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Blogs by Christine Amsden
Let's Talk Politics 11/3/2006 5:36:55 AM
I don’t often talk about politics. I’m not sure why not, because I am passionate and opinionated, but also willing to listen to other ideas and to change my mind. It seems to me that “you just don’t talk about that” is the name of the game in this country, but what a dangerous game to play with the cornerstone of our freedom!
With elections coming up next week, my husband and I took a couple of hours last night to go over the list of candidates and look them up on the internet. The only people talking are the candidates themselves and a few biased news sources. No one talks about third party or independent options. Wait, did I say options?
A few days ago someone from the democratic party came by and gave my husband and I a choice of four issues. She asked which was the most important to us in the upcoming election. Three of them were education, the economy, and homeland security (I’m afraid I can’t remember the other one). My husband gave the following basic response: “Homeland security, but not in the way they’re going to think if you check that. I’m most concerned about the erosion of our rights in the name of security.” She agreed that they would believe he meant just the opposite if she checked that option so he shrugged and said, “Fine, put me down for the economy.”
But doesn’t that say something, that other people are narrowing down our choice of issues for us? It tells me that something is seriously wrong with the way we do politics in this country. Squashed in to our isolated holes, scared to talk to our neighbors for fear they may be child sexual predators, and unwilling to cause friction by talking about politics when we do poke out heads up for air, the only information that can trickle its way into our worlds is highly filtered, biased, and frankly incomplete.
And don’t even get me started on the obscurity of local elections. Who cares who’s county commissioner or a local judge? Well, I care! These people set our local taxes, plan and pay for local civic projects, and hear important cases – both civil and criminal. In many ways, they have more impact on my life than the silhouettes in Washington, D.C. ever could. Yet even the local newspapers spend scnat time on these races and these issues.
I say it’s time to create friction. I say it’s time to find out what our neighbors think about issues, even if we don’t agree with them. I think it’s time to take responsibility for our freedom to ensure that it remains intact for our children and grandchildren.
