It’s a question of right and wrong
Yesterday I had a bit of a heated exchange with a friend (well, not anymore) on Facebook. I had posted one of my usual snarky statuses: “Herman Cain is out of the race because of sexual harassment allegations, and Newt Gingrich (who left his sick wife for his 3rd wife) is now the front runner. And the Republicans are the party of “family values” …riiiiigggghhht.”. (I later corrected myself; Gingrich left his first wife, who was ill. In his second marriage, he committed adultery while investigating President Clinton in Congress.) But I digress.
My post got a whole bunch of “likes” (birds of a feather flock together, after all), and then this friend who I never talk to on facebook wrote the following: “Why do u feel the need to constantly bash republicans?” I was kind of put off by the aggressive tone of the post, especially because this is someone that I never talk to. I was also put off by the use of “u” instead of “you”…I mean, really, how hard is it to type an extra two letters and spell the word correctly? Come on. But again, I digress. I responded with: “I have no problem with Republicans per se. I think that plenty of them have good ideas, and when the government works together can get things done. What I do have a problem with is people who do not themselves act morally telling other Americans how their lives should be lived. If you have a problem with my views and how I express them, feel free to unfriend me.” Which this person promptly did.
The exchange left me wondering why I feel the need to be so political and snarky all the time, and I gave it some thought. I’ve come up with a few reasons:
1. I don’t follow sports of any kind (other than the Olympics, but I don’t think that counts), or celebrities, so I think that politics are my version of that. It’s interesting that people can bash the opposing team ad nauseum, or talk about their favorite programs/celebrities, but talk about politics? Blasphemy! Maybe it’s why we have a largely uninformed electorate…
2. I’m a person of strong opinions (spoiler alert!), and politics is an arena where strong opinions are a prerequisite. So my big mouth, which people constantly told me to shut while watching football, is actually welcomed in political discussions.
3. This is the biggie: I’ve said it before, but for me, politics is more than entertainment. (Though it is entertaining, for the record.) It’s a reflection of the conscience and morals of our nation. And I see a lot of shit going wrong. While there are parts of the Jewish faith that don’t jive with my day to day life, the concept that has resonated most with me is the concept of “Tikkun olam”, or repairing the world. When I see injustice in our political system, I get angry, and my commentary and involvement in politics is my attempt to be a small part in repairing the world.
And that’s why my panties get in a bunch when elected leaders try to legislate a woman’s right to choose, homosexuals right to marry or serve in our military, or who should live or die in our penal (that word still makes me giggle at 35!) system. My undies get twisted even further when these same legislators try to tell me and the rest of the American people that social programs like Medicare and Social Security are what’s destroying our country, or that everyone having healthcare is akin to socialism (for the record, I’m not sure what exactly is so bad about socialism). And what really gets the undergarments wedged in a semi-permanent thong (have I beat this analogy to death yet?) is that all of this happens under the auspices of “morality”, that the “free market” is moral. And that’s just an out and out lie that I refuse to swallow. That’s not to say that capitalism is bad, but let’s not pretend that people whose priority is to make a profit above all else have the interest of humanity in mind. That lie has been proven time and time again with health insurance companies denying people who need care, with companies like BP destroying lives and ecosystems, and Wall Street destroying our economy and housing market because profit was more important than the well-being of the American people. In my opinion, that’s why the government is important: we need a body that can keep the natural instincts of greed and selfishness in check for the well-being of the populace. Now, I know that sounds awfully leftie-hippie-communisty on my part, and I’m okay with that. If the aforementioned were capable of keeping those human impulses in check themselves, then I’d let the free market dictate the fate of our nation. But as they’ve failed to do so, it’s up to the average citizen to call upon our government to look out for us. And I guess that’s where I wholeheartedly disagree with the philosophy of the Republican party, which is why I guess I “constantly need to bash them”, as my (former) facebook friend accused me of.
And there you have it….my long winded, couldn’t possibly fit in a facebook post response to a misspelled question. Man, do I talk a lot. I think that there just might be a career in politics for me!
