Yeah, I already voted and dropped my ballot in the mailbox this morning. No more trying to convince me who to vote for but one of my favorite authors posted a new blog which I found fun to read and thought I would share it here. I just couldn't resist and I had to write a comment back to him which I have posted below as well.
Happy Monday,
Trav
http://donmilleris.com
Don,
I am a big fan and glad you started a blog because waiting for your next book to come out has only further illuminated my diagnosis of suffering from an acute impatience illness. I have sort of latched onto the part above where you address the turning point in your life of realizing Democrat does not equal some sort of demon possessed supernatural individual. As much as I try to shelter myself from politics, I have to admit I recently heard reference to Barak as the Antichrist (which I actually laughed out loud to the person who was in all seriousness trying to explain this to me... I think I offended him). I have long since been convicted of what you have addressed above and believe I would like to vote for the best candidate but I probably won't ever be famous enough to be invited to meet a senator and his wife (or the other way around) let alone one that is running for president.
I read in your about what happens when we try to email them and I don't expect a phone call to work with much a better success rate. So how can I weed through all the poo the media feeds us continually (which is why, as I alluded to previously, I try to keep myself away from politics) to understand what the candidates really believe and who to vote for?
I too have already cast my ballot, but in Washington State, so I no longer need to be convinced who is the better candidate. Lucky for me, I was able to relay that I already voted to all the candidates that called my house yesterday asking for my vote. I am still slightly disgruntled as I was trying very hard to watch the Seahawks lose in peace and I kept getting interrupted. The idea just came to me, maybe I will have my three year old start answering the phone for the next couple of days, while my bad attitude disolves?
But seriously Don, how do you get around it? I can't go some place where they decide to not talk about the issue because then I am avoiding things again and that doesn't help. If I stay in my church I will be subjecting myself to the generations of right wingedisms telling me who to vote for. If I watch the media I will be subjecting myself to the variety of left wingedisms telling me who to vote for. Maybe if I decide to vote based on how SNL interprets the candidates? That seems as unbiased as everything else?
I guess I am just at a loss. For each election that passes my vote seems to be losing value at the same rate as my investments in the stock market. Then there is the whole issue of this exorbitant amount of money that gets spent on these campaigns. I mean, we have people with real problems that could use just a fraction of that money to really make a difference and I could go as far as saying it could probably save people's lives. It just leaves me at an even deeper loss of what to do.
Thanks again for the post Don!
Travis
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Amen Travis! We totally agree!
Hey Travis!
Although I think the questions you pose don't have easy answers, I'd like to offer some food for thought...
I'm very much like your wife in the sense that I am not really into politics...at least before this election season. I usually proclaim "I hate politics" for many of the same reasons you quoted in your blog. And honestly, I still feel the same. However, I started to get more involved this election season (which I also agree has been terribly long!) for three main reaons:
1) Although I've tried to continually deny it, I've come to the realization that some of the issues I care about most are deeply affected by politics. So, if I'm going to defend the issues I care so much about (poverty, war, human trafficking, etc.), I need to know something about the people who are creating the laws and budgets that affect them.
2) Unlike most political elections and issues, this election actually extremely piqued my interest. Mostly for the huge historical event that it is, but also because I believe both candidates have a lot of favor with a lot of people (or maybe they're equally unfavored?). I was not and probably wouldn't be very excited about another election with candidates like we had in 2004.
3) But the main reason I've followed this election a lot more closely is because I don't want the media, my church friends, my colleagues or my family telling me who I should vote for. I wanted to discover on my own. Although this can be a major challenge, especially when considering that most sources you talk to about the election are biased, I think it is possible to form your opinion without being influenced by others. It's difficult, but I think it's possible.
Here's some ways I tried to do that this election season:
1) I tried to keep up with the news daily. Like you said, much of the media is biased, but it's better to get news from the news than from a chain email letter (which is a place I was receiving A LOT of propaganda). The key for me in trying to form my opinion without being influenced from biased sources, is to read everything with a critical eye or listen to everything with a critical ear. Thus, I tried to pick news sources that presented both biases. I didn't want to select a news source like FOX news who has a known reputation for leaning one way in its news reporting.
