We do not see things as they are we
see them as we are- Anais Nin
A house divided against itself that
house cannot stand – Abraham Lincoln
A government of the people, for the
people and by the people shall not perish from the earth – Abraham Lincoln
I think 2016 will mainly be known
for the craziness of the elections that are happening. It also seems that
we will have another year where the candidates make sure we continue to be
divided. When the dust clears the most important question should be did
we elect officials that will truly follow their true responsibility which is to
represent ALL of the people that fall under them? I think we can all
agree that most likely will not happen.
So why will this country almost
never elect people that are actually going to fight for the country/people:
Candidates are happy with only
receiving support from less than half the people.
The problem with any kind of race is
that there is a winner and a loser. Most candidates only receive a
portion of the votes, which means the people that did not vote for them, along
with the people that didn’t vote at all, may not want this person in office.
If politicians only care about the people that voted for them, how can we
really expect that elected officials are going to do their job for all of the
people that will be effected by their actions?
The other side of the problem is
that for the people that do not elect the politicians many of them spend most
of their time creating hate towards that official to expand their agenda or
because their candidate was not elected. Are we really so self serving
that we want these officials to fail simply because they are not who we
wanted? Are we really so arrogant that we think these officials will do
no good for the people or the country? How would we feel if we were hired
for a job where half the people didn’t like us simply because we got the
job? Even worse, they wanted us to fail at the job and would do their best
to get us fired?
Will we ever be ready for a
candidate that runs a platform where they try to appeal to everyone that they
will represent, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, black, white, gay,
straight, rich, poor, voter, non voter?
Our beliefs should be your beliefs
Each individual has the own personal
beliefs, it is what helps us create purpose in our lives. Unfortunately,
because of these beliefs, they can also create division and hate. The
reason for this is because we do not live by the understanding that everyone
has a right to their beliefs and that not all beliefs are best for the country
as a whole. In their own way, that is what the Founding Fathers tried to
start but since the foundation of the country excluded black people, women and
Native Americans, it didn't quite happen.
If 320 million people all have their
own beliefs are we ready to hear that not all of them are what is best for the
country? Are Christian voters ready to support a candidate who says
homosexuals deserve to have the same rights as Christians? Are Black
voters ready to believe that there are white candidates who will support
and fight for black rights? Are we ready as a country to believe
that we were not built to be a Christian nation if we allow freedom of religious
expression? Are we ready to believe that a President who has served for 8
years has actually done alot of good for the country?
Are we ready to elect a politician
that is willing to say to us despite their own beliefs or our own, these
beliefs may not be the best for the decisions made for the country and the
people?
The golden rule applies
There are a lot of comments going
around that there is too much money in politics and we have created an oligarchy
that runs our country. We believe that any candidate that receives money
from what we believe is unreasonable sources, such as Super Pac's or Wall
Street, they will only serve these sources. Money has been part of
politics since the beginning and each time we never ask the question about
which is more of the problem, the character of the person or the
money? Corruption is corruption no matter where the money comes
from.
If a candidate is to represent
everyone, even people that do not donate, why should it matter where the money
came from? In theory it shouldn't but it doesn’t work that way, whether
someone donates 2 million dollars or $27 they both believe their agenda should
be the one that the candidate should represent. Then the candidate feels
obligated and their actions are not necessarily in the best interest of the
country or the people. Just because a Muslim donates money to a candidate
doesn’t mean the person should implement Sharia Law. Just because an
unemployed person donates money doesn’t mean the candidate is going to be able
to find them a job. Just because the NRA donates money doesn’t mean the
person should always work towards gun rights.
Are we ready to elect someone who
just thanks their donors but helps them to understand that they will do what is
in the best interest of everyone they represent, not just their donors?
Political parties serve a purpose
Do political parties really do
anything other than keep us divided? We assume that Republicans are the
only ones that will make this country better so we vote for them simply because
they are Republicans. We assume that Democrats are the only ones that
will make this country better so we vote for them simply because they are
Democrats. Even Independents we think are the only ones that can make the
country better so we vote for them simply because they are Independents.
So if we are all drawing these lines, candidates included, how can anyone think
this country can solve its division?
A lot of politics comes from the
parties fighting with each other simply because they belong to the other
party. So nothing of any value gets done and then they each blame the
other party because the task was not done. We then take sides because we do not ask any questions, we just incorretly assume we know and react accordingly. If this is the case, then why should we keep political parties?
Imagine a candidate who only talks
about the issues without once caring about their party or any other person’s
party.
The Constitution is written in
stone.
Many people defend their religion as
if the world was trying to steal their most valued possession. The same
can be said of the Constitution. When the constitution is useful for our
own agenda, we dig our feet in for the fight. If someone is trying to
create gun laws then they are trying to take away our guns and our
rights. No one ever thinks that maybe people are just trying to save
lives, because unless someone can give a good reason why semi assault or
assault weapons exist other than killing people, there is no reason. Then
division is created, hate is created and more people continue to die.
If the founding fathers actually
thought the country was not going to change and the Constitution had to change
with it, then why would they create the process of amendments? They knew
people would probably need some guidance when morality came into play so they
created the process of amendments. Should we have had to have an
amendment that says enslavement of people was wrong? Obviously, from what
ended up happening over the past 150 years, it seems that it was
necessary. Maybe if we all worked together to make this country better
then amendments wouldn't be necessary but until that time, the Constitution
was not meant to be written in stone.
