Political Despair

My writing is crap. I know it is. But, I'm having an emotional reaction and I want to get it out before I forget.


Slate Political Gabfest for August 14, 2008

About 'dirty' campaigning from the right, David Plotz says...
"what do you want, it's the campaign, dude get over it"
"I find people's indignation about dirty campaigning just so...lame and pathetic. I mean, its a campaign, it's a political campaign. They're fighting for the biggest stakes possible."
"If they [the Obama crowd] don't want McCain elected then they should play dirty politics. Politics is a dirty game so they should be dirty."

I'm sad.

The problem with the media these days is that they do think its a game - separate from real life. They compartmentalize it and discuss every little detail of it like a sports analyst.
Maybe they're not affected by the reality of a political world. Are they insulated by their money and profession?
Because its not a game to most of us. Politics is about how we want to live our life. Farming bills, health regulations, universal health care, foreign policy really do affect everyone's lives. What we get from and give to our government shapes our lives and helps us define where we are in the world. One aspect in our relationships with each other is our government. How we relate to each other can be defined by the type of goverment we choose. Its not a game, its real life. It matters.

I can't imagine living in a world in which the only way I could get people to agree with me is to lie and spin and make things up. Always. In that world there is no integrity and no honor. How can a sane person be a part of that? And how can a sane person accept that you can compartmentalize these things and keep them very separate from who you are? It's not possible. There is bleed through and its contaminating the whole world.

The mainstream media doesn't understand the connectedness of everything and the fabric of our country that we're all weaving and contributing threads to.
Didn't these people learn the same lessons I did as a child?
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
Treat other people as you'd like to be treated.