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In Reply to: Re: Yeah politics demons :) posted by Ex-member on September 04, 2008 at 11:58:46:
I got a little reactive because I had to listen to my pothead sister-in-law rant this weekend about a movement to "ship Obama's Muslim ass back to Kenya." That was when I first heard the claim that his birth certificate was forged and there's a lawsuit to disqualify his candidacy. "It's all over the internet," she tells me, like that makes for a reliable source of information. Lord, there's enough good reasons not to vote for the man without resorting to xenophobic BS like that. Did you know that 12% of the US electorate believe Obama is a really a Muslim--despite all the problems he had last spring during the primaries with his high-profile membership in Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ?
I just don't want to come to the exer websites and read someone arguing a bunch of nonsense. I get enough of that in my own family. If someone thinks one of the candidates is a secret Muslim terrorist, there's no way to discuss anything of substance. I live at ground zero in a battleground state where we're constantly being bombarded with political propaganda...sometimes I just want to scream, "Shut the f* up!" There are very serious issues facing the U.S. and people in my home state--we are one of the economically hardest hit areas in the country--and all people seem to want to talk about are the politics of personality.
I really wouldn't mind talking issues, btw. On NDN recently there was a series of posts about the complexities of Medicare and supplemental health insurance for retirees. I wanted to jump in and say something about why the US health care system is so damned complicated--it's called POLITICS--and that there are more rational and equitable approaches to health care finance and service delivery than currently exist in the United States. So why not talk about the Republican versus Democratic policy platforms on this issue? Maybe because policy is complex and can't be reduced to slogans and the candicates' personal appeal.
OK. That's my political rant for the day. Thanks for listening.
