Uninvited

To elaborate on a previous post I made a couple weeks ago about political party affiliation, I'll say this. I think I strayed a bit in my overall point after rereading it. I think I object to the overall act of someone calling themselves a Democrat or a Republican outright. I suppose it is all just semantics, but still, it bothers me.

I fear the problem is that people tend to pigeonhole themselves when they call themselves by one name or the other. And because of this, it limits flexibility and tolerance that might normally be able to exist if a person has not completley jumped on one boat or the other. So perhaps I sit on the dock between the boats and I see the people aboard yelling back and forth at one another. All I try to do is observe and clearly see what is wrong and not what either crew would like me to believe is such.

But where does that place me in the hierarchy? Well, I'll agree that it definitley does not put me in a place of power. But the real question is not one of power, but of merit. History has taught us that when it comes right down to it, both parties are ran by power hungry behind the scenes players. And with the money these individuals and groups have at thier disposal they are able to play the game in ways the forefathers never imagined possible. So is it not logical to think that only cheaters and evil people will ever make thier way into office? Because these scoundrels are willing to play at such low levels and pull out all the stops while claiming to be our Saviour, it creates an opposition that truly good men and women can hardly compete against. And if these good people do wish to compete then they better be willing to play the same type of game. And this is the rub, because there always is one. When a truly good person lowers themselves to these levels just to compete, they sacrifice exactly what makes them good. And in turn they will find it all the more difficult to revert back to thier good nature once they are in office because playing the wrong way got them the outcome they wanted in the election, so why not continue with it in thier term? Wow, that was a bit of a run-on sentence.

Now if you don't beleive this to be how the system works, then my argument doesn't play all that well. But if you do, then where does that leave you and me? Well, I think it leaves me with my allegiance only to myself. After all, I'm not going to knowingly double-cross myself. So I will tell you that I see benefificial people and policies on both boats. However, the fact that I want to communicate calmly and respectfully to people on both boats puts me in a perhaps the most powerful position of all. That is the position of knowledge. The fact that there is no group on my dock wanting to kick me off if I don't go along with the platform allows me to hear the arguments from both boats more clearly and under no duress.

And I can still throw my vote to the Democrats or the Republicans. It's just that I have no loyalty guilt when I do so. It's people that drive around with bumper stickers and intolerance for the other side that worry me. And this is what the political party machine is rooting for. They want people to feel so entrenched with thier respective parties that they can't even feel ok with lying about who they voted for since the guilt is so thick. So I'll continue to stand on my dock and pledge allegiance only to myself and hope that my refusal to play to either party will show people what real tolerance is and how it could reshape a government that has been on a deceptive downslide ever since it was created.