I still view myself as fairly conservative, though I have developed some more liberal views of certain issues. I guess that would make me more of a moderate than either conservative or liberal. You know what? Everything in moderation…even moderation. 🙂
What happened to the moderates in this country? Why does it seem in the political arena that everything…everything…is extreme? Where’s the compromise? Where’s the dialogue about what is best for this nation as a whole? Why, oh, why do both sides sound so flaming alarmist?
Just this morning I was at my desk working a captive audience to a conversation that went like this:
Boss: “It’s always interesting the twist that politicians put on things.”
Co-worker: “What do you mean?”
Boss: “Somehow I got on the Democratic Convention emailing list and they want to forgive all the student loans. They put some twist on this about how good this will be for us all.”
Co-worker: “Well, if Obama gets re-elected in four years there will be no more America.”
Boss: “If the Democrats gain majority America as we know it will no longer exist.”
Me: “The Republicans are no better, just different. Maybe we should fire them all and just start over.”
::rolls eyes::
I’m sick of hearing about this election already. It’s a long way til November. *sigh*
Out From Under the Umbrella 
April 26, 2012 at 5:57 am
It doesn’t help that the conservatives have moved so far to the right that a lot of the alleged left is what used to be the center.
But perhaps the biggest reason is that our politicians have become slick professionals, utilizing the tools of the advertising industry (and we know how much truth there is to be had there!). This is no hidden secret, as it is very much in the open the way analysts and strategists discuss “brands” and “branding.”
So our political process has become an extended commerical or series of commercials. And we wonder why it doesn’t work.
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April 29, 2012 at 9:40 pm
I’m not so sure that what is considered left is what used to be the center. I think there are some pretty big extremes on both sides. As for whether the far right caused a push back from the “middle” or left or vice versa is a whole ‘nother issue. Which came first? The chicken or the egg? What I would consider center are people who are willing to have a dialogue and come to a healthy compromise on issues. To the far right compromise has become a dirty word. All I hear is a bunch of bickering with little or no results.
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April 30, 2012 at 8:56 am
Romney has had trouble nailing down his party’s nomination because he is not conservative enough. President Obama is similar in politics to President Eisenhower (except being to the right of him militarily), yet he stands accused of being a socialist by the Republicans. Eisenhower called his policies “dynamic conservatism,” yet he, President Nixon, and President Ford would all be considered leftists by the modern Republican party. Surely the center has been moved. Even Reagan – no moderate by any stretch of imagination – raised taxes (several times, in fact) when it was necessary and negotiated with Democrats in Congress to keep the government going. The compromise you would like to see isn’t possible in today’s political climate. That is because the Republicans no longer have a center.
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April 26, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Perception is reality. Manipulate perception and you control the world. I was not able to withstand the propaganda assault – had to shut it off. Why would the truth need the reinforcement of evocative images and musical background?
D’Ma, it sounds like your employment would be more secure if you squelched your apparently minority and unpopular opinion. You are in the midst of it, you must decide what is appropriate.
It is a bitter irony that, having defeated evil powers fueled by demagoguery in WW 2, that the most powerful among us are using the same tools to shape public opinion to their ends.
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April 29, 2012 at 9:43 pm
I listened to the whole thing. It wasn’t pretty. Emotions are powerful. Even though we’d like to consider ourselves rational beings, most of the time we aren’t. We make decisions based on feelings and emotion and those types of videos certainly evoke a lot of that. Sometimes just not the intended ones.
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April 26, 2012 at 9:11 pm
I kind of walk the line between conservative and liberal myself, but that kind of chatter drives me nuts. I’d be tempted to play dumb, and start asking them exactly what they mean by there would be no more America. Then I would write it down, print it out, and paste it up on a wall with the names and dates when they said that. From there, it’s a game… trying to bet how quickly they realize what they said was stupid and ask you to take it down, or just take it down themselves. If they are not mindless, it should be pretty quick. If they are truly hypnotized by the propaganda, I would think it may be two or three years into Obama’s next term before they take it down.
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April 29, 2012 at 9:44 pm
Maybe if I had a bit more time under my belt I might have given something like that a try. As it stands I kind of need my job. 😉
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April 27, 2012 at 7:56 am
I often wonder why year after year, the candidates on the ballot (that have an actual chance) are the best we think we can come up with from the entire country’s population. Why not more choices? Or preventing ads/money/travelling from influencing people to hone in on just two options? It’s a money game from what I can tell.
Let’s look at it this way. There is a best person to run our country in the population of the US. Let’s say he knows it, too. Do we really think he has the ability to make a legitimate run for president? As in, can Joe the Plumber pack up shop and have a chance at president if he wants to (outside the repub/democratic platforms)?
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April 29, 2012 at 9:49 pm
I’m with HIS on this one. The “everyman” doesn’t stand a chance. It is definitely a money game. And the one who has the most, or can make the most of what he has, and still make himself seem approachable is the winner. Notice I said seem. Because none of them are actually approachable.
There are better options out there. Unfortunately we’ll never know who they are.
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April 29, 2012 at 10:30 am
Hendy, it seems obvious to me that the answer to your questions is a big fat NO. Our political election system seriously flawed.
DMA,, I have always been baffled by people who say that they want a candidate to fail. When Barack Obama won the election, the Republican radio commentators were saying that they wanted him to fail. Look, I don’t care what party or platform a person is running from, I don’t care who they are, I want them to succeed! Of course peacetime, a better economy, etc..etc. and whatever political system accomplished those ends, I say go for it!
Anyway, I think DMA is correct. There is no middle ground anymore. I remember when Terry Schaivo was national news because… memory fails here….. .because she was in a coma, and one family member wanted to pull the plug and the others did not. The media was on death watch and all thecommentators were going haywire. I was asked by a friend what my opinion was. My friend was breathless with his excited opinions on the subject. I told him I had no opinion. I don’t care! As far as I was concerned, it was a personal family matter, and it had no business being plastered on 24/7 news! Why should I have an opinion?!!? And I think that is a lot of what these 24/7 news channels do. They bluster and create controversies from the right and from the left, and we get caught up in the excitement and parrot our favorite polarizing commentator’s opinion.
The whole thing is disgusting to me. We are so polarized because we have lost the ability to think critically about messy issues, and we are afraid to not have an opinion or to simply say we do not know. All just my lousy opinions.
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April 29, 2012 at 9:55 pm
You’ve got that right, HIS! The last time I checked we were all supposed to be Americans. How on earth can anyone say the want the other side to fail?!? Even if I don’t necessarily agree with the other side doesn’t mean I want them to fail. If they fail, America fails. How moronic is that? Surely there MUST be some things you can agree on. Why not work together on compromises and change the things on which you don’t? I just don’t get it.
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May 11, 2012 at 1:49 pm
I’m tired of the extremes too. I blame Bush for the mess we’re in because it was his extremist views that caused a backlash and got the nation to vote someone extreme in the other direction. Romney strikes me as a true moderate. Unfortunately, in this climate, moderates often get steamrolled over. I’m hungry for a moderate. Hell, even Bill Clinton looks moderate after having experienced Obama.
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