my not-so-private rant

Seriously.

I am going to vomit if I see one more facebook post about why liberals are 100% right and conservatives are the spawn of Satan.  I am going to drown myself in Ben and Jerry's Clusterfluff if I hear one more person say that liberals are stupid and conservatives know everything.

Didn't ANYBODY watch the debate?  Doesn't anybody really care? Both sides have valid points on different issues - and full credit to the Lorax here:  "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot - nothing is going to get better - it's not."  Why don't people care enough to work together?  They care enough to repost mean spirited-one sided propaganda.  Why not care enough to run for office, to work on a campaign, to call your city council person?  Which brings me to:

In our little city, the council recently passed a resolution stating that they believe the marriage proposal violates the anti-discrimination portion of the city constitution.

Basically, they are saying "vote no to the marriage amendment."

And I'll just put it out there - I intend to.  Anybody who wants to should be able to get married - period, end of story.  It's none of my business who you date, who you marry, what you eat, what you watch, what you read, what you think.  That's why humans are given the gift of free will.

BUT. . . . the only council person I really agree with is the lone woman who abstained from this vote.  Not because she opposes the rest of the council - but because THAT IS THE WAY THE LAW WORKS.  Her words in a nutshell were: "Hey, we live in America and we are supposed to let the people vote and not spend taxpayer money just to tout our personal opinions, or the opinions of a very vocal group in our community."  She basically said, "I'm not piping in here, because the people haven't piped in and it's my job to represent them."  Even the mayor backed her up  and said -  she's right, we can't actually spend any more money or resources on this - and we've already done it.

I get why things are worth speaking out about - and this issue is one of them.  There are lots of issues I feel passionate about - health care, this particular amendment, unemployment the environment. But I also live in America, and am willing to work with other people to change things - to make things better - and nothing gets better by cramming a one-sided opinion down somebody's throat.

So for everyone who is concerned about your personal freedoms - and the freedoms of others, just give some thought about the people you choose for public office.  They are supposed to be thoughtful, open-minded people. They are not supposed to be so entrenched in their own dogma and popular hoopla that they don't even give the people a democratic voice. Give some thought about the "open minded and fair" things you repost - they never sound educated - they sound intolerant - no matter what side you're on. Nothing in life is that black and white - nothing.

Comments

Treats said…
But...what if the amendment put on the ballot is discriminatory? There was a time when people with black skin had 3/5 of a vote, when there was no interracial marriage, when women could not vote, etc. I feel very strongly about this issue and am proud of those city council members who stood up to such an amendment.
October 5, 2012 at 5:41 PM
j said…
I get that - I feel VERY strongly about it too - I'm voting no, Rico is voting no, my kids would too if they could - it's the one issue they were both hoping would come up in the debate. But that's not my point. My problem is that, like it or not, this is how the law works - we are supposed to vote. We are not supposed to spend taxpayer money (that EVERYONE contributes to) to push one agenda over another when a vote has already been called. If we need to change the laws or the way the laws work, then we should - and there are avenues to do it. But we shouldn't just leap over a step in our government system because we don't like it. We can't solve any of our problems independently, and when we don't use the system to work together, people stop listening to each other, they get angry, they feel alienated and nothing gets done because people are too busy arguing. Our country was created on a thousand different ideals - we need to listen to each other more. If we continue to ignore the fact that other people in our community, country, world have different opinions, and only cheer for our own side all of the time, we won't get anything done.

Having said that, I don't have all of the answers - I don't know how to fix things, I just know when to shut my mouth and listen so I can figure out why the other guy is so pissed. People tend to cooperate and compromise when they feel understood too - and maybe if there was more of that, we wouldn't even have to vote on this issue in the first place.
October 5, 2012 at 8:30 PM
j said…
Then again - my dad says that I am a total live-and-let-live Communist, so maybe I'm supposed to start my own commune somewhere and live in my own private fantasy world where nobody argues.
October 5, 2012 at 8:33 PM
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