...that people hold their political views not because they are smart or stupid or good or evil or educated or uneducated or want to control your life, but because they are good, hardworking people basically like me but live in their own unique world that is subtly different from anyone else's.
Any time I get in any political discussion, I am immediately the outsider. Why? Because I am always trying to understand the point of view of both sides of an issue. When I am with a crowd of liberals, I try to explain why conservatives might have their point of view. When I am with a crowd of conservatives, I try to explain why liberals might have their point of view. When you're able to understand both sides of a story, you're not really going to fit in with either crowd when both are extremely biased that their way is the only right way.
Most of the time the story goes like this. Person: "This is the right way, and those other people are wrong." Me: "Well, try to see it from their point of view. They see it like this." Person: "Well, the way they see it is wrong because of this that and the other." Me: "They'd counter your arguments with X, Y, and Z." Person: "(Ignoring X, Y, and Z) 1, 2, and 3!! So there!" Me: "I have to walk away now, before I get angry."
It's kind of ridiculous. You'd think, if we wanted a working government, that people would bend over backwards to try to understand the other side of the story and find a way to modify their own platform to appeal to both sides. This isn't impossible.
Just on the way home from work I was thinking about the health care debate, and how yes, it makes sense to fund preventative care, but yes, it also makes sense that people shouldn't be forced to fund or take a hand-out they don't stand behind. A facebook friend recently posted a pictograph that showed that the states least in favor of federally funded health-care are also the most likely to give charitably outside of taxes. I say we take advantage of that factoid, and not do a federally funded healthcare, but perhaps give the states the tools to set up the health care systems that will work best within their boundaries. California might work best with a universal health care law, much like Massachusetts does, but in Texas and Oklahoma, perhaps it is best to provide a little federal and/or state funding to set up mostly-privately-funded preventative care free clinics for those that are uninsured. I'm not a politician, but to me it seems like the best way to approach this problem is to break it down a little. I won't say this solution thought of in 15 minutes is a good one, but at least it's trying to solve the problem.
Another issue that comes up quite often in my little circle of friends is religion or lack thereof. I'm sorry to both sides, but this country is all about FREEDOM of religion. You can be athiest all you like, but because of the freedom of religion thing, you can't get pissed off at Christians when they want to tell you how awesome it feels to be loved by God and have a community of fellow believers that all also love God back. Likewise, you can't do the patronizing, "I feel sorry for you" thing if you're a Christian meeting an athiest. We should both be happy that the other side has found peace with the world. Calling Christians "stupid and misguided" is unacceptable, as is telling athiests that they're going to hell. These are incendiary remarks, counter productive, and not at all accomplishing what either side wants to. Let's try some new language like, "Well, I'm glad your beliefs make you happy, but you're starting to annoy me with your profession of them." and "I'm sorry I've annoyed you, but I feel strongly about this and have found joy in my personal belief system, so let me know if you would like to discuss this again in the future." Let's try to remember that we're all people, and that it's OKAY to be different.
I could swear right now I'm so angry with how various factions are dealing with each other. It makes no sense why there is no compromise in sight, but I know, compromise sells few papers, while demonizing does.
I'll post a name tonight,
Amanda Stockton
Come on, I know I have about 5 people that read this, and not one of you posted.... Also, I know every one of you 5 people has an opinion about something that could be used to help educate others that have differing opinions. Let's try to make something work! :-)
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