People are weird but I love them
Nov. 2nd, 2010 10:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brightrosefoxA quote I loved:
"I wish that we didn't have to choose parties. I mean, how much voting happens just because of party? People treat their party like a football team that they stand behind: right or wrong. Imagine what we could do if we only had to vote on issues?"
I wish it could be the other kind of party. I wish I could have ice cream cake and a pony ride every time I voted.
I also wish people wouldn't use words like "evil" or "pathetic" or "malevolent" or "brainless" to describe people affiliated with the opposing party. We're all people. True, some people have extreme ideas on how to control the masses (denying access to reproductive options, denying marriage for non-heterosexual people, denying gun ownership for citizens, denying death penalties for severe criminals, denying funds for military defense, etcetera). But they're still people.
I sit in the middle, and I look left and I look right, and I throw up my hands and declare, "You are all insane and I want nothing to do with either of your parties. But because I have no choice, living where I live, I have to choose one of you or I can't vote in the primaries. You all suck. But you're closer to my social ideals, so I'm going with you." And I point to the left, and sigh, and shrug. And my husband does the exact same thing, only he points to the right, because they're closer to his fiscal ideals.
Neither of us is actually a Democrat or a Republican, neither of us is actually a liberal or a conservative, but those are our options. While we're equally moderate and agree in almost everything, we can stand on both sides and try to figure out the least awful candidates in both parties. I like having a partner who thinks the same things I do as we stare in bafflement at the chaos, shake our heads, and wonder when there will ever be balance.
I guarantee that someone will call my husband "evil" and someone will call me "pathetic" just because we find ourselves affiliated with one side or the other. But we're still in the middle. Like a lot of people.
But shades of gray are never quite as stark as black and white, I guess. The blood and claws and teeth fly hard and fast if you're on one side or the other. Being in the middle sometimes means that you get to watch the damage pile up from a bit of a distance, and it gets depressing.
"I wish that we didn't have to choose parties. I mean, how much voting happens just because of party? People treat their party like a football team that they stand behind: right or wrong. Imagine what we could do if we only had to vote on issues?"
I wish it could be the other kind of party. I wish I could have ice cream cake and a pony ride every time I voted.
I also wish people wouldn't use words like "evil" or "pathetic" or "malevolent" or "brainless" to describe people affiliated with the opposing party. We're all people. True, some people have extreme ideas on how to control the masses (denying access to reproductive options, denying marriage for non-heterosexual people, denying gun ownership for citizens, denying death penalties for severe criminals, denying funds for military defense, etcetera). But they're still people.
I sit in the middle, and I look left and I look right, and I throw up my hands and declare, "You are all insane and I want nothing to do with either of your parties. But because I have no choice, living where I live, I have to choose one of you or I can't vote in the primaries. You all suck. But you're closer to my social ideals, so I'm going with you." And I point to the left, and sigh, and shrug. And my husband does the exact same thing, only he points to the right, because they're closer to his fiscal ideals.
Neither of us is actually a Democrat or a Republican, neither of us is actually a liberal or a conservative, but those are our options. While we're equally moderate and agree in almost everything, we can stand on both sides and try to figure out the least awful candidates in both parties. I like having a partner who thinks the same things I do as we stare in bafflement at the chaos, shake our heads, and wonder when there will ever be balance.
I guarantee that someone will call my husband "evil" and someone will call me "pathetic" just because we find ourselves affiliated with one side or the other. But we're still in the middle. Like a lot of people.
But shades of gray are never quite as stark as black and white, I guess. The blood and claws and teeth fly hard and fast if you're on one side or the other. Being in the middle sometimes means that you get to watch the damage pile up from a bit of a distance, and it gets depressing.
