Causes, a little Education, Party Politics…and Voting.

The problem with causes, is if you believe in them…they tend to leave a nice mark on your lifestyle 😉

Earlier this week, someone quoted Franklin’s quip about freedom and sacrifice to me:

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

We can call anything an essential liberty. In this case it was a very poor news article that I said shouldn’t have been aired. Even after explaining that I felt it shouldn’t have been aired because of lack of content (it was 90% filler and no good juicy stuff to leave the audience looking for more), some argument junky (yeah…I called someone else an argument junky) finished his rant by using the above quote like I was making myself at home on his back porch, eating his breakfast.

Luckily for me, I am not so easily chastised, and definitely not so easily found guilty.

Here’s a little stance that might help some people figure out what I am about.

I will never participate in Party rallies, I understand their significance but I can’t in good faith ever support a party, only specific people. I will never vote party…ever. I made this mistake once, and found out years later I’d voted for some guy that I’d never have even shaken hands with. I will never judge a person by their political affiliation…well…I try not to but if my first impression is you spouting off a racist remark followed by a socialist remark followed by “If you watch FOX, you’re a conservative.”…essentially you’ve told me clearly that you don’t belong in our present gene pool.

I assisted in the Dallas City elections this year.
I’ve written my elected offices ~12 times this year alone…
I’ve called them at least 5 times…
I’ve even blogged a few times…

Being committed to a cause is a whole lot more than talking about it over a meal.
It’s more than spitting on someone else’s shoe.
…and it’s a hell of a lot more than calling someone a liar on a tiny little contingency plan.

It isn’t making a pile of amoral jokes about the Party or President you don’t like.
It’s leading by example, deed, action, and word, in hope that you inspire other to do the same..providing education where there is little to none, thereby creating a more aware people.

While I would never expect someone to hold my opinions over their own, I will always expect people to form opinions based on research and interest as opposed to reckless rumor mongering and party politic. This, is where I believe we’ve failed here in the US. We’re now in bed with a horde of politicians that are pushing personal agenda and party decision as much as or more than they are working to represent their constituency.

More importantly, if the voter doesn’t make that one small effort to make an educated vote, the vote itself is only beneficial to the politician rather than the people. If the politician is looking to further Party agenda…he is NOT serving his constituents…he is thereby in a position that is a conflict of interest.

I’ve finally gotten to see this stuff they’re arguing over. And I cannot stress how poorly these arguments are being used as tools of obstruction in serving the citizens of the United States. Because of separate legislation in play..don’t get me wrong, the deliberate verbal meandering in play is NOT JUST COMING FROM REPUBLICANS…but this sort of thing is supposed to be handled in a majority vote as well…and the majority of us want reform.

For the record, Franklin’s original statement (published in Poor Richard’s Almanack 20 years prior to his address to the Pennsylvania Assembly) was:

Sell not Virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power.

This is where I stand, and I don’t sacrifice anything for Virtue or Liberty.

Here are some links you might find helpful…if they arent helpful, just search healthcare on Google News 😉
The Proposal
CNN has a decent synopsis of the differences in proposals.
Good stuff from the New York Times