Free Political Awareness

Politics had never been an interest in any way, shape or form in my life until late last year.  I had always considered politics to be one an issue that one person, the common man, could never truly have an effect upon.  Primarily because all of the decisions made in this realm were never really made by said common man, but instead by a gaggle of old men who were bred and groomed for their positions at a certain age, and made all of the decisions for the "good of the country" for us.  Any opportunity for us, the public, to vote or to participate in the political field felt very moot to me, and assinine.  Especially since even when we do vote on anything it was still left up to senators and what not to make the final decision for us.  There was literally no point in me being active in something that was going to be decided by a panel of 60 year olds with nothing but there best interests in mind.

Sadly, my good friend Tim was nice enough to open my eyes to how it was actually quite the opposite.  I refuse to go into the details of our conversation, since that would be practically a college thesis in itself, but to reiterate everything that he imparted onto me, he basically said that even if you feel that you're participation/vote in everything doesn't matter, it is at the very least important to be informed on the going on's of your country and the government itself.  Not only that, but to be properly informed.  Plus, despite what you may believe, your participation/vote DOES make a difference, because you're participation/vote is an influence on a decision.  At least that's what I remember from our conversation.

If Tim is reading this right now he's probably shaking his head, or spitting out his coffee yelling out "What the Hell?!" because that's probably not how the conversation went at all.  There was a lot more beratement on his part, telling me how much of a simple minded idiot I was.  I do remember crying alot that night.

I'm sure that all of you out there with at least one working ear have been bombarded with endless news on the Television, Internet, Newspapers, Telegraph about absolutely everything our President has or has not done during his first year in office.  The most obvious one lately being the battle for free Health Care for this country.  Or I should say the attempt to try and bring free Health Care to this country.

Ever since this whole...thing got started everyone in the political realm has been up in arms.  Mainly ranting about how it is the worst thing in the world that could happen to American Citizens, unless of course the Ebola Virus mated with the Swine Flue.  Somehow, the idea that people who could not afford Health Care could magically have Health Care is a terrible, terrible concept.  Right out the door every Republican said that they would do every thing that they could to stop the bill from passing, giving absolutely no legitimate reasons other than the bill itself is too big, or it costs money, and something about a public option.  Democrats have generally been no better, and they tend to ramble on about the same exact things.

But it didn't stop there.  No, a few months after the wheels of change that our President promised us started to turn the ridiculous rumors started.  Things like Death Panels and Health Care for Illegal Immigrants.  Though I won't open this can of worms because I can't find the exact quote on it, there was an assload of humbug about something to do with abortions, but then again when isn't there?!

Then as if all of that wasn't enough, some A-Hole group called the Teabaggers came out, who have decided that anything that our President does is against God and Immoral.  Literally, I think they are out on the White House front lawn right now protesting the fact that President Obama is eating dinner without the appropriate utensils.  They are constantly upset about the nation having free Health Care, usually repeating some nonsensical rhetoric from whatever Senator that currently supports them.  Usually what they spout out is crap that sounds like chain e-mails they received that morning.  So if they got one of those e-mails that said "Free Health Care will let Joe Biden kidnap your children", you better believe they believe it.

So after all of this time was spent arguing over what was right and wrong with the proposed Health Care bill, everyone getting upset because apparently Health Care for everyone is immoral, countless rewrites to try and appease every old soul in Washington, it finally came down to the wire for our countless Senators to vote and make changes to the bill.

The second the cameras started rolling when it was time to see who would and would not support Free Health Care for Americans, something pathetic happened.  All of this controversy, all of this hate, and all of this utter confusion about this damn bill has absolutely nothing to do with the welfare of our country, it's citizens or the future stability of our nation.  Not one bit.  Every last bit of angst that has been thrown out into the media and shoved into our faces has been about nothing but Self Preservation.  Everyone that has been trying to kill this bill before it starts is just wanting to survive.

