So I have been perusing the blogs and online newspapers lately as well as watching plenty of CNN, FoxNews and occasionally MSNBC...and others. When I realize that even some of my best friends are the "crazy" liberals or conservatives. Thats right the "crazies" are well know to us all. Some of your best friends and/or relatives may be part of the extreme left or right and you (or them) may not even know it. Our media has become a place that has become so polarized that it is infecting our own citizens.
Since when does two talk show hosts walk off their own program during a discussion about 9/11? or are people claiming that the government is about to come into your house and use the National Guard to patrol the streets as a paramilitary police force? As much as we need to be involved in politics (next week), we also need to become educated on what we believe in...thats right we need to educate ourselves on what we think we stand for. I am considered pretty conservative (by myself) while if you ask many people around me they will say I am a liberal from western Massachusetts who listens to the Grateful Dead and Phish, loves to hike and spend time outdoors, used to have dreadlocks and promote free love around the campfire...sounds like a hippie leftist right? Wrong, I grew up on a farm in western Mass., believe that every citizen should own at least one gun, do not think the affirmative action is a good thing ( it leaves all the smart kids out once their quota is hit), think the government is way too big, taxes should only be paid for the things we need and can not provide for ourselves...etc. I could go on and probably will but that will be another week.
The issue right now is that the media is portraying the American public as two groups of extremists who believe in two totally different sets of ideals. This is not the case. We believe in the same ideas about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...its just that how these things are achieved can be different paths. Stop letting the media decide that you are a liberal or a conservative...stop allow yourself to be labeled something other than an American...start thinking about what it is you really want in this country...and then if the votes don't go your way and you can't get along with the crowd, maybe its time you moved to a place where you can get along with the crowd...because if you don't like the ways things are going in our country you can do tthree things, try to change it, live with it or leave.
