Saturday, January 20, 2018

Politics

I am going to open this post by saying that I know very little about the more complicated aspects of politics. I don't know much about healthcare plans, economics, or any of that sort of stuff. So maybe I'm not qualified to bring up politics, but I'm absolutely doing it anyways. Because I am beginning to realize that I will be voting in the next presidential election after barely missing the last one. And that thought terrifies me, because I don't know where to vote. But I know I will have to.
As a pro-life, traditional, Catholic teen from a conservative Catholic family, I grew up assuming I would always vote Republican, no questions asked. But in the last year or two, I have realized that I don't like the idea of casting my vote in with the right-wing party. I really don't like that idea. However, I absolutely also know that I cannot vote for a pro-abortion party, no matter what. This is not about any two presidential candidates, but about the two sides that our country has divided itself into. This leaves me with a perplexing conundrum, that I am quite certain I am not alone in.

I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the right-wing, militant, hard-and-proud sort of mindset that our Republicans so often display. I believe in the right to bear arms in the name of freedom. I believe in the right to free speech. I absolutely believe that maintaining these freedoms is imperative to our country's sanity. A lot of left-wing liberals want to undermine this. Yet I see far too many right-wingers who are so determined to maintain these freedoms that they downright abuse them. I don't like the attitude of the trigger-friendly men who buy huge piles of guns (machines whose sole purpose is death and pain) as a hobby. I don't like it when people condemn racism and then in the same breath say that "if black people would just stop talking like that maybe we'd take them more seriously". I don't like it when people use their freedom of speech to make out that real, living people in a state of distress and fear are nothing but "whining snowflakes". I don't like the pride that the right wing takes in how hard-shelled, stoic, and unemotional they are. I don't like the right wing's dehumanization tactics of making so many people the "Other", be it immigrants, the LGBT, or those of other races. I'm not saying we should change our views on the non-negotiables like abortion or gay "marriage", but I think the entire right wing could learn a lot from our left-wing brothers and sisters about compassion.
I disagree with a lot of liberal thought. I think it goes without saying that I do not agree with large parts of their agenda. Yet, I can't help but be impressed with the compassion and heart that they show, the love and concern for each other that is so lacking in the right-wing. Sure, maybe their philosophy and logic are off (way off, in some cases), but let's be honest, at the root of it all are a bunch of people who just want everyone to be happy and warm and safe. And that, I think, could get us much further towards the dream if it could only be guided in the right direction. There is a selfless, automatic sort of love that they reach out with, particularly in matters like immigration, that the right wing, including me, should take notes on.
We need to end this holocaust that is abortion. We need to end the hypersexual rape culture. We need to end racism. We need to end the porn and human trafficking. We need to end the ostracism and "Other"-ing of the LGBT. We need to end the hate and anger that's living in both parties. And if a party is only interested in ending the half of these issues that suit them, I can't, in good conscience, count myself as one of them. We are a deeply ill country. We have forgotten who we are. Our men have forgotten how to be men, and our women how to be women. Our children have forgotten how to be children, and our adults how to be adults. But most of all, we have forgotten that it's not an "us and them" situation. It's an "us", an "all of us" situation. We belong to each other. Mother Teresa of Calcutta says, "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." I agree with her. We will not have the peace and unity that we all want in our country until we can put on our big-boy shoes and remember that we belong to each other. We can't tear each other apart and then be surprised at the pain. It's time to stop looking down on each other as stupid and hateful and time to start working together.

It seems to me that our left-wingers are all heart but no head, and our right-wingers are all head and absolutely no heart. Yet everyone just accepts this and tries to choose the lesser evil. Both sides know their flaws, at least to some extent. Both sides are settling for less. So why is there no third option? Why is taking the best of both worlds not an option? Why isn't there a head and heart option? Why do we sigh in defeat and pick the only-slightly-better option? I know am not alone in my discomfiture with where things are, in this need to find a third option. Why do we not do anything?
I am very young, uneducated on this topic, and honestly rather afraid to voice my opinions on things like this. I have no battle plan. I know nothing at all other than the fact that we need something to change. And I'm starting with this blog post.
We need to build a third option.