Tag: agendas

My take on the election.

My Clinton and Trump dump is finally here, and before you read further…no…this is not heavily thought out and to be honest I am out of practice in making my rants attractive, appealing, or even remotely warm and fuzzy. Read at your own risk.

So yes, we have a new president, and to be honest after this short rant, I am done bitching about the candidates. I have always stated clearly that I am an equal opportunity hater when it comes to our political parties and election system.

…and now the election is over. (YAY!)

But somehow, this has caused people to think that it is now time to wreck some shit because their candidate didn’t get elected. Y’all need to work something out if you seriously think you need violence and vandalism to make a change. Protests definitely have a role, but rioting, vandalism, and violence only serve to feed the argument against whatever you’re rooting for.

It pretty simple for me, in candidates, I always first ask myself if the candidates can be trusted with their finger on “the button.” Because of all the crazy things that can happen in the world, our ability not only to develop WMD’s is surpassed only by our idiotic sense that they are somehow necessary in a conflict. Our ability to instantly destroy that which we have no right to even consider, rests solely in this person’s moral scope of viable options.

Clinton in this election proved that she could be the only candidate to represent a broad scope of human rights necessities and social progress, while simultaneously shitting on our country’s national security and judicial system, and scaring the hell out of everyone in the world by promising to escalate every foreign conflict via embargo and military action rather than negotiation. All this said, Clinton would push the button, and blame someone else for the choice like it was some sort of scandal. She failed my “Button Finger” test immediately.

Trump has managed to become elected by boasting so many outrageous platforms and agendas completely outside the scope of the president’s power, inciting violence, and giving the public an excuse to become apologists for damn near everything a majority of us in the US stand wholeheartedly against, and still be the only candidate that might be capable of keeping the world from shutting us down economically, and fixing our deplorable foreign trade agenda…and maybe, just maybe, being able to amend a certain healthcare act that is putting damn near everyone I know into debt…just to have healthcare. Trump is a misogynist child in an old mans body that loves getting what he wants. His values are not anywhere remotely in the human liberties, freedoms, and rights. I am always given the impression that he would not only hit “the button,” he would do so for financial gain, and just like Clinton, pawn off the use on some scandal.

Johnson was the low-key candidate I wanted, but I saw some indifference in him on certain subjects that made me cringe. I suspect that his agenda was relatively closed to only deal with what he though the government should deal with, and thereby leaving the rest of the popular platform items by the wayside. The funny part, this guy, who was distant and slightly uninformed, came off as the only guy that wasn’t trying to start wars and dig our nation into an early grave (remember, we’re still a young nation by comparison.) Most importantly, he doesn’t present as a man who would allow himself to hit the button…I would only have to sacrifice all of my other moral, ethical, diplomatic, and economic concerns.

So yeah…voting this election for me was painful, too. I think it was like that for everyone. But…you don’t see me running around breaking shit over the results.

Of course…I would like to thank everyone who voted, and think everyone who did vote should pat themselves on the back for taking the time to show enough interest in the directions and policies our country is adopting. The system might be screwed up, but ambivalence, indifference, and reticence with regard to our elections will never solve this country’s problems.

That said, I think some people need to get their head out of their asses learn more about not only the election process but the greatest problems facing our elections, read up on the awesome people that run, but get no voice, while still trying to make our country better, and take a day or two to work an election/campaign and see how the process really works before they resign to temper tantrums against innocents and property in response to the election results…don’t be surprised when your vote doesn’t have the effect you expect when half the country doesn’t care enough to vote. Don’t shit on people that didn’t see the changes they are hoping for. There is your missing majority, there lies the greatest threat to our country…indifference.

I have been watching people get angry about the results and protest…and get violent. Look, we all want a better country to live in, and while we obviously aren’t getting the presidential candidate material we all wish for, protesting is your right. But Violence is definitely not. Turn that crap off. If you think it is your right to commit violence and destroy property, this isn’t the country that stands for it, and any movement, ideal, or group that advocates it will never get the support it needs to succeed. Plus, violence makes you an asshole.

In case you are wondering how I feel. not altogether unlike this guy.




Why Read A Banned Book This Week?

banned_books_weekThe answer here is simple. Because somebody, somewhere, is afraid of it. Because somebody, somewhere, is threatened by it. Because somebody, somewhere, wants you to be ignorant of it. It sounds aggressive when I describe it like that, doesn’t it? I hope so. One of my greatest fears is that I’ll be caught in a position that doesn’t afford me the option to learn and grow from an experience…and books are huge part of this.

Strangely enough though, for the first time, I’m taking a closer look at books that have been banned from schools and libraries in order to understand why exactly we would ever ban books.

What I am quickly finding is that the banned books are more often than not incredibly important and some were even required reading when I was in school. These were the books that provoked us and forced us to weigh in on ourselves morally…and somehow managed to become scapegoats for religious/political agendas. Of course this makes me want to read them even more. Go figure.

Having been a direct target of this kind of censorship, I have always reached instantly for those books that people find offensive so much that they burn them or ban them. What is in there that people fear so much that they would try to restrict and/or destroy it? Even with my proclivities, I don’t even find religious ideologies so repugnant that I would want them banned. I simply feel that it’s too important to have that knowledge available to us, with very little exception. I’ll argue this point even unto the science-fiction critics that complain about accuracy and pseudo-science. Imagination and experience are simply too important for us to narrow the scope of our available content.