A benefit from keeping up with the news daily is keeping track of what both candidates are doing, saying and supporting. You have to read the news like you read a book. You can't accept everything at face value, you have to be critical. If a book doesn't cite sources, you should question the validity of the stats it uses. If a news source uses a portion of the quote that seemed questionable, I often searched for the text of the speech/statement to gather the full context of what was being said. Also, try to read at least a few news sources on the major issues. And be sure to listen to the defense. For instance, if the news reported that Obama was the Antichrist, listen to his defense of that statement as well.
2) I watched every debate. Let me tell you: by debates 2 & 3, the same talking points were being used over and over again which made it quite disappointing because I didn't feel like I was learning much. But there were benefits to watching the debates. First, I could hear the candidates speak for and defend themselves - not through a filtered news source. And second, even though they mostly talked about the same thing in all 3 presidential debates, I wanted to be sure I heard the debates from the candidates themselves so that when I listened to or read the news the next day or heard my colleagues talking about it at work the next day, I was informed and therefore had my own opinion. If I didn't listen to the debate, then it would be easy to sympathize with the bias they were speaking with because I was uninformed. But by watching, I could know truly what my reaction was to what was being said without others influencing it.
3) I watched some of the candidates interviews. This is what I actually found to be one of my favorite sources, mostly because the job of a good interviewer is to be unbiased and professional in the interview. I can think specifically of one interview Katie Couric did with Obama when he returned from his trip overseas. Although Couric isn't my favorite interviewer, I do have to say that she really laid the questions down on Obama. She did the same with Palin as well recently. If you find a good interview, you have an opportunity to study the candidates character, personality, professionalist, and you can learn a lot their views.
4) Although biased, sometimes the best place to go is to the candidates website. For example, if you really want to learn in detail about their health care plans, they have them laid out on their website. They have detailed plans for most of the big issues. In debates and interviews, they only highlight key talking points, but you can read more details in their posted plans.
Those are the main ways I tried to keep up with the election this season. I'm no political enthusiast still by any means, but I really think I can proudly say that I worked hard to ignore the propaganda and the negative ads, and tried hard to form my opinion based on the facts. One could soundly argue that may be impossible, but if you try hard and approach things with a critical eye and ear, I think that may be the best solution to the dilemmas you've presented.
I don't have all the answers, but this was my first delve into really getting involved in an election and I've suprisingly enjoyed it.
So...in closing to my long response (sorry!), I want to leave more food for thought. This is a quote from a book we went through in our Sunday morning Bible study recently. It's a book by a professor at Lipscomb University called Mere Discipleship. In the book, Camp challenges Christians with this statement made by Bill Tibert, a minister at a Presbyterian church in Colorado:
"...This history of the church through the ages has been the history of changes brought about in society through the church demonstrating and living an alternative vision of life. We need to stop telling our nonbelieving neighbors how wrong their way of life is, and we need to start showing the power of the gospel in the way we live...Let me ask you: which has greater power? Ten thousand people who fill the streets in front of abortion clincs and shame those seeking abortions, or ten thousand people in California who take to the state capital a petition they have signed stating they will take any unwanted child of any age, any color, any physical condition so that they can love that child in the name of Jesus Christ?"
My point in including this quote is - don't forget that every candidate is a politician. No matter how much they try to stick to their guns when they start, all politicians tend to be influenced by some power. Whether it be donors, their party, etc. Anyway, I say that because as Christians, we shouldn't put our hope in a politician to create the change we think this world needs. We will be sorely disappointed if we do. Obama even said recently, "I will not be a perfect president" - and I've tried to remember that during this election. No matter who wins tomorrow, the person is human and has faults and wont' be perfect. We WILL be disappointed with at least some (if not many) of the decisions the next president makes. As Christians, we shouldn't rely on the next president to create all the changes we want. Instead, we should band together with love in the name of Christ to give this earth a glimpse of God's beautiful kingdom.
Sorry for the long blog. I hope it makes sense...if not let's chat some more.
Give a kiss to the babies for me! :)
Ohh...also, I wanted to second your statement about too much money being spent on this election season. I would love it if there were a maximum dollar amount that each candidate could spend on their campaign...then the rest of the money could go to people who need it. That'd be great.
HA HA HA HA HA HA! ROFL! That was a hilarious comment you left Don. I still can't bring myself to read his blog, but I'm impressed that you took the time to tell him a little somethin' somethin'.
Thanks for the post election laugh.
And congratulations, your taxes just went up $12,000 for the next four years. Oh wait, Obama already plans to run in 2012, so double that. :)
Post a Comment