Every four years, this country is afflicted with temporary madness.
by Elizabeth Lee of elizabethly

Photo from Lindsay G’s flickr
I am tired of hearing about politics, tired of 75% of my Facebook news feed being comprised of those viral photo+text propaganda images that get spread around like wildfire, as though that’s why I get on Facebook every day. (Hint: it’s not. I’ll take your baby and dog pictures any day over that nonsense.) I cannot wait for this election to be over and done.
Tax returns! Birth certificate! Health care! Dog on the roof of his car! Socialist! Elitist! Muslim!
Really?
Much of this stuff comes from otherwise intelligent people, who in every other facet of life seem capable of having opinions that weren’t prefabricated by their favorite sensationalist news source.
Let’s face it, folks – we the people are not in possession of all the facts. What’s more, for many of the accusations I’ve come across, the only person who knows whether they are true or not is the person who stands accused. So much of what’s said is conjecture, designed to invoke an emotional reaction, and it comes from every camp.
I don’t enjoy being bombarded with political sentiment everywhere I go – whether I’m being preached at directly, or simply overhearing a little mudslinging in the local bookstore. It’s all abrasive to me.
What baffles me most is how public people are with their pontificating. I prefer to keep my beliefs private.
When I was a kid, my parents never even would tell me who they were voting for. I’m sure they talked about it with each other once I was in bed, or out of the house somewhere, but in front of me, they remained pretty neutral about who they supported and what party they backed. I always found their reticence thought-provoking. They got a bit more outspoken as I got older, probably because they figured I had already formed some theories of my own and was less impressionable.
Right from the beginning, Mom and Dad have been very good about encouraging me to come to my own conclusions about life. I guess they must be advocates of individualism. Some parents seem to expect their children to become ideological clones, and are then shocked when the kids turn out to have their own opinions.
This was never the case in my house while I was growing up. We would sometimes butt heads over issues, but never did I feel that to disagree with my parents was wrong, in and of itself. I know they wished I shared their beliefs, but they seemed to accept that I was going to have my own convictions, and that they could steam about it all they wanted, but it wasn’t going to change me.
Mom and Dad, I appreciate that. I don’t know if I’ve told you that at all, or if I have, if I’ve said it often enough. Thanks for letting me become my own person, even if you weren’t sure you were going to like how I ended up. Thanks for providing me with the opportunity to form a distinct ‘self.’
I’ve gone through just about every shade of the political and philosophical spectrum, which was probably pretty amusing from my parents’ perspective. Funnily enough, I ended up coming around to their way of thinking about some things, after all.
I will admit that much, but I’m still not going to tell anyone who I’m voting for. That’s Top Secret husband and wife stuff.
I’m Elizabeth. I cook, read, and write, adore my husband, spoil my cat, drink tea, take pictures, do crosswords and Sudoku, thirst for knowledge, and get enormous enjoyment out of little things.
It’ll all be over before we know it. But it is disgusting haha
I’m one who likes to discuss politics and am guilty of forwarding incendiary news stories. Most of the time I check trusted sources for their take before I make my decision. And as long as everyone agrees with me, life will be perfect. 🙂
I love chatting about American politics – and I live in New Zealand, so it’s not even like I can cast a vote! You guys have such a fascinating system and everything is always so far on either end of the spectrum. Not a lot of grey area. Is really fun to watch from afar.
When my children were in school they would hold elections and let the kids vote. I thought it was cute until I realized it was more about finding out what the parents were going to do than it was about teaching the children about the election process. I have vowed to never vote again. My vote doesn’t make much difference especially now that corporations are equals to people. Instead, I have turned my attention to my local community and making smaller changes and leaving the politics for someone else.
‘I realized it was more about finding out what the parents were going to do’.
OMG.
Your comments about politics mirrored my opinions so much, it was scary!. I used to work in politics as far as I’m concerned, almost everyone is corrupt to some extent. I do what I can to help my community and protect my family. The rest is out of my control.
This post sums it up perfectly. Thanks so much for checking out my blog and leading me to this one. I will enjoy following this blog!
Very interesting and well said.
Everyone’s doing the talk as you indicate but I don’t see anything getting better.
It is all a dog and pony show, and yes it is ridiculous. Most other countries are laughing at us during elections because of how gullible people can be. I applaud your parents, as mine were pretty much the same when it came to politics. I hate arguing with closed minded people, so I usually keep my mouth shut and let them sell their crap to someone else. Any political stuff I may Facebook or Tweet I usually fact check or it is strictly humorous. Thanks for tour post
🙂
All my own thoughts that I could never put into words. Well said.
I had political agenda shoved down my throat for the 23 years I was married. He is known to say that anyone with a separate thought “just doesn’t get it.” The year I divorced, I didn’t vote because I knew I would either vote the only view I had ever known, or vote completely against it, just to spite him.
This time I might actually vote. I have finally having some of my own viewpoints. But I will not accuse you of not getting it if you don’t agree with them. And I sure as hell am not going to forward you any propaganda.
Very nicely said. Although to be fair? The world is not all about who is elected President of the United States of America. Although, unfortunately the world does become impacted by whichever “patsy”, is in the seat.
Laughingly the americans call it democracy. Whereas it becomes a question of choosing between, frick or frack? After the farce is over, and a bit of a lull. The same participants, from the same schools and universities. Will be right back at it again. Jostling to get their big, porky, snouts in the public trough. For the benefit of themselves and the corporate interests, that paid for their election.
In all honesty am I so glad I’m not living in US and have to go through this cirque every 4th year. Anyone can become the most powerful man in the world .. if there is just enough of money and power backing. Give the world Cliton back.
It’s all crap unless of course you’re talking about my fav . ha ha !
I will agree that the ideology comes from all camps, but I must say that one camp seems rather enthusiastic about the mud-slinging, name-calling, fact-muddling, and petty-fogging of the issues. But I’m also with you, I am tired of having it pop up in my Facebook news feed. There have been times that I have had to work hard to restrain myself from turning to FB to sound off on a particular news item because I truly do not want to offend or insult my friends who vary wildly in their political tendancies. It annoys me to no end that many of my friends do now show the same consideration to me.
I’m a firm believer that politics needs to change, become something more like jury duty where everyone has to serve at some point but no one gets to do it every day… there has to be some merit to that idea!
I totally agree. It’s one of those things that will never change, no matter how much social media they come up with. People can get just as (or more) fired up about politics online as they do in person. I know which way I’m voting, and no snarky FB video will change my mind. Well said. Nice post!
Amen! It transforms nearly every platform of communication into a vehicle for hate and separation. It’s gross seeing my facebook feed covered in pictures and messages of people calling everybody else retarded.