Never in my life have I been so disillusioned with the political scene in our nation and state. And what is most shocking is the occasional letter to the editor in our local paper or status update on facebook, especially one this evening. People are ecstatic at their move "to stop the spread of communism in America."
Never in my life have I seen people so wrapped in ignorance. When I read the statement this evening on facebook, I wasn't shocked, because I've been reading things like that for at least nine months: threats against our current President, accusations and allegations of a number of conspiracy theories, unfounded and unsupported statements that question the service of individuals serving our country in various political offices.
This comes from a state that forgave one politician from the 80's for being dishonest with campaign finances. That man served time, and some in Idaho wanted him to return to DC, even though a felon can't function as a public servant. I comes from a state, that forgave another one for enormous amounts of money he spent to attract the attention of President Bush. That governor wanted to become a Homeland Security Secretary. He eventually settled for Interior Secretary, and although he had previously returned to Idaho to run for governor, after saying that he didn't like DC, he returned to the East Coast as quickly as he could. He didn't finish his last term of office. He now works for Insurance interests and makes at least six figures, giving money to those who vote like Big Insurance likes. Idaho voters opted to forgive yet another one for picking up dates in the men's restroom in the Minneapolis airport. Weeks later, our current governor placed this man in Idaho's Hall of Fame, explaining he did it quickly for his past service. Waiting, the governor had explained, might make it impossible to enshrine him.
What defines a person worthy of the Idaho Hall of Fame?
I won't mention our current governor. I guess you can make mistakes, if you're a Republican. Men like this run on "personal values," but when they compromise those same ideals and their actions reveal their hypocrisy, the Idaho electorate "absolves" them. I
'm a Christian with very firm religious beliefs and values; however, I can't abide politicians, who run on values, without any type of political agenda. Men like this collect their wage, make connections with powerful special interest groups, and they eventually retire with extremely large salaries. If you don't believe me, do the research on Steve Symms and Kirk Kempthorne. Start there. Then continue to look at others.
In the words of Mel Brooks from his movie History of the World, Pat II, "it's great to be king."
There are other situations too. I refuse to think about it anymore, because no one cares in Idaho. It's like the tree in the woods. If no one is there to hear it fall, did it really make a sound? They put their heads in the sand, refuse to look at "real" news and research, and opt to vote for people who pander them. These are slick oliticians, who get out their speeches, dust them off and read to the populace about the Constitution before their reelection.
Some Idahoans think our Constitution will eventually "hang by a thread." That comes from a lot of people who quote this material, even though their church reminds them it is not accepted doctrine.
Here's a taste of reality. What puts our country at risk is the connection of our political leaders with powerful people who have power and and who have a lot of money.
Look at Senator Crapo. He is careful now not to take as many free trips like he once did. The "little" golf trip in Georgia cost him a lot of media attention a number of years ago, but no one here seemed to care in Idaho.
Idahoans didn't care, when he gave people from a U.S. Territory tax breaks after their $100,000- $200,000 contribution, and this year, a lobbyist for an insurance interest bragged to friends of ours about Crapo's taking a check for $50,000 after a 15 minute conversation over lunch. And that's a fact not some silly pipe dream scrawled on a chalkboard on FOX Network.
I supported Mr. Crapo when he served in the Idaho Legislature. He was honest. His voice was one of reason and common sense, but his "stint" in DC has been nothing but partisan politics and self-indulgence. He continues to rake in enormous amounts of money to do the same political campaign he runs every year. Why would you need the cash, when he wins with a 70 percent majority. It's sad, considering what is happening in this situation.
His commercial this year went like this: It's not too late to protect our nation and our Constitution. I don't remember the exact words, but that's what he said. Ironically, what threatens our Constitution is his lip service to Idahoans and service to big money and powerful interests. His connection to money and lobbyists disenfranchises his constituents. Does anyone see this? It's not about liberals and conservatives. It's about money buying influence.
Old school journalists, who once took the time to present news in an unbiased fashion, and who sought to inform Americans about what was happening in our country, seemed shocked early this year at some of the attitudes that dominate our culture. They couldn't believe the impatience at our current state of the economy, and even more difficult to believe was how they blame economic failure on the current administration.
First, no one--certainly not our current President--believed that our economic difficulty would mend itself before midterm elections. He knew that when he campaigned, and he mentioned it during debates. He reminded Americans, that whoever had to deal with the economic problems had a long battle ahead.
And ironically, things are slowly improving--even with the negative news reports that persist, which discourages investment and stirs up angry voters, who have no idea how economics really works.
The unwillingness of banks and financial organizations to loan money to people for business expansion or other things to stimulate the economy also has had an effect. Ironically, the same greedy people who contributed to the mess, continue to dominate our culture. They don't want any changes that might prevent the same thing from happening. But they have the power and money to influence voters, and they have done that very thing in the last year.
Secondly, our nation fought a war that cost Americans close to a billion dollars a week for eight years. To believe that this had no effect on our economy or the world's economy is amazing to me. Actually, it's more than just ignorance that refuses to look at this.
Last, fuel costs are close to $2.00 per gallon less than they were when the last administration allowed Big Oil to operate freely. The oil companies made triple digit profit gains during that administration, yet small businesses selling gas closed their doors because of how Big Oil did business.
There was no profit realized by many, and they lost their stations as a result. The Big Boys earned the big bucks here.
Given what happened, I am so shocked that voters want to return to the status quo: a time when the majority party not only declared war on Iraq, but they also threatened China, North Korea, Iran.
They also successfully alienated Russia. Some conservatives believe this to be a positive move. It isn't. We don't need any more wars. Nor do we need the negative relations with foreign countries.
