People think that I am a Democrat because I supported Barack Obama for President. In our state, you have to choose either a Democratic or Republican ballot in the primary, and since more of the candidates I favor are Democrats, that's the ballot I choose. But that does not make me a Democrat... any more than someone who supports a Republican candidate is a Republican!
Labels often get us into trouble, and nowhere is this more apparent than in our two prevailing political camps - Liberals and Conservatives. We can start with the names themselves... not all Liberals are "card-carrying Democrats," and not all conservatives are Republicans. And for the record, there are Christian Republicans AND Christian Democrats - and even EVANGELICALS on both sides!
I tried several times to write this article from the vantage point of "Conservatives believe this" vs. "Liberals believe that." But it just isn't that easy - most Americans are somewhere in the middle. We can debate such issues as abortion, gay marriage, taxes, affirmative action/diversity, the economy, energy and the environment, or the war and terrorism... and we can discuss all of the ways the far fringe of each side view these topics.
But when it's all said and done, there is a whole lot of talk going on between the sides and more than just a little aggravation and frustration in the middle. I read a quote from someone who said "I believe government should be small, protect our shores and deliver the mail." (Revellian - Thoughts and Fiction of Bobby Revell)
While I wouldn't go quite that far, I do feel that our government gets mired in the issues and rantings of far-leaning Conservatives and Liberals and often loses sight of the bigger picture. We worry and stew ad nauseum over gay marriage, while many of our elderly are wasting away in squalor, unable to afford decent physical and medical care, and forced to eat pet food because it's all they can afford. While we worry about something Judge Sotomayor said in a speech eight years ago - and likely was taken out of context - our children are studying in seriously underfunded classrooms led by astonishingly underpaid teachers.
I believe most Americans want to know how our elected officials on BOTH sides of the aisle plan to handle these issues: health care, education, the economy, energy and the enviroment, and terrorism.
HEALTH CARE
It is my opinion that our present health care system is America's "wart on the end of the nose." How is it possible in such a supposedly sophisticated, advanced society that so many of our citizens cannot afford even the most basic health care? How is it that a 60-year-old woman who cleans private residences for others all week is unable to afford treatment for her high blood pressure? Why can't a 40-something man who works hard as a self-employed mechanic pay for dental care? Since when is it okay for a single dose of medication to cost $20-$30 in the hospital and a trip to the ER on a Sunday afternoon for chest pains (and a subsequent aspirin) to result in a bill for thousands of dollars? My family physician told a mutual friend that, should our country implement "socialized medicine," he would "see my 12 patients a day and go home." How on earth did we come to this... and what does our government plan to do about it?
EDUCATION
As a former teacher, this is a really sore subject with me. I see how we have piled more and more "standards" and requirements on teachers and students, but nothing else seems to have kept up. We want results - we want to be competitive in math and science - but we don't want to pay for this. When I stopped teaching 25 years ago, many teachers in my state were paid a salary that would qualify them for food stamps. It's not much better now, and teachers still spend hundreds to thousands of dollars of their own paycheck to supplement the needs of their students and classrooms. Those who create the "benchmarks" and skills lists that students are required to complete are woefully out of touch with reality, in many cases. Five-year-olds are being asked to solve mathematical reading problems that would boggle the mind of many college graduates. Yet even with all of these programs and standards, many of our high school graduates can't read on a fifth grade level. Americans want to know what Liberals AND Conservatives plan to do about these problems.
ECONOMY
There ARE jobs available - at fast food restaurants, as janitors and maintenance personnel, and if a person is willing to move or travel, in a number of other venues, for short periods of time. Many of these positions offer minimum wage, at best, and do not provide health or retirement benefits. While some people would be willing to take ANY job at this time, these options do not represent adequate take-home pay for covering living expenses in most areas - even for one person, much less a family. I think we are all anxious to see how the stimulus package is going to shake down - and just how quickly real offers of help will evolve. I also feel that our government is going to have to set the example somewhat - by taking measures to conserve and reduce their own spending. The American people need to see a sense of unity - and to feel that we are all in this together...at every level.
ENERGY and the ENVIRONMENT
I live in the foothills of the Arkansas Ozarks, in a fairly pristine, rural community. Out my windows, I can see beautiful valleys, a lake filled with clean blue water, a river that is home to the world-record brown trout, and an abundance of wildlife. Across the valley on the next ridge, I can see the lights and towers from drilling rigs for gas wells. We are located in "Fayetteville Shale" country. Thirty years ago we played in deep snows several times each winter. Now we are lucky to get a few inches or a light dusting once or twice each year - or an isolated snowstorm will dump as much as 12-15" or more. My grandmother talks of Arkansas snows in the teens and twenties of the last century that built drifts taller than her head. When we were little kids in the 50's and 60's, hardly any of us had more than a window air conditioning unit that cooled one or two rooms. Our summer mornings and evenings were cool enough to sit on porches, swing, and visit with neighbors. Now, the "summer heat" sets in as early as mid-May, and we retreat into the coolness of our air-conditioned homes to hibernate until late September. Yet some want to debunk talk of Global Warming and an energy crisis.
I think Americans would be willing to do more to conserve energy, recycle, and "go green" if they felt that Washington Liberals and Conservatives were equally on board. When members of Congress stop peddling their own agendas and come together to find viable solutions to the issues of developing alternative energy sources and preserving our planet, we will all heave a collective sigh of relief.
TERRORISM
Who among us has not been affected on some level by the war in Iraq - if only because we know someone who has deployed there in recent years. We have worried and prayed for those in harm's way and hoped they returned home safely, while we don't seem much closer to eradicating terrorism. Just last week an Army recruiter was gunned down in broad daylight in Little Rock, Arkansas, in front of an Army Recruiting office. His killer said he would have shot more soldiers, had they come outside... and indeed, he did wound another recruiter who managed to crawl back inside the storefront to relative safety.
We are still dealing with the emotional devastation from 9-11, nearly ten years later... and we wonder, what is being done to keep us safe? It's not a matter of arguing back and forth about whether we should have gone to war in Iraq - sooner... or ever - it's about where do we go from here? And meanwhile, what is being done to rebuild our relationship with other countries? Are we safe from attack by Pakistan, Iran and North Korea?
It seems to me that the leading Liberals and Conservatives are woefully out of touch with average Americans. They are so busy fighting for THEIR agendas that they've just about forgotten what the fight was for in the first place! Most days they remind me of a classroom full of bickering fifth or sixth-graders. It's time we "grow up" as a nation and blur the party lines for the greater good of the country. There is simply too much at stake to do otherwise.
Source cited:
http://revellian.com/2008/06/19/what-is-the-differen ce-between-liberal-and-conservative/