I've been tossing the idea around of starting this blog for months. A good friend of mine has been on me about doing this and I guess I've finally given in. I'm passionate about my country so, because I have a real job and a great family, it will be a feat of extraordinary self-control to not spend an excessive amount of time researching things that I'm interested in and feel need to be discussed on here.
In this forum I want to take advantage of blogging technology to discuss the issues that are facing our nation. Let me just briefly explain the viewpoint that I'm coming from. I love the men who founded the United States. I believe they were inspired by God to establish the form of government which they instituted. I believe that the system which they established is the form of earthly government most conducive to the exercise of free will, the system most conducive to prosperity and enlightenment. And I believe that we have strayed far from the wise principles espoused by the likes of Ben Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Samuel Adams, John Adams, etc. I believe that the primary cause for our apostasy, if you will, is a lack of character in our elected officials which stems from a lack of character and a corruption of the American people as a whole. So I guess the way back is by returning to the character traits that guided our founders during the birth of the nation.
I'm not starting this blog because I want to be the go-to guy. I don't know half of what I should about the founding of America. Nor do I have anywhere close to the time that it takes to do in-depth research on the events that are currently on-going in our government. However, what I do know is that our government currently is not guided by principle. At least, not the AMERICAN principles of personal responsibility, hard work, liberty anchored by a sense of duty, and capitalism. These ideals helped to make America great and they will restore her to her greatness when practiced again. So share this blog with your friends and invited them to join the discussion. I welcome all viewpoints because what good is it for me to share opinions with a bunch of people who agree with me. All I ask is that the discussion is civil, taking each point as it comes and no painting with broad strokes.
But leading into the next post I'd like to ask one question: Does it matter to you who our elected leaders' have gained their world-view from? Or does it only matter what they are saying now?
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Troy! Welcome to the wide world of blogging. Oh, and congrats for growing a pair and starting your own blog. I think that this new blog, and frankly, the visual look (more manly, well sort of) will better display your political arguments.
ReplyDeleteGood to see this!
Ammon
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ReplyDeleteAs to your question I believe that a man's inspiration will almost always color his thinking. This is not just in politics but in any field of study (formal or otherwise). Education in and of itself is a process of bias where information cannot be presented without some sort of implied judgment.
ReplyDeletePerhaps that is a cynical view of learning. I personally believe that one must purposefully look at various points of view before making an (now) educated decision on any given topic.
The HUGE lack of studying a position, a lack of looking at other points of view or concepts is one of the overarching reasons for our current moral [edit], political, social and economic downward spiral. Most people today adopt prejudices, political stances and other opinions on the fly by what a friend says, what they watch on TV, what they hear in music or even what they "think" they heard about something. It is disgusting. So many people walk around, doing, acting and making decisions on what they really have no idea about.
I have quizzed many, many people about why the harbor certain "beliefs" about several of todays hottest political issues and they cannot answer it. "I just believe it" they say. Several people did not even know what a partial birth abortion really was, or how it was performed. I pulled up pictures on my computer and they were ill by the sight of it all.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, A lack of good leaders or reliance on media is just as bad as biased training.
hmmmm, I think your question is hard to answer. I think it in a sense, I don't care where people got their ideas from, but rather go by what they say/mean and what I think about it. Then again, I don't believe that any opinion/thought/sentiment/idea etc. comes from nowhere. We all are influenced and formed by the environment we grow up in, our siblings and parents, friends, teachers, neighborhood, churches etc. They all often subtly, sometimes conspicuously shape how we think about certain things. In political science this is referred to as your political socialization. I wrote a whole essay on mine. ;) So, I think when I listen to what someone says 'right now', I think I'm still listening to a whole history of thought.