Given infrastructural needs, a few things actually changed in the last few years in a positive light, enabling our economy to benefit. Roads, bridges, cities received money for much needed improvements. There were even attempts by George Bush to bolster and rebuild our power grid. It was a start. The current administration tried to do more.
Given our current debt, those winning this current election have promised to lower taxes at a time when we have domestic problems, which could signal disastrous consequences.
What bothers me and what angers me, is that they want to return to failed economic policies that not only cost Republicans the White House, but those same ideas cost "W's" father in the early 90's too. Trickle down economics has never worked.
No one wants their money to go downward to anyone else. They don't want taxes. They don't want infrastructural needs dealt with in a positive way. They don't want to do anything for our youth, who fight in the military. They want profits from wars.
I believe the danger of returning to failed policies will return us to a deeper economic downturn that we experienced before, but Republicans will "spin" their way out of that too. It will be the "liberals," who are at fault.
I made a decision tonight. There is no more room in my life for politics. This will be the last blog about this whole mess. It will also be my last election, where I take an active role, where I even vote.
I felt this way after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. It's maybe difficult for a reader to understand me, because it's not that I am unpatriotic. I just can't stand to see leaders in office, who refuse to lead America and its citizens. These are the people who seem to be rising to power. Many of them do not have any intelligence, at least not enough to lead a major industrial nation. Their dedication is to Big Business and Special Interest Groups. This is what threatens our country. This is what threatens our form of government.
So for me, my insignificant vote, that I have cast uninterrupted since 1972, is officially at an end. I am finished with the whole mess. It angers my wife at my saying this, but I just don't have any more pain to give. I don't have any more patience for poor leadership. I don't have any more tolerance for people who promote an agenda of empty promises to the people they represent. I don't have any willingness to public servants with one goal: eventually to collect millions of dollars from those, who seek to control them and employ them as future lobbyists.
My decision is about me and my family. It's all about what I seek to do with my life.
So, to the facebook contributor, who believes he stopped communism with his vote tonight, and who obviously believes that all Democrats are communists, I have this to say: "have you ever really met one?"
I have. I spoke to a class of 35 sixteen-year-old Polish nationals in Berlin during an exchange I did during the early 80's. They asked me what I thought about communism, and I answered honestly, and it's what I still believe today.
I hate that form of government: one that fences their people into a system without recourse or escape, one that refuses to allow people personal freedoms, one that causes so much pain and frustration to those very citizens it should be serving.
After I made my comment, I also told them how much I respected the people, who suffered under those political conditions.
The class stood up and gave me a standing ovation. It took five minutes to get them to quiet down, and then they asked me about America. And I told them what a great nation it was, a country that tolerated people with different ideas and welcomed people from across the world. It held out open arms for human beings who needed a "leg up" in life, as they sought to escape tyrants and bad governments.
Here's another communist I met.
I talked with a man in Meissen, within former East Germany. And I met him just months after his government ceased to be a communist nation. He and his friends were disillusioned, sad, depressed. We talked. He knew I was an American. I knew he was a communist.
This was apparent to me during our talk: he knew I didn't like his preferred form of government. We left after shaking hands, and I told him something in German that made him smile: "One thing about it--you can be a communist within a free, democratic society, but you can't promote democracy within a communist nation."
He smiled. He wasn't suggesting that he was going to lead a coup in the near future. Nor was he gloating at the thought of helping communism rise again. The man just grinned after realizing what it meant to be free. Maybe it made him smile that I was so open about expressing that idea. I was frank, and we were honest with each other during our conversation.
Some people in America today don't understand this very important principle. It's almost like a number of fanatics want to force their own opinion down someone's throat every second during the day.
There is no tolerance. There is no compromise. There is no civility.
For the first time in my life, I am ashamed of people and how they react. I'm ashamed at how they treat others, how they embrace their own self-indulgence, how they confuse arrogance with patriotism.
I believed I taught students to help prevent future adults from making ignorant choices. I was naive, maybe even foolish, but it's actually worse than that. I was stupid. Being educated does not guarantee anything. History teaches that. I should have recognized it long ago.
The people I see react so ignorantly are educated people, intelligent people, passionate people. They just don't really honor what the Founding Fathers intended--a man's right to choose political and religious beliefs without intimidation. That's why people came to the New World.
So how do I exist for the rest of my life without becoming involved in what I view as a colossal waste of time. I will enjoy my grandchildren, regardless of what happens around our family. I will even help educate them, in the event that schools fail to do certain things I find important.
And in some time in the future, when people finally see the truth behind the deceptive rhetoric that exists, I will begin voting. But I will do it only if my vote counts.
I refuse to participate, because as a nation, we have become disenfranchised by politicians, who allow their votes to be purchased. We have a large number of them in Idaho, where one-party politics is alive and well.
Tonight I am finally free of the heartache I felt in the past. I refuse to let ignorant people affect my attitude about life. I will enjoy what matters most, and nothing else will consume any more of my time.
I learned this long ago: two reasons exist for not teaching a pig how to sing: 1) it's a waste of time, and 2) it irritates the pig.
For others who read this, I came from a Republican family. They voted that way for generations. I began that way, and suddenly, I saw what this party did to hurt education on the state level.
So do I ever vote for a Republican? Yes, there were two incredible men who served the Bonneville County area: Reed and John Hansen. They both eventually retired, and now they--according to what I know--passed away. They were good men, honorable men. But they died without a six or seven figure salary in DC and without many of the benefits of accepting money from powerful people. They were good men, who recognized the need for strong schools for our children. They were honorable men, who served like men did in the very beginnings of this great country.
