I Like to Write Things Down to Get Them Straight In My Head.

Sometimes information is coming at us so quickly that it's difficult to keep it all straight.

Sometimes so quickly that it's easy to think, "Yanno- that doesn't make a damn bit of sense and is actually counter to all the other stuff I've been hearing from this source".

Fer instance, I pride myself on always listening to both sides of a debated issue. I'm only marginally adept at not snickering or rolling my eyeballs, but I listen. I listen to my friends and family who inhabit the far right spectrum of politics and social thinking, then I scamper back to beyond the far left where the sun shines and the birds sing and people take care of each other without judgment or stipulation. A place where people really do mind their own damn business regarding other folks' private lives and work with respect and compromise for the good of all people, not just bogusly arbitrarily 'chosen' ones dependent on money or power or whether or not they're just like themselves.

I like to call that place "America".

But I digress.

These are the things I hear from the Right on an almost daily basis:

We MUST drug test ALL welfare recipients, to save the billions of dollars now wasted by slackers cheating the system

We MUST have strict voter ID laws- right now you can vote more easily than rent a movie at Blockbuster!

Get the government OUT of our life! NO prying into our lives! This is AMERICA for god's sake!

*Wait*

First of all, there's no such thing as 'welfare'. You can't just saunter into the social security office and say, "Sign me up for some of that Welfare, on accounta I don't feel like working". You can't. What you're quaintly referring to as 'welfare' is about a gabazillion different programs all aimed at helping different demographics. So what you're saying is that all recipients of any social program need to be drug tested- every injured veteran, every aged grandmother, every tiny child, every single mother. Awesome. THAT'LL save some money.

Voter ID laws. Interesting. Interesting that you want to make it more difficult to vote than walk into Walmart and purchase a firearm. Because you'll NEED that gun to overthrow the government says you. Because nothing else will accomplish changing the government says you. Except maybe VOTING says me.

Also interesting (and not in a "wow- that's so interesting, I'm glad I now know that" way but a "holy shit- you actually believe this bullshit!" way) is that the vision of the far Right is of a land of personal responsibility which apparently translates into

"NO free rides for anyone who wants 'the welfare' or to vote, but step back off of MY (perceived) right to own any damn gun I want to with basically NO restrictions because SECOND AMENDMENT!

NO government interference with MY (perceived) right to shove my religion all into (our specifically non-theocratic) government laws with no regard for the beliefs of anyone else (especially those goddamn MUSLIMS!)(Oh- the Jews, too- bastards!)(except those who live in Israel- we LOVE those...)

or MY (perceived) right to be able to tell women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies and lives and if they disobey it's punishable by death by stoning or burning at the stake a stiff prison sentence.

Because only MY group knows what's right for America and only MY group has the absolute blessing and of both god and the founding fathers and we'll fight to the death to protect OUR (perceived) rights and anyone else will be met with the wrath of our bibles and our weapons.

Amen."

Does this sound familiar to anyone else?

"All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others"

I know that I'm only one little old person, and that not everyone agrees with me. But I'd like to think that most of our society feels the way I do-

-that the 1st Amendment guarantees people the freedom OF religion and also FROM religion- worship the way you choose or not, but it's completely separate from our government and its laws. Because we can absolutely have a moral nation without being a religious nation.

-that the 2nd Amendment and the supreme court both say that you may in fact bear arms. But not any damn arm you choose and absolutely not without regulation or a lick of common sense.

-that telling women what they can and can't do with their bodies and life decisions and telling people who they can and can't marry is not the damn job of the government because it's none of anyone else's business. Because freedom and personal responsibility, remember?

*Just exactly why is it OK to prohibit women from getting a LEGAL abortion, justifying it by saying, "Abortion is murdering a fetus" but NOT OK to prohibit ANYONE from obtaining a firearm without showing proof of proficiency and then justifying the predictable bloodshed of innocent children that comes of that by saying, "Well- that's the price of freedom- personal responsibility"? Does no one else see the absolute idiocy of that? Can't kill a fetus no matter how early or how un-viable because PROTECT THE CHILDREN but just accept the accidental death of thousands of already-born children because FREEDOM? What the hell???

-that our nation needs to return to the days of 'one citizen/one vote' and that a great number of our problems have been caused by 'one dollar/one vote' and that THAT shit needs changed. Quick.

-that TAXES and UNIONS, managed in a fair and just manner by those directly involved (the taxpayers and the workers) guarantee a civil society, not everyone carrying around loaded weapons (for those lucky enough to never have heard it, the old saw goes "An armed society is a civil society". Which is bullshit). Things like schools, roads, social services, medical care, fair and safe working practices and compensation all come from the people as a whole coming together and deciding what direction they want their society to take to remain civil and safe and a Land of Opportunity for everyone.

-that the above REQUIRES compromise. Just for reference-
"com·pro·mise
noun \ˈkäm-prə-ˌmīz\
Definition of COMPROMISE
1
a : settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions
b : something intermediate between or blending qualities of two different things"

-since lately in the political arena it seems like compromise means "I get my way, screw you".

Please tell me that most folks on 'the Right' also agree with me. Because otherwise we're in for a longer slog back into the light than even this country can survive.

Oh. And PS?

Blockbuster? Seriously? Way to keep up with the times, ya'll.

Yes. I am snickering and rolling my eyeballs.