All of the republicans kept to their guns that they didn't want Health Care to pass, because they don't like our President.  When it came time to everyone else though, they brought up all of their strange ideals how it was evil, horrible and then they said they would support it IF they got their way.  If the government paid off certain debts to the state they support, if they received certain concessions, got a couple of IHOP coupons, then oh yeah, they'd support it 100%.  What's more depressing is that the demands were met.

What all of this goes to show is that nobody in congress wants things to change from the way things are right now, not one damn bit.  There is too much money to be lost with lobbyists and not enough to be made if things change.  That is it.  They can make any lame brained excuse about who is going to be left out, when it's going to be activated, if there should or shouldn't be a public option in it, but it all boils down to several key factors:

1. 
   
   Money
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Power
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Comfort
   
   
   

It almost sounds like I'm quoting Scarface, but if you watch any of those C-Span videos of the bill trying to get passed that is exactly what is going on, with everyone making there excuses for why it shouldn't pass.  All of the Republicans do not, DO NOT want to give up there former glory days of being in charge of anything AND do not want to give up any pies that they might have their fingers in that brings them money to themselves or respective states, and not one single person wants things to change from the way they were.  The exact same goes for Democrats as well.  Which is why so many WILL support it if they receive a humongous reward in return.  The change that our President has promised us is coming and they do not like it.

I am the last person to sit hear and pretend that I know absolutely everything there is to know about politics.  Far from it.  I am learning every day.   I am still trying to figure out what the difference between a Democrat and Republican is other than their logo and the color red and blue.  Maybe it's the accent?  I don't know what defines you as a leftist.  Idiocy?  I've looked up what the Public Option is, and I'm still not quite sure why it's such a horrible thing that needs to be removed.  Probably it was just the first thing that was noticed on the bill?  I wrote this primarily to just blurt out and say it, that not passing this bill is an excuse for the people in charge of our country to just keep things the same. They may preach that it is better for all of us to not have it, but in what way? I have yet to hear a valid reason from anyone who has opposed this bill other than "I cannot approve something that I don't morally agree with".  How can you morally agree with not giving Health Care to people without it free of charge?  Several states are even suing the government for giving them Free Health Care.  Why?  Because "It's unconstitutional".  I can't even come up with a good reply to that!

Perhaps I'm not even the best person to try and argue about this topic since I already have free health care through the V.A.  But my family doesn't, my daughter doesn't, and I'm pretty damn sure that the government would be able to provide a far better plan for free than the crap ass plan that I have to pay for monthly for my daughter that barely gets her anything. 

Unfortunately, as far as this bill has come, it looks like it will fail because of a giant group of old men and women who misleadingly present themselves as crusaders for the nation, and champions for America, only have their best interest in mind instead of ours.

Like our President said "If you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig".
The things that have been said during all of this debacle have gone from ridiculous to downright insane.  I won't get all preachy and reference dozens of direct quotes, from dozens of politicians whose names won't mean a damn thing to any of us.  I promote research and reading.  And when I say research I mean PROPER research, not just googling and clicking, but going to legitimate resources.  As in the last post I'm going to leave you with some more links to where I go for my information:

Time - This is a very well balanced site that is kept up to date.
Newsweek - More opinion pieces than anything else, but has some great balance and views.
Huffington Post - I go here mainly to get a wide variety of other people's point of view & topics, also has up to date news as well on politics.  News is very unbiased surprisingly.
Cnn - Hey, we all just need up to date news

I did bring up the topic of my past political involvement up, and my conversation with my best friend Tim, for a reason. Being ignorant about topics such as this feels safe, it puts you in a comfort zone, which is exactly where I was at for a good majority of my life. Being uninvolved and uninformed puts you in a situation of ignorance to where if the topic of discussion like this comes up you can safely say "Well, I didn't know, I didn't vote, so I can't be blamed. It's everyone elses fault. I don't care.". Having that sort of blank set of ideals where uninvolvement will not affect anything is not the path our country needs to be headed in. Being informed and involved is important. I'm not saying you need to run out right now, pick a political party to align with, go buy a hybrid car and change every aspect of your life. I'm just saying it is in your best interest, this country's best interest, to at the very least be properly informed.