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I believe that education and information is the best way to make an informed decision. We all have our past baggage to help shape our ideas/opinions but as we learn we grow. I become very frustrated by friends who vote based on signs and commercials and other friends. If we continue to elect people we know so little about we are going to continue to fail as a country. This is a bi-partisan thought! It used to be that you had to go to great lengths to see a candidate and hear them. Now we have the internet, newspapers, e-mail to send them questions and gain further knowledge etc. While I dont feel we should rely on any ONE of these specifically, when we put time and effort (and not all that much is required) we can learn beliefs, ideas, past ideas and possibly past voting facts, and character we can make a better informed choice. Maybe Character should be higher on the list though. I really think that a person can fake who they are but their character will always show who they really are. It is hard for me to back someone who says they are Christian and faithful but later find out they are having affairs or in any other way corrupt. I guess I am probably rambling on but what someone says now to impress a crowd isnt what makes the "man" in my book.
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Character! Bingo. That's what is lacking in our elected officials. In the 1990s those who backed Bill Clinton tried to tell us that his sex life didn't matter. Well, no. His sex life didn't matter, per se. But it is a wide open window into his lack of character. And that, that did matter. It mattered then and it matters now. This nation will never return to what it once was (and by that I don't mean pre-Obama I mean pre-Obama, pre-Bush, pre-Clinton...) until we are led by men and women of character. If congress was guided by character there would be more thought about what is good for the country instead of what is good for individual careers. Ooooh. Career politicians there's a good topic for a future post. But right now I'm working on something that struck me in church today. It's coming up soon but I have to do a little bit of reading for it first. When it hit me I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I think I've hit on one of the major reasons why we're in the state that we're in right now and it has very little to do with government per se.
ReplyDeleteWorld views change constantly based on the experiences people have, so what their world view is or what their experiences are important as they relate to their opinions and beliefs currently.
ReplyDeleteI also concur that character is vital to a restoration for our country. In fact, I would submit that it is the most important factor. Without character, I don't care what you say, I am not going to believe you.
Our leaders' currently-held world view will be the deciding factor in how they govern, regardless of what they say. If someone grew up with communist parents and hung around communists during his formative years, and never turned away from, nor abandoned that communist influence, he will govern like a communist, with kitschy campaign posters, catchy one-liners, a suave and arrogant disregard for his opposition, a predatorial grab at power, and sell-out crowds of mindless cheering youngsters. (Communists are primarily youngsters, because youngsters are primarily idiots. They think it is the right thing to do to cast off liberty whenever anyone with charisma, who also happens to have an Oscar, tells them to in veiled words. All they need to hear is someone say something different than what their parents say and they are on board. They strut around, misusing apostrophes and commas, but certain that they and their generation can save the world, along with the dolphins, rainforests, and Tibet, if only they find a way to stage another Woodstock. Then they grow into long-haired,sandal-wearing academics who have tremendous amounts of sub-conscious, self-loathing because of all the promiscuous sex they had. To work through this, they have affairs with their students.)
ReplyDeleteWhere was I?.....Oh, yea. World-view...it's what's for dinner!
John, I probably agree with alot of your basic ideas though you couch them in harsher rhetorical terms than I would. I should say though that you could apply the idea of catchy one-liners, a predatorial grab for power, and suave and arrogant disregard for his opposition to our former president as well. True, there were no mobs of youth or communist-style posters hailing Bush's election but you get the point. I think a certain level of narcissism is almost required to be the president.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, do I know you? My father and brother are both named John but your tone is not reminiscent of either of them.
Oh, you know me alright. I am the one who took a rock to the head.
ReplyDeleteBush didn't have the kitschy campaign posters, but I do recall a speach he gave in which the entire set had been designed in a blue and yellow color scheme with a slogan plastered everywhere. Darn it but I can't remember the occasion or the slogan, but I remember feeling quite offended that my President would think that I, an American citizen, would be hoodwinked by such blatant propagandizing. So, it was about that time that I began to rethink my opinion of Bush.
The harsh rhetorical style may just be a result of my hypochondria and OCD flaring back up. I think my mitral valve in my heart may finally be giving out.
Ah, it's hard to mistake the hypochondriac. Welcome to the blog.
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