Much Worse Than Bitter!

Bitter is just the beginning! Spiteful! Outrageous! Angry! Hostile! Antagonistic! Immature! Irrational! Childlike! Just so I make myself clear, these words aren't referring to the small town blue collar workers in Pennsylvania. This isn't about Bible-toting, gun-packing Americans. This isn't about white collar elitists or middle class workers. This isn't about the people still out in the trenches trying to change America and the world. These words are words that describe many of the players currently surrounding our political system. As a small town blue collar worker in Virginia, 'Bitter-Gate' has really pushed me over the edge. I wasn't pushed over the edge by Obama's comments. I finally lost it because of the now too-predictable direction that campaign personnel, the media, and the blog world has run with his words.

As I try to educate myself about the possibility of adjusting the direction of our country, I am saddened by what I read. The public is bombarded with trivial information, half truths, twisted words, name calling and personal attacks directed at political parties and candidates. After the candidates, the parties and the media toss the trash a bit, the blog world then tries to see how much life they can give this garbage. People writing for blog sites and those who comment on blogs add angry insults, schoolyard bully-like attacks and a great deal of misinformation to the mix. Somehow the truth and issues get lost in the smoke and mirrors.

There was a time when issues took a back seat to personalities and party lines. The current reality is that the issues are no longer even in the back seat. I am not even sure if the issues are in the trailer that is being towed behind. Issues are no longer presented without bashing an opponent or opposing party. I find very little that gives me hope that we are ready to join together to face our challenges. I see out of control egos, out of control campaign spending and anger from top to bottom that is terribly misdirected.

Is it silly of me to think that we could ask the candidates to talk only about issues and the solutions to the challenges we are facing? Let's try it for the next 30 days. If a candidate tries to attack another candidate or lets an ego get in the way instead of talking about solutions, we will give him or her a 'time out.' The 'time out' would mean they couldn't speak in public for 24 hours. Wouldn't that be fun to watch? It might be a quiet month, but it's worth a shot. We might actually get to hear some ideas without a twist or an attack.

I have always liked the quote "When all is said and done, more is said than done." I am not sure who first strung those eleven words together but never have they rung so loud and true as they have during this campaign. Our country has some serious challenges and it is time to get serious about them. Trash talk is easy but we need solutions and solutions are found in action. So if we are going to fight let's fight to make our country strong again. Let's fight for unification and participation. If we can achieve that the rest will take care of itself.

Comments

[TomGerdy]

All important and significant change has been started at the grass roots level. We can bitch all day long, but that will not bring about change. Only action will bring about change. You have to be involved and be the cheerleader in an effort to change anything. Pick a challenge and get started. Pay It Forward!

Peace,
Tom

[sand252]

Tom and S1mon:

I agree that we have power on a grass roots level to elect people that we believe are honest and intellectual, but my statement about "we the people have no power" referred to our power to affect political coverage in the media. The truth of the matter is that there are people that just don't care, that don't bitch and that do need to be reached -- they turn on the tv and see fluff as news coverage on election '08 , which helps them make their decision on their "best" candidate. That is the real challenge.

In my opinion, it's the media coverage that is most disturbing during this election cycle.

[TomGerdy]

Sand252,

I am not talking about electing candidates. That is a very small part. I am talking about engaging the people outside of the political arena. I am talking about going head to head with the challenges, not the politicians. I am talking about helping people see that they do have power to fix some of what is broken. There are many people who are turned off by politics but will still get passionate about fixing a broken piece of our world. As far as the media is concerned, it is like the Field Of Dreams. If you move the world they will come. The political world is badly broken and it will only change if the hands-on people (as opposed to mouths-on people) lead the way.

If so inclined, check out the Huffpo archives for earlier pieces I wrote similar to this- It's All Ted Turners Fault, Jackass, Elephant or Eagle?, and Follow The Leaders, Not the Politicians. They all address the coverage of politics and getting involved outside of the system.

[dtd]

As long as they keep us distracted with this ridiculous non-sense, they don't have to come up with concrete plans to fix the economy, helping ailing rural or urban communities, provide health care, end the war, etc. When they run out of all the political 'gates', they'll be back on Brittney Spears.

[sand252]

I think many people have the same sentiments, but "we the people" do not have the power. And truthfully, most people more pay attention to gossip, soap operas and reality tv than to actual "news" or policy. And what controls the market (any market, including the media) is supply and demand (really demand & supply). People need to boycott certain media in order to get back to the issues. If their ratings go down, maybe they will stay off of gossip. We need to reaffirm our interest in actual news.

So, are you up to it? No more CNN, no more MSNBC, no more Foxs News, no more CBS or Headline news. Just CSPAN and PBS. Who's coming with me?

[S1m0n]

"...but "we the people" do not have the power."

That's just it: this is the CORE difference between Barack Obama and old-school party political hacks. This belief is learned helplessness; immense efforts have been expended trying to teach the American people to think this way, but the truth is the opposite: YOU THE PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER. All of it. You just have to reach out and grasp it. Ask no one's permission! It's yours, take it.

And that's what Barack Obama is trying to tell America. It's what he was talking about when he said the word 'bitter': how 'we the people'--the source of ALL the power in this american union--got fooled into thinking we're powerless. It's what he's been trying to tell Americans all along.

The irony is that it's the people who want us to go on thinking we're helpless who have been yelling the loudest about how WE (not they) just got insulted. Who are they to make such a claim? Let them look after their own issues while we look after ours. What's insulting is their claim that we have no power.

So we won't let them distract us with smoke and mirrors while they pick our pockets again and again. Vote "we're powerful", not "We're powerless". Vote Obama.

[SMP]

well said Simon...I am voting Obama on April 22...I WANT MY VOICE TO BE HEARD!!!!!!!

[TomGerdy]

Sand252,

We do have the power to make a difference at the grass roots level. People want to make a difference but they need someone to show them how. We need to help make the first step simple. Once people get their hands on an issue and feel how it feels to make a difference, it's amazing what they can accomplish. Pay It Forward!

Peace,
Tom

[rgersmrk]

Lol, I like the idea of a "time out". Can we extend that to the media as well?

[hopeless277]

Uh, 'we' have no representation in 'our' government. We, the people have been discarded. They, the corporations are now in total control of every facet of our government. They buy the senators and representatives with big money so when they get elected, they only care what the corporations want. They make promises that they toss out the window once elected. I live in Texas and when I write or call my Senators or representative, I get no response except for a form letter basically saying 'I back the president and so should you'. The problem is that once elected, we have no method for holding these 'people' to their promises. What we need is a mechinism for recalling an elected official and voting them out mid term. The one thing our representatives will never give us is a way to hold them accountable. So there's the problem. As long as our corporate masters rule us through our government, we will become weaker and weaker until we finally die. Then those same corporate masters will swoop in and feed off our carcases like the vultures they are. Get used to it.

[talking snakes]

The most egalitarian movement I have seen in my life time has emerged from the internet. IMHO it is the last great hope of restoring the republic and rebuilding the middle class.

A new American grass roots political party is needed now. A party that will not take a corporate donation and sets term limits on all candidates.

[ndolomar]

I'm beginning to believe the American voting public is hell-bent on voting against its better interests -- especially when it allows the media to deride a candidate for having the "cajones" to speak to American voters as if they were adults: tres risky, utterly unheard of and sadly discouraged.

[Clinton]

The public seems self destructive sometimes.

[Rule Of Law]

Yeah, like a zoo tiger pacing back and forth and back and forth in its cage, butting its head against the walls at each end, and then doing it again. Self destructive. Almost crazy with it. But watch out if it ever escapes its cage...