so this election season has been difficult for me. ever since the primary season began, i noticed one problem, one issue that i would not be able to overlook in the process of deciding who to vote for. that issue is unfortunately not party specific, it is not native to Illinois or Arizona nor is it a talking point on the campaign trail. no, that would be too easy. this problem is the same problem that lives deep, rooted in the soil and asphalt of Washington D.C. it is the very same problem to which each of the candidates claim to be the solution. its just that i don't believe either of them.
the problem is the culture politics.
its a difficult thing to accurately describe, but it is embodied in misleading statements in television ads, debates and mail propaganda. it is stooping to whatever level necessary to achieve your goal, whether that is adding unrelated earmarks to a bill with the express intent of benefiting a special interest or dishonestly spinning a statistic in order to portray your opponent in a far darker light than is accurate.
news flash: politicians are dirty. categorically. if one is a politician, one is therefore dirty.
obviously there are varying degrees of dirty, the extent of which i hope i never know. however, i do believe there are good politicians. i even believe there is some good in all politicians.
but therein lies the problem: i may believe these things, but i don't know them.
this post really gets back to the struggle over knowledge and belief. we Christians know this struggle well, both internally and externally. we can rely on the knowledge we glean from the Bible all day long, but when we rest at night, we have to believe that God is listening.
i think the same can be said for politicians. the sources from which we get our knowledge (ABC News, FOX News, NY Times, Washington Post, The Carolina Review, The Onion) are all just sources. they each have an agenda. they each choose what to and what not to report on. and more importantly, each one is not a living, breathing politician. the only source that can truly be relied upon is the politician himself/herself, or more specifically, the thoughts of said politician.
kind of ironic huh? are we to believe what we hear the politician say on the TV screen, while at the same time knowing there is a high probability they are misleading us to at least some degree?
this was my issue at the beginning of primary season. i saw the democrats and republicans bicker with, back stab and make jokes at the expense of their own party members in the first debates. when the race narrowed to two (and before that, three) candidates, the focus shifted to the opposite party and the digging began. "what dirt can we find on Obama?" "what dirt can we find on McCain?" "how can we spin what the other just said to make him look like a socialist or a warmonger?"
that was my issue. how could i vote for one candidate when it is very difficult to weed out the good information from the bad? how does anyone come to such an conclusion?
answer: the audacity of belief
obviously that phrase is a paraphrase of Obama's book entitled "The Audacity of Hope." while i have not read it, i can only assume that he presents a message which champions the idea that if hope wins, anything is possible. but that doesn't quite translate to "the audacity of belief."
as citizens, one of our civic duties is to vote. so in order to do so, we (I) must cope with our (my) issues of distrust in the system and focus on the good. in short, we must believe. we must believe that our candidate will unequivocally keep his word. we must believe that our candidate will swiftly lead our nation out of that which ails it. we must believe that the one we vote for is undoubtedly the best choice for our great nation.
for many, that's not much to ask. the minds of many of my friends (and millions around the country) were made up LONG ago. that's why there are traditionally red states and blue states. some find it very simple to harbor disdain for the other candidate and unparalleled support for their candidate.
for the rest of us the lines are blurry, and having such belief is a bit audacious.
EXTRA THOUGHTS
- the only person i am sure i am going to vote for is (R) Pat McCrory for North Carolina Governor. he is the only candidate (save judges, commissioners, etc.) who has refrained from negative campaign ads. and we gotta rep 704 up in the 919 yo. oh and the DTH endorsed him.
- i am SO freakin glad its almost over. as you might have been able to tell, i strongly dislike negative ads.
- because of said ads devouring the commercial air time, i have not seen Sarah from South Charlotte Nissan in months! she was a part of my morning routine. i look for her glorious return on Wednesday morning.
- speaking of car dealerships, this time of year has to be the worst for business. i honestly don't think I've seen any local car dealership commercials in the past few weeks. with all the crap coming from the candidates mouths, i would welcome Scott Clark's Toyota City commercials. again, i pine for Wednesday morning.
- i was going to use boUNCe as one of the news sources above, but i went to its site and i don't think it is in print anymore. kinda sad.
- go vote. despite all that jibber jabber i just said, I'm going to. so you should too.
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2 comments:
hey hey
if you look at the negative ads, some attack character and some attack record/political stances, etc. it's the character attacks that are completely unnecessary, such as elizabeth dole calling kay hagan "godless". that's what has gotten completely out of hand. stretching the truch about records and platforms isn't cool either, but at least it's trying to draw a line between the issues and not degrade a candidate's character.
that's all... happy voting!! if nothing else, rest on the fact that these are incredibly difficult times and neither candidate will be able to do all that they want to do. i just have to believe that one has a steady hand, an understanding of the complexity of our issues, and the ability to inspire a generation, our generation, to give something of themselves.
i hope to see you this weekend!!
Sizlah,
Great post. Glad to see the blog return.
I couldn't agree more on your assessment of the problems. These "culture politics" couldn't be more misleading, damaging, and wasteful.
Here's where I see hope: from the beginning of this election, you've seen a trend that has been absent in elections of the past. This phenomenon has quietly accelerated over the course of the election to be a true force and will only continue to grow. This phenomenon is voter dialogue on a huge scale and is found in forums, blogs, and aggregation websites.
Because of these issues, I've always believed that the most important time in politics is not election years, but it is the years in between when legislation is passed and there is no divisive campaigning. In this time, citizens are uninterrupted to participate and learn so that they are prepared for election year. This opportunity is only accelerating with the new dialogue that is emerging on the internet.
In this campaign like never before, you have seen in depth fact checking follow debates and campaign commercials instead of the corporate media's few off the cuff remarks about something not being completely accurate. You've seen digg.com, one of the fastest growing places on the net for dialogue actually interview Nancy Pelosi at the DNC. (http://digg.com/dialogg/Nancy_Pelosi_1) All of the questions that Pelosi was asked were user submitted and voted on y users. That is a huge leap in the right direction, no corporate media agenda in the middle!
My hope is that this free form political participation and dialogue by citizens will get many not only more information, but better information. Furthermore, the dialogue can empower those used to not having a voice to ask questions and those traditionally not heard before to speak their concerns and raise their issues to a limitless audience of voting Americans. While it may not come as a landslide at first, that is my hope for the next few years: Gradually, more participation, better information, more dialogue between voters themselves and politicians and their constituency during the candidates' terms in office will empower citizens like never before.
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