theocracies and totalitarian regimes. They wouldn't allow for you to protest the government or to do as many of us freely do about our government without getting some form of penalty or retribution. In some cases, there's even imprisonment, fines, torture, or death, for not falling in line with the beliefs or doctrines that the government deems proper. I am glad that such a right exists here, though I wouldn't bother dropping curse words about even our current lame-duck president, or our president-elect.
It's great to know that we have a personal right to bear arms, and to defend our own property, where as in many nations, this is simply not allowed. We have a right to not have our home or property searched unless the police officer has a warrant. We have a right to remain silent and have a defense attorney, as well as not incriminate ourselves in a court of law, even when charged with a serious crime such as murder. Isn't this worth being thankful for, that we were allowed to live here, in a nation that allows us to have these rights, and had founding fathers recognized them for what they were in their own day. It's great to know that these rights have never fully been undone.
It's great, and worth being thankful that people would defend all of these rights and privileges that we enjoy here in America are fought and died for, and have been fought and died for in the past, through war after war. It's great to know that people wouldn't just give up the rights that make life for us so much better than it was, and still is, for most of the people who live around the world.
It's grateful to know, as I see my roommate applying for citizenship as an immigrant from Russia, that people still come to America, and see it as a greater place than where they once were. They still see it as a place where they can find a greater standard of living, a place where there's more freedom than where they once lived, and a place that's truly a city on a hill to them. I hope that many of you get some thinking in about these facts, and how they truly matter, in the context of what we are celebrating and being thankfuul for this holiday season, because we truly are so blessed.
In my own words,
Benjamin Kemer
But, when push comes to shove, there's really another season in which I should be preparing for, and should be focusing on the very positive aspects of life which are availible to me. It's when I should be finding reasons to rejoice, and give thanks. Yes, it's none other than thanksgiving. I actually give plenty of thanks now, in my own opinion, rather than that of any other journalists right now, for a number of reasons. I also don't care if other false, or distorted opinion columns have been written similar to my own, because I still feel that there is a point to be had, and a point to be made, about how much there is for us here in America, and how much we often may take for granted.
We have a nation where most of us are employed, in fact, more than 90-95 percent, whereas many other industrial nations throughout Europe have actually have unemployment rates exceeding 10 percent. Isn't that a good situation to be living in? We are leading the world for that matter in how well we are faring economically at the moment.
It's amazing to see how many us have our own cars, enjoy our own computers, our own mp3 players, video game consoles, and so much more. We consider poverty to be in the teens of thousands of dollars per year. But how many people in today's world live on what is less than one dollar per day? Or even live in a home with heating, electricity, or other effective conveniences to keep it clean and comfortable. How many people live in a home without a floor, or without clean water? Or without so much more?
We speak of a war right now that devastates our nation. Considering war, we are doing well for the fact that we don't have a draft in place for both a major conflict and a nation building effort occurring right now. Those who fight in them do so out of their own volunteering. I am thankful that there hasn't been a terrorist attack as devastating on our homeland as that done during September 11, 2001 for a period of nearly a decade. Isn't that worth the thanks that we don't even have to hide or get regularly checked by the military as we travel across the nation's highways, or simply can have a right to say anything from a complaint to cursing about how horrible we feel that our president is doing.
That leads to even greater points when you think about the conditions of the nations that arguably supported or held the terrorists in the first place: theocracies and totalitarian regimes. They wouldn't allow for you to protest the government or to do as many of us freely do about our government without getting some form of penalty or retribution. In some cases, there's even imprisonment, fines, torture, or death, for not falling in line with the beliefs or doctrines that the government deems proper. I am glad that such a right exists here, though I wouldn't bother dropping curse words about even our current lame-duck president, or our president-elect.
It's great to know that we have a personal right to bear arms, and to defend our own property, where as in many nations, this is simply not allowed. We have a right to not have our home or property searched unless the police officer has a warrant. We have a right to remain silent and have a defense attorney, as well as not incriminate ourselves in a court of law, even when charged with a serious crime such as murder. Isn't this worth being thankful for, that we were allowed to live here, in a nation that allows us to have these rights, and had founding fathers recognized them for what they were in their own day. It's great to know that these rights have never fully been undone.
It's great, and worth being thankful that people would defend all of these rights and privileges that we enjoy here in America are fought and died for, and have been fought and died for in the past, through war after war. It's great to know that people wouldn't just give up the rights that make life for us so much better than it was, and still is, for most of the people who live around the world.
It's grateful to know, as I see my roommate applying for citizenship as an immigrant from Russia, that people still come to America, and see it as a greater place than where they once were. They still see it as a place where they can find a greater standard of living, a place where there's more freedom than where they once lived, and a place that's truly a city on a hill to them. I hope that many of you get some thinking in about these facts, and how they truly matter, in the context of what we are celebrating and being thankfuul for this holiday season, because we truly are so blessed.
In my own words,
Benjamin Kemer
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