Dirty Politics Backfire?

Back in 2012 I wrote a post about how boring the television coverage of the Republican and Democratic Conventions had become, compared to what I remember from my childhood.

Well, one thing's for sure, the TV coverage of the Republican and Democratic DEBATES has been far from boring! The level of name calling, crude language, and hateful speech seems to have escalated beyond anything before. That's probably not true, but it sure seems that way. I'll leave that call to the true historians.

We live in a state where the incumbent Senator has been in office since Moses, and for the first time in memory he is scrambling to defeat a young whippersnapper of an opponent.

And, likely following the lead of the presidential primary races, the local TV advertisements have become decidedly "dirty politics". I WAS still debating on voting on the incumbent, mainly because of his position on some powerful committees, or voting for "new blood", figuring it was time for new ideas.

But the incumbent has released a particularly nasty TV advertisement that just hits me the wrong way, and it had the exact opposite effect the candidate intended. It has tipped me over to the young candidate.

So how about you? Are you willing to gloss over the offensive speech of these heated campaigns, or do you get swayed to vote more "against" one candidate, rather than a true "for" another one? Do the robo-calls, television advertisements, billboards, etc., sway you? Or is it the substance of what the candidate says he or she will do once they are in office?

What's Wrong with a Brokered Convention??

I find it amusing how little history most people seem to know. Hubby and I have been amazed when we hear commentators making the possibility of a brokered Republican convention sound like the most horrible thing that could ever happen to the Republican party.

When we were growing up TV was in its infancy, so they showed ALL of the Convention process on TV. And it was not at all unusual for there to be quite a few pollings of the delegates before a candidate was picked. It was fascinating to watch and listen to all the talk about backroom conferences and deal making. By the time a candidate was picked, we really felt like we had seen history in the making.

Nowadays the conventions are just plain BORING, as they are a coronation ceremony at best.

Maybe, just maybe, this will be a convention worth watching!

Political Rhetoric Gone Wild!

I didn't know that I was a Jihadist terrorist!! But evidently this 68 year old granny is trying to overthrow the government of the United States. And what makes me say that? Well, if the Vice President of the United States and an op-ed piece in a major American newspaper says so, it must be true, right?

Anyone who listens to politicians without thinking for themselves is no better off than the animals on George Orwell's Animal Farm who slowly lost their freedoms, because they were not diligent to remember their history, think for themselves, and stop the encroachment on their rights at the first signs of them being infringed upon.

No, we've never gone to a Tea Party rally, but our personal political beliefs align us with this group. And I honestly don't believe that the majority of Americans look "in horror" at the unwillingness of the Tea Party Congressmen to compromise on the national debt reduction issue.

Our Founding Fathers set in motion a government run by the process of Checks and Balances, so that no one part of the government has total control of any issue. Our government works at its best when we have a "loyal opposition" - proud Americans ready to voice, in a lawful manner, their disagreement with those in power.

The day we stop opposing political decisions we don't agree with - that's the day we stop living in the United States of America!

We Always Have Been Among the Silent

Hubby and I have voted in every national, state, and local election since we were old enough to vote, but recently politics has taken a more interesting turn for us. We have become very interested in our little rural town's local politics, and we've been going to all the Council meetings for quite some time. Our town is in the process of adopting a zoning plan that will give the town a way to control what type of construction can be built in the different areas of town. There have been plenty of opportunities of people to ask questions, plus everyone who already owns land in our town is grandfathered, unless they change the use of their land.

The reason all this has suddenly become of such interest is that our sleepy little town has been "invaded" by a large corporation named White Rock that has bought up a large tract of land with the intention of putting a rock quarry there. They have had several very fancy public meetings trying to convince the citizens here that the quarry will be good for us. Citizens who do not agree that the quarry would be a positive change have also organized and met frequently. And we're going to all the meetings.

We tried to keep an open mind at first about whether the quarry would be a good thing, but the more we know about the problems that quarries cause, the more we are against it. We even have a sign in our yard in protest. This is entirely out of our normal response to anything pertaining to politics. Mostly we've just voted and gone about our business, part of the Silent Majority.

It's a shame it took something that is causing this much furor in our little town to get us to become active in civic affairs. Somehow there was never time or interest before these last few years of our retirement. We were too busy being caregivers to our parents for a long time to have the time or energy to become involved. But that doesn't excuse all the other years that we should have been more involved in the political arena.

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks after all. Here we are in our 60's doing what we should have been doing all along. Better late than never, I guess.