How Do You Cope?
I’ve writen about my need to stay away from politics in order to maintain mental stability. There are things done and said on the left and the right that totally throw me off my game. I haven’t called myself a conservative since President Bush called himself one, but this election year, putting on the old jacket of Reagan conservatism feels pretty comfortable.
I’m a Christian who loves science. In school, one of the things that drew me to science was the scientific attitude of skepticism. My teachers taught me there are very few irrefutable laws in science and it’s the job of a scientist to continual test what we know what we don’t know. I LOVE that! Skepticism is the guide. Since my university was a Christian university, it wasn’t all that difficult to keep matters of faith and science separated.
The science I fell in love with in school was never self-assured. It is a constant quest of discovery because the moment a scientist becomes sure, the motivation to keep searching begins to die.
From my perspective conservatives separate faith and science well, because faith in God does nothing to squelch the desire to learn why and what this world and beyond is all about. Progressives seem to take scientific ideas and turn them into absolutes. They take it for granted that evolution is a fact and global warming is caused by human activity and then adopt an air of superiority that says, “anyone who disagrees with evolution or global warming is a backward idiot.” If you’re on the left and you want to understand why we love Sarah Palin, this is exactly the reason. We’re tired of our opinions being dismissed by the media when they determine our positions to be inferior.
Charles Gibson interviewed Sarah Palin with such an overwhelming air of superiority that I want to slap the man. He asked questions with a tone that said, “You don’t really believe that …” or “You can’t possibly think that …” and “Are you sure you want to answer this way?” Sarah, for the most part, stood up to him, but the reason Gibson infuriates me is that he asked questions with the implication that conservatism is an invalid foundation for political discussion. Conservatives have no responsibility to answer to a media who hates them and I think they should stop trying.
Normally I cope with politics through distance. I can listen to NPR and rarely get upset (the exception is commentary from Dan Shore), and I can listen to Rush Limbaugh (but when Rush ends and Hannity starts, I can’t turn the radio off fast enough). Distancing myself keeps my blood pressure in check. I focus on technology and I’m happy.
This year is different because I’m emotionally investing my heart in the success of Sarah Palin because she echos the Reagan idea that government isn’t the solution. Government is the problem and the best thing government can do for people is get out of our way. Her record in Alaska is one of slashing and killing wasteful government programs that don’t work or don’t matter, and I trust her to do the same on the national stage. There’s precedent for that type of vice-presidential role, too. Love him or hate him, that’s what Al Gore did as vice-president. Clinton gave him the task finding and exposing government waste. I want John McCain to give Sarah the same task. I want her to dress Washington waste like one of those moose (mooses? meese?) she hunts.
This year is different also because I’m reading a ton of left-wing blogs, which oddly enough, I find more comforting than infuriating. It’s Big Media that frustrates me because they claim non-bias. The left-wing bloggers see Big Media as biased in a completely different direction than I see it and I find that heartening.
Here’s my question to anyone nice enough to stop by my psychology experiment of a blog… How do you cope with politics? I hate it because it separates people? I hate it because it puts me in a mental state where I feel out of control. I hate it because it raises my blood pressure. Whether you’re a conservative, a liberal or a crazy mixed-message Libertarian like me, how the heck to you cope?
14 Responses to “How Do You Cope?”
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Neil,
This election is about voting for a President. As I see it there is just one party and the one thing we can do to initiate change first is to vote out the party in charge for the last eight years. McCain is hiding behind Sarah. Religion and Politics aside how can you vote for McCain and his parties record. WE the people must wake up open our eyes and start to hold media, big business, and politics accountable to US. We must come together, speak out, and act NOW.
Tired of Mixed Messages
Macroron – that really isn’t the point of my post, but in answer to your question, Obama is a socialist who says he will increase the size of government. The Republicans have failed to embrace fiscal conservatism. President Bush’s biggest failure has been his unwillingness to veto. John McCain will veto. That’s the one thing I trust McCain to do. More importantly, victory for McCain will bring Sarah Palin to Washington and that’s want I want most of all.
For me, it’s a matter of not ever looking to the government to solve my problems. It can be so tempting to think that if so and so is in power then they’ll lower my taxes and help my family in some way. But the reality is that politics ebb and flow. It’s my responsibility to get out there and find creative ways to support my family no matter the political climate.
I totally share your desire for a government that gets out of the way, and I feel the frustration when it doesn’t. I guess I’ve just settled it in my mind that such things will only happen rarely, if ever, and to move on with life.
Sure, that can be a difficult attitude to keep. It is only as a Christian knowing what the Bible says about God appointing rulers and manipulating them for his own purposes that allows me to step back and trust Him to be in control.
Humor…I have to figure out when it’s time to keep my shout shut, walk away, turn the channel, stop reading the blog, and just laugh about things. I’m a conservative and often feel like the only one on the Internet after reading blogs all day or listening to podcasts. But yeah humor helps and that and hugging my 14 month old son who is only concerned when he gets the square blocks stuck in the toy train smoke stack.
So hang on, you love sceptiscism, don’t jump and believe some fairly solid scientific theorems, yet have absolute faith in God? It’s your life and you think what you want, but to me that sounds like a double-standard.
