Tip-Toes Into The Eagle's Nest

Censored by Laurie · September 21, 2010

I will be making this trip next month...

Right...I know, I know..."what a surprise...the hippie is off to see his leader."

Well...yes...

But it seems to me that a message of moderation is something this country has been sorely lacking...especially in the wake of the last two D.C. Rallies (Beck and Sharpton).

From the show: "I disagree with you, but I don't think you're Hitler."

Seems sane to me.

Thoughts.

UNT90 · September 21, 2010

Rally to Restore Sanity

I will be making this trip next month...

Right...I know, I know..."what a surprise...the hippie is off to see his leader."

Well...yes...

But it seems to me that a message of moderation is something this country has been sorely lacking...especially in the wake of the last two D.C. Rallies (Beck and Sharpton).

From the show: "I disagree with you, but I don't think you're Hitler."

Seems sane to me.

Thoughts.

"A rally for those too busy to go to rallys"?

Kind of an oxymoron, don't you think?

Meh.. I gotta work that day. Just like I had to work the during Beck and Sharpton's deal. I'll pass.

Plus, Jon Stewart is freaking annoying.

Mean Green 93-98 · September 22, 2010

Uhhh . . . When did you start considering yourself "moderate"? :blink:

BeanCounterGrad'03 · September 22, 2010

Wish I could be there...but I don't have the funds or the time :rolleyes:

But have fun CBL and "take it down a notch -- for America!"

Censored by Laurie · September 22, 2010

Uhhh . . . When did you start considering yourself "moderate"?

My personal views, no...I skew quite left.

However, I also recognize that the only way things could actually get done is through the art of compromise and that the inflammatory rhetoric from both sides is ridiculous...and has turned what was an active political mind 5-10 years ago into one who looks very apathetically upon today's landscape...short of the humor of the hyperbole and the occasional stirring of a hornet's nest or two around here.

JayDub · September 22, 2010

My personal views, no...I skew quite left.

However, I also recognize that the only way things could actually get done is through the art of compromise and that the inflammatory rhetoric from both sides is ridiculous...and has turned what was an active political mind 5-10 years ago into one who looks very apathetically upon today's landscape...short of the humor of the hyperbole and the occasional stirring of a hornet's nest or two around here.

Indeed, sir. The wife and I may be there, as well.

Censored by Laurie · November 1, 2010

And go...

UNTflyer · November 1, 2010

Rally to Restore Sanity

I will be making this trip next month...

Right...I know, I know..."what a surprise...the hippie is off to see his leader."

Well...yes...

But it seems to me that a message of moderation is something this country has been sorely lacking...especially in the wake of the last two D.C. Rallies (Beck and Sharpton).

From the show: "I disagree with you, but I don't think you're Hitler."

Seems sane to me.

Thoughts.

You were saying...?

101030-sanity-hmed-10a.grid-6x2.jpg

Censored by Laurie · November 1, 2010

You were saying...?

I was...

"I can't control what people think this was. I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith. Or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.

Unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country's 24-hour politico pundit panic conflict-onator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems and illuminate problems heretofore unseen, or it can use its magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous-flaming-ant epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.

There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats, but those are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and tea partiers, or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rich Sanchez is an insult -- not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put forth the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish between terrorists and Muslims makes us less safe, not more.

The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything we eventually get sicker. And perhaps eczema. Yet, with that being said, I feel good. Strangely, calmly good, because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a funhouse mirror, and not the good kind that makes you slim and taller -- but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass like a pumpkin and one eyeball.

So, why would we work together? Why would you reach across the aisle to a pumpkin assed forehead eyeball monster? If the picture of us were true, our inability to solve problems would actually be quite sane and reasonable. Why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution or racists and homophobes who see no one’s humanity but their own? We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is -- on the brink of catastrophe -- torn by polarizing hate and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done, but the truth is we do. We work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don't is here or on cable TV. Americans don't live here or on cable TV. Where we live our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.

Most Americans don't live their lives solely as Democrats or Republicans or conservatives or liberals. Most Americans live their lives that our just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often it’s something they do not want to do, but they do it. Impossible things get done every day that are only made possible by the little, reasonable compromises."

UNTflyer · November 1, 2010

Trying to make political discourse pleasant and reasonble is like trying to make a boxing match non-violent. It's pointless.

I don't mind politics being ugly. What bothers me is the civic and political ignorance of the electorate. As Americans, we have a right to vote and speak freely but with every right comes a duty and responsibility. That obligation is to be politically literate. We need to know WHY we are supporting a candidate or a party, and we have a duty to hold those in office accountable for their actions.