I know where this argument takes us though, and I want to point out that I am certainly not saying we should have literature teaching people how to intentionally endanger or hurt one another, but books teaching us why people would want to do this would be incredibly important in my opinion. It seems to me that far too many people have taken it upon themselves to declare war on things they’ve only heard about, rather than relying on their own experience…something our government’s foreign and diplomatic policy could stand to consider as we continue to forcibly alienate more and more countries that are culturally incompatible with us. It’s not good enough that these cultures are oceans away, we must instead keep them so politically and personally hated that our perception of options isn’t to live and let live, but to suppress and eradicate. I simply find the situation strikingly similar to how people get themselves so stirred up over whether or not people have access to a book.

Is my allusion such a stretch?

I’ll try it on a different way. Despite a very crazy, abusive, and oppressive childhood…I managed to grow up into an extraordinarily moral individual. I owe so much of this to a list of books I couldn’t even begin to list out, but I will say this: many of them are on that banned book list. Some were actually required reading in school. I didn’t develop my values from reading only what I was told to…I learned from a whole world of philosophers and teachers, some religious and some not-so-much. I sometimes saw wisdom from despicable and evil people, and sometimes read how incredibly virtuous people could single-handedly sacrifice thousands in political posturing. The crazy, the scary, the imaginative…far too many of them incredibly insightful…restricted at libraries because someone ELSE didn’t like the contents. I learned a very strong sense of self, of right, of wrong, and how easily people deliberately convince themselves something morally horrible is acceptable in the name of a higher power that expressly forbids the act.

It pains me to think that maybe if people read more, they would have less time to convince themselves to act in such extremes, and have more time for the insight and inspiration that inevitably arrives from reading a good book…even one that might offend them.

Links to many of the banned books are below. Enjoy!

-Tony

www.ala.org

www.banned-books.org.uk

www.buzzfeed.com

www.huffingtonpost.com

www.time.com




Tonytown.com - Lots of political parties

The Real Problem In Politics

Tonytown.com - Lots of political partiesYou’ve all heard me say it repeatedly, I’m an equal opportunity hater when it comes to political parties. To date, I haven’t been convinced to re-evaluate this stance, and to be honest I am tired of questioning my own stance for the sake of social and economic concessions.

Let me explain my logic on this. It really all comes down to misrepresentation. In this, I mean the root of problems we all have an opinion on has been consistently compromised to achieve other agendas that happen to be promoted or supported by large(r) voting demographics.

By subscribing to the idea that we can only make a difference if we support the two major political parties here in the U.S., we effectively cripple our opinions and values. This isn’t about whether or not you’re a hardline conservative or liberal…its about your representing your individual values in our government.

At this time, the two major political parties have at one time or another supported or promoted diametrically opposing views, but the majority of the time, subscribing to the perception that these views are in fact the only two options available to voters is incredibly fallacious.

Example: PersonX is just another citizen that has values and opinions, said person feels that abortion needs more regulation, and also feels that the current level of gun control needs deregulation in accordance with their perception of both the bible and their understanding of their constitutional rights. Under the current system of representation, this person has only one ability to make that change directly, their vote.

Due to the current voting powers and the political parties integration into the voting system, PersonX is quite incapable of finding adequate representation in the government. Why? Because currently they are fed the perception that if they do not vote for either Republicans or Democrats, they will achieve neither.

This idea is why we’re essentially socially and economically upside down right now. Right now PersonX can use heir voice, and convince others that his or her opinions are right, but when it comes down to getting all those people PersonX has convinced to align accordingly…PersonX’s vote and that of his subscribers will only be capable of achieving a half win because the only people they are offered to vote for are either Republican or Democrat.

Resolving this issue is complex, because our government is now incredibly intertwined with large business organizations that would also lose their sway if they weren’t capable of influencing votes and legislation to a majority of voters by influencing the two political parties that hold. Thus Big Business will never support the idea that people shouldn’t concede their vote to achieve only a portion of their goals.

Another example: a vast majority of voters do not feel we should be pursuing military agendas all over the globe as if most of the world were at war with us. Yet here we are, constantly pushing our own military into other countries that are most often demanding we not get involved. I am the first person to subscribe to a national defense strategy that permits and promotes our freedoms. This is a very commonly held belief, I ask people, I ask my friends, and I talk with complete strangers…just to see where my own opinions stand against others. While a majority of people are ignorant of our current state of military affairs, those that did show an interest ALL expressed the same sentiment I did. Now if all these voters have expressed this sentiment, why on earth are we fighting all over the world??? I know I voted for a guy that favored trade-building over war and regime changes. But…nothing changed? Where is my representation?

The answer is simple, the two major political parties in the U.S. due to their party affiliation are in fact forced into making concessions that reflect the goals of the party, not the people they represent. By representing the party and not the citizen, the government representative is no longer capable (or willing) to adequately repesent the opinions and beliefs of their constituency. Simply put, the Republicans and Democrats are only capable of serving their own agenda, and not yours. There are rare exceptions to this, but these are exceptions to the norm and unfortunately regularly cause the nation to be completely misrepresented in almost every facet of government, military action, and diplomacy.

If this wasn’t enough for you to understand my point of view, your should then simply take my word for it and research who you’re voting for, you may find that the person you put on such a big pedestal rarely holds the values you thought you were voting for. IMO…the best politicians are the ones that have solutions for limiting government involvement and regulation.

-T