Thursday, September 3, 2009

*sigh* I warn you, this post is going to be a tad bit rambley. (brambly?) Feel free to comment if you have an opposing view, as well. I want to know what people are thinking.

I am not, generally, a very politically active person. I have never been involved with, or even interested in, politics. But these days I just can't help but feel involved. It seems to me that there are some very strange things going on in our country, and I cannot justify my apathy any longer.
For example:
-When you have a tax-payer-funded federal agency that is enlisting artists to 'push the president's agenda', is that not called propaganda? I did not believe this sort of thing was possible in the USA.
- If the president speaks to school-aged children and then teachers create a lesson plan to help him push his agenda, is that not called indoctrination? Now, I obviously don't know exactly what Obama is going to say to these kids. I don't think that there is anything inherently wrong with a president speaking to the children, as long as there is no political agenda attached. Tell them to work hard, and to stay in school. Tell them that they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up. That's it. Stay away from everything else. If it's not okay to push a specific religious view in school, then neither is it okay to push a specific political view, because the two are inextricably linked in many minds.
- When an ad featuring celebrities who 'pledge to be a servant to Barack Obama' is shown in schools, it worries me a little. When did people gain this mindset that we were supposed to serve the president? Wrong. It just sounds wrong.
-When I find out that one of Obama's advisers wrote a book about sterilization and population control, it worries me.
-When starving, struggling people are deemed less important than endangered fish, it worries me.
-When a congresswoman praises communist leaders, it worries me. Actually, it makes me angry.

Those of you who are acquainted with my family know that my mother is one of the most patriotic people you will ever meet. She was born in Cuba, and lived for 16 years without many of the freedoms that we take for granted here. I have never met anyone who was more 'proud to be an American'. But that sentiment no longer seems to be politically correct. For some reason, it's not okay to say that you think America is the greatest country on earth, that it is the land of the free, the land of opportunity. No, to say such a thing shows arrogance and narrow-mindedness.. Do Spaniards not feel that Spain is the very best place to live? Do Italians never boast that their homeland is the most beautiful, or the most interesting? If they do, I don't fault them for it. And if they don't, why not? Shouldn't it be a good thing to have pride in your country? I read a comment somewhere today saying that the world should come first, America should be second, and the individual should be last. I don't understand it. It seems backwards to me.

I don't know. Am I wrong? I don't even know if this post makes sense. I'm tired and I'm frustrated, and I can't seem to wrap my head completely around a lot of these ideas. Am I being one of those 'sensationalist right-wing nut jobs'? I don't think that Obama is the AntiChrist. But I do think that he has the potential to be very dangerous, and I think that Americans need to start paying very close attention to what is going on in the government. Because, if we don't, we could very easily have some of our most precious freedoms voted away. Is it really so difficult to believe?


5 comments:

Crystal Kay said...

I am feeling the same way you are, very concerned about our country and wondering why people aren't standing up to our government. (Including myself.. ) I don't feel like I fully understand what's going on and where these plans of Obama are going to take us, but I do know one thing, I don't have a good feeling about it. Who would have ever thought that many of America's parents are worried about what the president is going to say to their children? What worries me is we have in power right now, a man (well technically many men in the government..) that so many of us do not trust. He has some great ideas for changing, continuing in education, planting trees, conserving energy, being happier, etc. But it almost seems like a front he is putting up to distract and convince us to approve without question underlying plans we don't even understand!! I feel like I need to be doing more to protect our freedoms too. GAH!

Huri said...

Moe, I agree with you. I dont follow politics very well but it seems like the last 9 months have really made me open my eyes to what is going on out there in our counrty. It does scare me. A LOT! I feel like there are a lot of good people in this country that wont put up with what is going on and that gives me some hope.

I also know what you mean by being proud of our country. I get some guff from a friend who lives in Canada about being pround to be an American. I dont hear her say she is pround of her country. I am greatful to live here and to be a part of such a great country that gives me so many wonderful oppertunities.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Al said...

I really don't think any of these issues are cut and dried.
Cuba for example, does have arguably one of the best health care systems in the world that is totally free (that is from the World Health Organisation) but it has a government that imprisons and tortures its own people for disagreeing with Castro.
The USA has arguably the best constitution in the world, it guarantees personal freedoms. (As an aside here in Australia we don't have anything like the bill of rights or the first amendment). The USA has a system where anyone can achieve anything (a black man becoming president is pretty good proof of that), but from an Aussie perspective the have nots in America really are have nots.
Here in Oz we have a health system and a social welfare system more like Cuba's than that of the USA, yet we don't like Communists any more than you guys do. (Aussie soldiers have stood alongside our American allies in pretty much every war since WWI. The only exception I can think of is the invasion of Grenada.)
Really I think no side is all right or all wrong.
And hey if you guys really don't like Obama that much you can just vote him out in just over 3 years.
I think that is something that both Oz and the USA have very definitely got right.

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Unknown said...

Whats going on in our government is scary business right now and its virtually impossible to keep up with everything they are trying to do. I feel like myself as a citizen holds very little power to help change things, and held to being no bigger then a spec of dust as compared to the people who have the money to grease the palms of politicians. I'm not supposed to feel like that. That is quite possibly the exact opposite of what this country is supposed to stand for.

Quite frankly, I'm scared...