What do we do now?
By lilwonders
@lilwonders456 (8214)
United States
January 12, 2011 8:46am CST
Everyone seems to fed up with the hyberbole. So what do we do now? How about stop hating each other and start respecting each other? Someone having a different political opinion than you does not make them "wrong, evil, stupid" or any other bad name you want to throw in there. It also does not make you any of those things. How about instead of spending your time trying to find anyway you can to "trash" the other side and spend time trying to find common ground. HOw about we find out what people's ligimate concerns are concerning a bill that they don't like and take serious consideration of them and try to find a way to address them?
How about we stop picking "teams" and just try all being Americans? Instead of "power plays" by each political party...we try TRUE and honest compromise. Stop caring about "scoring points" against the other side and start working together.
Now Washington won't like that...but honestly...do you care? Do we really want a bunch of power hungry politicans that only care about "their side" and fueling "hate" for the other side to keep themselves in office? Becuase that is what each side is guilty of...using fear and hate to get people to pick sides. They have made an art form of demonizing or marginalizing anyone who does not completely support their bid for supreme power.
So you tell me...how do we get Washington to stop using political tricks and start doing their jobs?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@laglen (19759)
• United States
13 Jan 11
we pick up and move on. Americans have very short attention spans. Next week something else will happen and everybody will forget this. Nothing will change except maybe a new law or two that do nothing to prevent this from happening. You cant fix crazy with a law.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
13 Jan 11
Nope you can't fix crazy with a law....but hopefully congress will learn to play nicer with each other. I know it is a pipe dream....but hey...a girl can dream!
2 people like this
@jb78000 (15139)
•
12 Jan 11
you could try and get people to redirect the impulse to pick a team and score points towards something more appropriate. such as sports, which is where it belongs. saying all supporters of the other team are [insert insult] is, normally, a fairly harmless way to express that competitive spirit and desire to belong to a defined group. the more athletic could even play sports. also team games really are fake war.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
12 Jan 11
YOu are right...this kind of behavior belongs in sports...not in politics.
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
•
12 Jan 11
there are lots of other places it could be directed as well - music is a good one for the younger ones but you really need two huge, good bands, reality tv competitions (horrible as they are) are another place for it. get people worked up about whether non-entity a or non-entity b is better and keep the thinking for things that matter. etc
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
13 Jan 11
That's a good question! As I'm pretty sure I've said to you before, this vitriol among acquaintances, even friends, is totally new to me and I grew up with daily political discussions and "debates". Disagreements were common, name-calling and disrespecting each other was unheard of. Of course, back when I was growing up the politicians were actually all friends with each other, even those from the opposite party, and their families did things together on the weekends and all that nice, normal, CIVIL stuff. Those days are certainly long gone.
I must say, and this surprises me a bit, since the terrible events in Arizona on Saturday elected officials have actually been pretty "well-behaved". They've been acting like adults for a change, for the most part at least. It sure would be nice if it were to last and if it were to rub off on the voters but I'm not going to hold my breath, this happened right after 9/11 also and look where we are no!
Annie
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
13 Jan 11
You are right about that. It used to be that our politicans from different parties were friends. They did things together. Now...it is unheard of. They stick to their "camps". Which I think has caused the whole "us against them" thing. What should we do...have bipartisan golf games and mixers for them?
I know what you mean. After 9/11 everyone was getting along...then it was war again. Hopefully this time it sticks. I won't hold my breath either....but it would be nice. I am sooo sick of the war between the parties.
1 person likes this
@Adoniah (7513)
• United States
12 Jan 11
We still need the voting option on the ballots of none of the above....Maybe then someone decent would have the courage to run. Good people do not run because they do not want to be painted with the same brush as the 'B---trd's in office now.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
12 Jan 11
I so agree...I would love to see "none of the above" listed on the ballots.
@hofferp (4734)
• United States
12 Jan 11
To answer your question, we have to keep voting the bad players out until we get someone who does go to Washington to take care of the people's business. Right now, if I lived in a district/state of one of the politicians who's opened his/her mouth the last few days and related last Saturday's events in Tucson to anything but the acts of a "very sick" individual, I'd be planning to vote for someone else in 2012. Enough is enough and I've had enough.
And I respectively disagree with part of the post above... I don't think it's in Americans' nature to be confrontational. I think we're competitive, believe in personal responsibility, but confrontational, I don't think that's true for Americans in general. Now, I agree there are some, usually on both extremes, who are, but for the majority of us, not so.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
12 Jan 11
I see your point. Americans are competitive by nature and with all they hyperbole going on it makes people more confrontational than they would normally be.
I hear you on voting. I am sick of the BS and won't vote for anyone who uses these type of tatics. We need to get them out of the political process.
@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
12 Jan 11
We get involved. We email our representitives and hold them accountable to the people that elected them. We vote. Make your position clear and let your representitive know that you will vote and work to vote him out of office if this keeps up. Too many americans are not involved and cannot make educated decisions because they do not care enough to read up.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
13 Jan 11
You are right. We need to hold them accountable when they start acting like kids on playground fighting over a ball.
@Latrivia (2878)
• United States
12 Jan 11
The answer is simple. The implementation is not.
We stop supporting divisive speech and underhanded tricks, and we stop electing people who use it. Alan Grayson lost his votes because of such tricks, and now that kind of rhetorical intolerance needs to be applied evenly. However, Americans thrive on confrontation. It's a part of our culture. Politicians in office are a product of their constituency, therefore if the constituents tolerate divisive speech, the politicians they elect will also be very likely to use it.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
12 Jan 11
You are soo right. The reason politicans use it is because it works. So therefore to get to stop...it has to stop working.
Very simple answer and you are soooo right on a hard implementation. But if people starting making a conscious effort...it could be done.
