My One And Probably Only Ever Post On Politics

So with all this political nonsense going on, there's a lot of bad feelings going around.  There are so many instances where conversations have to stop to save relationships.  I think that's sad.  One of the greatest things I've come to know in this life is that people are allowed to have different opinions.  It is impossible to please everyone and it's impossible to agree with everyone on all things.  But that's OKAY!!  This world works on free agency.  We all get to choose how we think, act, and feel.  As a result, we all must respect that how we think, act, and feel is going to be different from other people.  Conversations should be stimulating, not abusive.  It's not a bad thing to have others disagree with your stance on the world.  If everyone thought the same way, there would be no growth or learning.  In my life, I've come to find that there are times when other people are right I'm wrong, but there will also be times where it's reversed.  But most often, there will be times when there is no such thing as right or wrong (or at least no way to measure it). So, for what it's worth, I felt inclined to explain my opinion.  If you agree with me, then great!  If you don't, then great!  There will probably be something else down the line that we do agree on.

I believe that our country was made great because of the opportunity it presented.  It offered a chance for people to find freedom.  Freedom to live, freedom to choose, freedom to take their lives into their own hands.  This was made most evident in the Declaration of Independence: "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  In that pursuit, all individuals have the right to succeed.  What's more is they have the right to fail.  It may seem impossibly frustrating to have a modest living, or be worse off than even that, and see others soaking in the dough.  But that's the way it is.  Not everything is fair in life.  I know of this firsthand.  I have never been well off.  In fact, I'm currently at the bottom end of the spectrum.  I know that jealousy for those who have wealth can poison my thinking and my very soul.  But, what I've learned is that successful people do what unsuccessful people won't.  The richest in the world are there because they (or someone before them) have worked very hard and gone through a lot of trials to reap the benefit of luxury.  So why should they be held accountable for my life?  I'm down here, not necessarily for doing anything wrong, but for not doing enough of the right things.  I have no one to point fingers at for my situation but myself.  And I have no one to expect to save me from my situation but myself.

I think the formula for success is a lot of hard work, time, dedication, and desire.  There's also an element of luck.  Luck is what happens in life by chance.  However, just because luck is by chance doesn't mean that you can't influence it.  When you work your very hardest.  When you power through the exhaustion and frustration.  When you do all that you can and keep going through all the bad crap...Something amazing happens: you start attracting that luck into your life.  Lucky people don't win the lottery or come into wealth or success by sheer chance alone (and if they do they don't stay at the top for long).  Lucky people first and continuously do the work required to be able to reign in the luck when it's made available.

So who am I to take away the fruits of their labor?  There is a large division of classes in our world.  The poorest are starving with no way to help themselves and the richest are spending frivolously without a care in the world.  So who is it that has the hardest challenges in life?  Who is the "worst off"?  Your immediate answer may be the starving and helpless children, but who are you to decide?  Outward success alone does not equal inward happiness.  And outward success alone does not equal a care-free life forevermore.  We all have our own vices and demons to fight and none of us can understand the life experience of another.

Instead of trying to bring down those at the top and take away the opportunity to succeed, what SHOULD (I use this modestly because I hate the word "should") be happening is strengthening those are the bottom.  I fully, 100% with all my life, mind, and soul believe in helping the needy.  But I do NOT believe in supporting the lazy.  You help those at the bottom to get their own start by providing that little bit of "luck" they were missing: the opportunity and the education.  Whether or not they want to take advantage of it and put the work into it is up to them.  And trust me when I say that most wouldn't - after all, they're free to fail.

So we're back to freedom. How does freedom work in society?  And what exactly is the government's role?  It is to provide order.  Rules, regulations, and order are prudent for any society or institution.  In order for the system to work, however, those rules and regulations must be based around the purpose of the system.  Looking back at the Declaration of Independence, the system was meant to protect the unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.  Freedom is defined as "the state of being...at liberty rather than in confinement...; exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.; the power to determine action without restraint."  I think that fits the description of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness  perfectly.  Knowing all this, it would seem to me that the true purpose of our government is to protect our individual and collective freedom.  That's a very simple answer.  So, then, how did it all become so convoluted?  I can sum it up in one word: POWER.

Power is the most addictive drug there is.  Entire countries cause massive wars with other countries to keep or gain it just as a rowdy class vies to take it from the passive teacher.  The need for power causes a person to lie, manipulate, sell, trade, beg, plead, cry, fight, and kill.  If I am thinking correctly, the professions in our society that are most often associated with this behavior are lawyers and politicians.  What makes any of the candidates running for office any different?  I can't tell you who is "better" because I simply don't know.  But what I do know is that our government is not working because it's focusing on everything outside of its actual purpose.  It's trying desperately to reign in on the power it has grown exponentially since it was first established.  We don't need the government to "fix" most of the things they "broke" because they were never meant to be involved in the first place.  They don't realize that it is "broken" because of their presence in the issue.

Maybe this presidential race comes down to the lesser of two evils like I've so often heard (although, if everyone who wanted to vote for Ron Paul, but won't because they see it as a wasted vote, actually voted for him, he would have a surprisingly high chance).  Which makes the question of the day simple: which candidate is the lesser of the two evils?  In this post I've talked a lot about personal finances and growth, but there are so many more issues at stake.  When looking at it from a power perspective, I think what it really boils down to is the amount of government policy each person intends to bring to the table.  In my opinion, less is more.  With that said, it also comes down to the issues that each person holds as most important.  Who is it (if either) that builds people up, keeps a reasonably secure hold on safety inside and outside of our borders, and keeps a big-picture perspective rather than only seeing in-the-moment?

There will never be a single candidate that I will agree with 100%.  And it's very likely that the issues I've brought to the forefront in this post are the furthest from your personal concerns.  But I, too, have the freedom and inalienable right to have an opinion.  If I had to vote today I would vote for Romney, even if it was simply to keep Obama out of the White House.  My personal opinion is not necessarily in support of Romney (I honestly haven't done enough research to know), but more against Obama.  I feel that in his first term Obama created more issues than he solved.  That is besides the fact that he is doing a fabulous job at splitting our country right down the middle.  From what I've seen, you would either vote for Obama with absolute certainty right now in this moment, or you're automatically ostracized.  Political issues aside, I cannot support someone who holds and exercises that much power at the expense of the innate right to have the freedom to choose.  Honestly, that alone goes against everything I've just talked about.  So now, whether or not you cared, you know how I feel.  Even if you don't agree with me, I really hope you respect my freedom to choose just as much as I respect yours.  Because if you don't, you're really just making my point for me.