Imagine a candidate who fights for
the Constitution but tries to help people understand that there are more than
one way to look at something and good communication needs to be done to come to
a good compromise.
My vote deserves your opinion
Each person has a right to vote and
be able to support a candidate without having to be attacked by the hate
creators or social media. We arrogantly think that we have a right to
instill our voice in other people’s right, once again showing our agenda is
more important. Does anyone deserve to be called names or have violent
acts upon them just because of their right? As long as we attack people
for this, the process is not for the people.
I have heard people say that people
who do not vote should not complain about who is elected or that they are
hurting one of the candidates. How is not voting because you do
not have a candidate you like worse than voting for someone you do not
really want but you hate the other candidate? Should we say that
people whose candidate didn’t get elected not have a voice either since their
candidate didn’t win? Having a vote means everyone has the right to do
with that vote what they want to better this country, even not voting for
someone they do not believe in.
Imagine a candidate who does not
condone these types of attacks, helping people have communication on why we
vote for candidates instead of just attacking those that have a different
voice. At the same time still helping people understand they represent
everyone.
We are okay with hate creation
Social media has allowed people with
agendas to create hate simply by writing tag lines for stories that have
nothing to do with the tag lines. It has made it easy for people that
never thought they had a voice before to use that voice even if it is creating
hate. The really sad part of this is that we the people are okay with all
this hatred because most of the time it falls in line with our own agenda or
beliefs.
What really should be something we
focus on is that in the midst of all the hate, the real messages get lost or
even worse, make us not listen to someone that may have something good to say.
People may not like Obamacare or the
way it was implemented but did we ever see the good that it really has
done? No because the hate creators have made sure that all the negativity
towards it overwhelmed the good that has come from it. So then all we
think is that Obamacare is bad forgetting the fact that no one else has brought
up a better plan for everyone.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a candidate that doesn't feel the need to blast us with negative ad's but instead let's us know what they are fighting for so we can make an informed decision.
The government will solve our
problems
Why do we expect the candidates to
solve all of the problems in this country? When the harmony of our life
is interrupted by some issue, we immediately start to ask the government why
aren't they fixing it without giving any thought to how can we help fix
it. It isn't the government that thinks only lazy people use
welfare. It isn't the government that thinks illegal immigrants come
here to take our jobs. It isn't the government that thinks that the Muslim
faith is all extremists.
The issue when we start depending on
the government for everything is that candidates use it against us to get
elected. Instead of us looking within ourselves to find the solutions,
they tell us what they will do to fix these things, even if it is not always
the entire story. Free health care is great for people that have no
health care or can't afford it but why is the extra cost to others not
discussed? Everyone is promised a job but has anyone ever
asked with our rise in population, are there enough jobs for everyone?
Are we ready for a candidate that
shows us the people that in order for any success we have to be willing to hear
the truth and to use our power for the common good?
We need it done now
Immediate satisfaction has created
its own problems within this country as we expect everything to be fixed
immediately. In doing so, the candidates are able to tell us again what
we want to hear knowing full well we probably will forget about it when they
are in office. We have elections every 2,4 and 6 years so even if something
is started doesn’t mean it will be implemented or won't be reversed. Since we
never ask our officials why they vote for something or why they didn’t vote for
something, do we really understand how many initiatives do not get started?
Even if fixes are put into place
they are not always taken to their fulfillment. Slavery wasn't fixed
as part of the original founding fathers documents because they knew that it
would delay the moving forward of this country so they left it to the future
generations. It took another hundred years and a full division of this
country before it was bad enough to be addressed. Even though it ended
with a huge loss of life the main problem was it was ended with everyone
still not thinking black people were equal. It wasn’t fixed with figuring
out how black people were now going to be integrated into society. It was
not fixed with figuring out how slave owners were going to handle losing 2
billion dollars worth of property. So even 150 years later there is still
lingering results.
How would we react to a candidate who told us that yes we can fix some things but it will not be fixed tomorrow because big problems usually do not take a short time to fix.
They should know everything
Why have we created such a picture
of our candidates that we think they should know everything or be part of some
group otherwise we think they are weak. Just because a person has not
served in the military doesn't mean they cannot lead the military. Just
because a candidate is gay doesn't mean they cannot do what is best for people
of Christian values. Just because a person is single doesn't
mean they can't do what is best for people with families. Just
because a person is white doesn't mean they cannot do what is best for people
of color.
Imagine a candidate strong
enough to admit they do not know everything but they do not let that stop them
from using good communication to get things done.
What are we willing to do?
So will we the people ever be
willing to change or adapt to what is necessary to get the type of candidates
that will help us make this country what it should be. I am sure that
people will say the candidate or how people react above can never exist.
My response would be that Socialism works because the people have signed off on
it and given that power to the government, that is the only way it could
work. I would say that maybe if we change our culture, we wouldn't get
candidates that want to build a wall around our country, blame the rich for our
problems or who want to hide all of the things they did wrong.
The people in this country are still
the power, whether people want to believe it or not is up to them. How do
I know this? Politicians every election pimp themselves for our vote
because they know if they do not get it, they cannot get into office.
Companies spend millions of dollars to get us to continue to buy their
product. If we had no power why would this even be necessary?
The more we choose to keep ourselves divided, the more our
country will continue to be laughed at with these pitiful excuses for
elections. We will then continue to have a government despite the
people, against the people and without the people.
