Originally posted by Tim Wieneke:
You know Jason this got me to thinking. This didn't used to be a political issue... and that could be the problem. Is it me or is DC systematically politicizing the apolitical elements of our lives to divide people ideologically?
That's certainly a really interesting way to look at it, and I think you're absolutely right.
While I don't know that the goal is to divide people, it feels like it's gotten to the point where it's more important to adhere to an ideology than to focus on making this a better country.
And I'll blame the Democrats for starting it 8 years ago with the Iraq war (actually, I think the "religious right" started this before then, but the Democrats did more damage, more quickly). When we invaded Iraq, I have to believe that most of the politicians who supported the war did so because they believed it was in the best interest of our country. And most of the politicians who didn't support the war honestly felt like it wasn't in our best interest to attack Iraq at that point in time. It wasn't a political issue...it was about HOW BEST DO WE PROTECT OURSELVES.
I wasn't a supporter of the war, but back then, I certainly didn't see it as a partisan issue. I knew plenty of liberals who thought invading Iraq was a good thing. And I knew plenty of conservatives who thought invading Iraq wasn't the right course of action. I was all for invasion in the middle east, but it wasn't Iraq I thought we should invade.
Then, over the course of just a few months, it became a pure "us versus them" mentality among the parties.
Suddenly, there was nothing about the "war on terror" that liberals supported and there was nothing about the war on terror that the conservatives would stand up and say, "that's just not right!" It was pretty crazy that on an issue so important to the future safety of the citizens of this country that our politicians thought it was more important to toe the party line than to do what they really thought was right.
Ever since then, it seems like EVERY issue is now Democrat vs Republican. Doesn't matter what the issue is, you either side with one party or the other, and you're either fully for it or fully against it.
And it's only fueled by the media. Look at these idiot talk show hosts... I've previously mentioned my disdain for Beck, O'Reilly and Limbaugh, but trust me, I feel the same way about Keith Olbermann, Alan Colmes, and Bill Maher (though Maher gets credit for at least being funny). Every one of them has a "you're either on this side or that side" mentality, and if you think you can straddle the line on some issues (or fall on different sides of the line on different issues), you're made to feel like an idiot.
It's even worse when those with the microphone can so completely corrupt an issue that it can't even be discussed. A good example is Sarah Palin with the whole "death panels" thing. She took an issue that could be debated on its merits, and corrupted it to the point where it couldn't even be discussed, all with that one ridiculous phrase.
Harry Reid does this same thing every chance he gets -- he takes issues from a point where they can be logically debated, and turns them into sound bites that essentially remove all rationale. Politicians are happy to make up lies if it will advance their agenda.
To make things worse, these days, people aren't expected to have opinions. They're only expected to be "liberal" or "conservative." Democrat or Republican. Us or Them.
For example, everyone here thinks I'm a radical liberal. On social issues I certainly am (and I'm proud of it). But, on most fiscal and Constitutional issues, I'm a Libertarian (and I'm equally proud of that). I've stated many of my conservative beliefs over the past year (for example, I've been very outspoken about how stupid TARP was), but people here can't seem to grasp the fact that I can have opinions on both extremes, as if there's something wrong with that. People can't seem to grasp that I can have opinions on both extremes...though I fail to see why that's so weird...
Ten years ago it was pretty common to be a moderate, or to have beliefs on both sides of the spectrum; today you're "flip flopper" or a "fake ".
It's about time people are once again allowed to debate issues on their merits, without having talk show hosts, politicians, or anyone else try to boil issues down to catch-phrases, sound bites, or us-vs-them battle-lines. And it's about time people should be allowed to believe whatever they want to believe without being made to feel like they are "supporting the enemy."
I don't know if any of that made sense, but in short, I agree with you Tim...