We’re in the same boat, Neal, but I’ve been in it since before you were born. As Randy says, humor helps. I would add that blogging does, too. Speak the truth, and leave the results up to God.
For me, I’d have to say humor as well. The reason, in my opinion, Jon Stewart’s show is so right on, so freaking popular and SO RIGHT is because he calls the BS out on EVERYONE. Yes, even the liberals such as myself.
He has a way of calling out the Republicans disgusting “holier than thou” attitutes while showing us their hypocrisy and then he has a way of making fun of liberalism by showing us that hugging trees doesn’t pay the bills.
More towards your post, there are times I truly have to take a step back. Being a homosexual is hard enough, especialy when people may not know I am one (AKA a coworker that I don’t know well) and I hear them say “God, I hope McCain locks up those fags like Bush should have done.”
Stuff like that makes me want to cut every Republican in the throat, but I’m smarter than that. I don’t care what the mass idiots think (in the Republican party, and some in the Democrat party), I only care what God truly thinks… and for any of us to “act” like we know what he’s thinking, well, that’s a whole new story.
So, to answer your question, it’s happened before – you’re a prime example. I become friends with someone, truly like the person and really look up to them, and at times I then find out their political beliefs and it can be a bit of a downer.
I have to tell myself that it’s not all who they are, but at times, it sure can feel like it.
Not sure if that makes sense.
I try to remember that most of the people I disagree with are not trying to cause the country harm. In the end most are trying to do what is best. Oh… and I occasionally post comments on blogs to complete strangers who produce compelling technology content. Oddly the venting relaxes me.
Also while I’m as guilty of it as the next guy… portraying Obama as a socialist cartoon character (he’s slightly left of center but the state wont be controlling the means of production on his watch) or Palin as a neo-Reagan cartoon character (she’s talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk on spending, censorship or corruption) has been know to elevate my blood pressure… from time to time.
You guys really crack me up. It’s like listening to a bunch of lunatics in an asylum! You poor people have been brain-washed, lied to, mislead, un- or mis-educated your entire lives, there’s no wonder you’re all so confused. And you don’t seem to even see it. Bizarre! I feel like I’m reading a cartoon book. It’s weird how American politics is littered with words that, we you come right down to it, don’t really make any difference. You guys have such a strange outlook on life. Have any of you picked up a book on Socialism? Not one from school. They lied to you in school, like they lied to you about the war.
Did you know, that the Vatican habours pedophiles? It’s a fact. They get recalled to the Vatican when they are discovered, so they don’t embarrass the church. To hell with the victims. And you follow these leaders. It’s sickening. Anyhoo, besides the point.
Why do you get emotionally involved in politics Neal? What’s the point? Did you even know Sarah Palin existed before she was chosen? She’s a politian. They do it for the MONEY. They’re not doing it for you, or the community. They’ll say anything to get at the money. You think they’re all different?
You want Sarah Palin in cause she’s hot. You’re an idiot. Simple. You don’t know what Socialism is, yet you’re afraid of it. You think that paying less tax liberates you. Have you ever thought what would happen to America of you all stopped paying tax? Do you even know what they do with your tax dollars? Who pays the police services? Why funds the Army? You know, to fight real wars, that aren’t about oil. The roads just get build using Monopoly money? You people are idiots.
I am still struggling with how liberalism is some how limiting freedoms in the US. How is it exactly the government is getting in the way? It is a common thread in your postings.
@Alien Spaces – Thanks for illustrating why Sarah matters! If we don’t agree with you, we’re stupid…I get it! So I’m proud to put the stupid t-shirt on. I know I’m right regardless of what my shirt says and regardless of your delusional insight into what matters. You calling me stupid inspires me to vote for someone like Sarah who stands for slashing wasteful government spending.
@Christopher Mercer – I don’t think you’ve heard me criticize liberalism. I am a social liberal. I loath socialism because it is immoral to take money from one person and give it to another. There is no exception to that rule. That is a fact that can’t be disputed. Unlimited freedom belongs to us all. Liberalism is about equality and freedom and I’m 100% pro liberalism.
Taking money from one person and giving it to another is not liberalism. It’s socialism or even communism It’s 100% evil because it robs me of personal responsibility to share any success I get with people who need it. Morality can never and should never be forced.
As a Christian, it’s my responsibility to share my resources with people in need. I do and that’s a private thing. When government robs me of my money and gives it to the poor, it’s immoral and I stand against that.
Socialism is immoral. It’s the result of government trying to be God and I’ll always stand against it and any government worshiper who believes in government rather than God.
Neal,
I want to say first that I could not AGREE with you more. To answer your question about how do I cope, I have to answer with this:
… in George Washington’s
Farewell Address he warned against the party system:
Washington against the party system: (from http://www.historian.org/ushist/washingt.htm) (another link of the same: http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/farewell/text.html)
“It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble
the public administration. It agitates the community with
illfounded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity
of one part against another; foments occasionally riot and
insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and
corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government
itself through the channels of party passion. Thus the policy
and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and
will of another.”
So … you, very simply, can look at history, the current state and see that he was right. And that, is the reason I will never sign up to support a party.
How do I cope, I pray…
… and watch GeekBrief.tv …