Justice for All

For the past week or so, I feel like all I've been doing is arguing. It's exhausting, really. But I would definitely be more exhausted if I didn't argue because I wouldn't be able to sleep soundly at night knowing I didn't defend what I believe to be right.

But the thing that angers me more than any of the bigots, religious zealots, and just plain ignorant people are those who claim the argument doesn't matter.

Of course it matters. Just because you aren't immediately affected by something doesn't mean it isn't worth worrying about. We are debating our state's Constitution; constitutions are documents by the people, of the people, for the people. We are the people, and it is our duty and obligation as citizens to have opinions and voice them about our government.

Further, if you cannot find it in yourself to care about somebody else, especially people who are being discriminated against, then you are exceedingly selfish. If you cannot care about people's rights being ripped away, about the pain and suffering of others, about grave injustices in the society you take part in, then there is no saving you. You are worse than those fighting on the immoral side because at least the opposition is taking a stand for what they believe. At least they have emotions.

Do not try to patronize me for passion. What is the point of living if you don't care about anything? Apathy is not cool; detachment is a mental illness, not a fad. Do not lay passively unless you agree with every single thing in your world. There is always something to be bettered, somebody that needs help.

I will argue until I can't argue anymore. I don't care if I'm defeated, if the amendment makes its disgusting way into our law. I will still fight it because I will still be right. Those who claim it doesn't matter are the truly wrong ones.

"We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
-Elie Wiesel

We the People

I usually stay away from politics in forums such as this because the people who agree with you will only agree and the people that disagree with you will only get angry and judge you forever based on one opinion you might hold. But at the moment, I'm angry and when I'm angry, I type. So here I go.

I'm really, really, really tired of politics. It's gigantic and complicated and ineffectual. The point of a democracy is that the people vote in who they want to vote in and then those people vote on issues representative of the PEOPLE'S NEEDS.

First of all, a democracy does not work if all the participants of the democracy don't know what they're freaking talking about. Myself included, we simply do not understand our government. This is partly because it's become a huge web of annoying complicatedness and partly because we don't care to understand. This results in everybody taking the word of political pundits on highly polarized networks, until nobody has any opinions at all of their own, creating little armies of Keith Olbermans or Bill O'Reilly's or (God help us) Rush Limbaughs.

We end up with people thinking the healthcare bill will result in all their grandmas dying, a billion simultaneous free abortions, and the general end of the world. This simple, ignorant misconceptions result in stalling any forward progress on the bill. Republicans just say no, no, no so they can get re-elected by their misinformed Republican constituents. They keep the bill from getting passed, so even people who support the bill end up siding with the Republicans because the Democrats can't get it through. But they can't get it through because of the Republicans! Silly politics keep going on. Meanwhile, millions of people struggle to get by day to day with no healthcare or no job. I thought the government was supposed to help and protect the people??

Even Obama said in some interview or another that his mistake was that he thought the people would understand the policy. Because the policy itself is good. But all they end up getting is gross misrepresentations of the truth that they vehemently oppose without any real understanding. Poor Obama had too much faith in the American people and is now paying for it.

It used to be the media's responsibility to explain the government to the people. But they don't. All we get is men personally attacking others without remorse, overly biased reporting. (I just got caught in a sad youtube vortex of startling examples of horrible political reporting... I highly recommend that if you take anything they say on FOX News OR MSNBC seriously.)

It's a shame. How is a democracy supposed to work when politicians only want to get re-elected, the parties only want to shoot each other down, and the people have no clue what's really going on??

Ayn Rand is Following Me

And I don't mean on twitter, you internet junkies.

The author and political theorist and thinker of the 20's has decided to make a random resurgence here in good ole 2009.

I saw on the Daily Show (where most good things come from) this lady who wrote a book about Ayn Rand (it's one of those names you have to type completely out every time) and her life and her novels. That lady said that Ayn Rand's objectivism ideals often make a comeback when we have a liberal government. So I guess Ayn Rand came in with Obama.

I have an extremely limited grasp on her philosophies, but I'm extremely intrigued by her for several reasons. First off, I must say that, only with my meager understanding, I don't agree with her very much.

But her novel that I am plowing through, The Fountainhead, is beautifully and masterfully constructed. It's a good blend of story and shoving objectivism down your throat. The characters are flawlessly suited to her purposes, but you still see them as characters despite what they're meant to represent. They also have extremely cool names. Since I suck at naming characters, I must stand in aw of the perfect marriage of Dominique Francon, her name, and her painted personality.

In addition to the literary genius she no doubt was, I also have a default respect for apparently strong women. There are not many woman throughout history, today even, attributed to certain schools of thought. Here Ayn Rand is, many years later, still being drug into the political scene. She seems consistently relevant. Though like communism, her ideas appear to only look good on paper.

I'm also a little fond of that picture I've posted there of her. I find it amusing that in almost every picture of her, she is holding a cigarette and much of the same can be said for her characters. The look on her face seems to suggest a quiet confidence. She isn't the prettiest woman (And I'm sure she wouldn't have been caught dead in a Roaring 20's flapper dress) but her intelligence appears to make up for it. I just like her.

I've read that she was not the nicest to her "followers" and perhaps a bit pushy, but I suppose that can be said of any sort of leader. Though I never agree with Ayn Rand, I certainly can respect her, as she sits quietly in her leather armchair, smoking, feeling elite, and knowing somebody is reading about her right now.

Here's To You, Mrs. White

Isn't it weird how just one class can change the direction of your life so easily? I always stress the importance of school, to the annoyance of my family and friends, I'm sure. A lot of school is just crap, busy work, and state-mandated fluff designed to make it look like they really care.

The important stuff in school isn't the schoolwork. There's so much else we learn there that we carry with us for the rest of our lives. One college class can end up becoming a major, a career, a life. Just that single three credit hours can mean so much to one person. Why would you want to miss out on that possibility?

What got me thinking about all this is that I found my 7th grade Science and Social Studies notebook. You would think your 7th grade class would be pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and I did, until I read through that notebook and started thinking about that class.

In it, we learned more than about the structure of cells and the history of the Constitution. My teacher, Mrs. White, was determined to make us interested in politics, current events, and the general world outside of our middle school lives. I'd never really paid attention until that class. Every day, she would have us write an inspirational quote beside the date, followed by a few current events. I was surprised that I actually grew to look forward to this daily ritual.

A lot of times, teachers start the year out with aspirations of daily rituals, and they usually only last a few weeks. Not Mrs. White. Not a single day of class is without a quote or event. She really, truly wanted us to think, not just pass our EOG's. This is admirable.

This also happen to be 2004, the Bush and Kerry Presidential election. She had us keep an election journal, not just of the Presidential race, but of many of the local ones, too. She even had Harrell and Virginia Foxx have a small debate at our school. They even answered one of my questions. That single project opened my eyes to a world of politics of which I'd previously been blissfully unaware. I started to understand the parties and what they stood for (eventually aligning myself with one), the issues, the jobs these people did. No other teacher had ever thought to even try to teach us such things, real things. It instilled in me a political awareness I still value today. I might still be living in a bubble if not for that class.

I can attribute so many things to Mrs. White when I think back about it. I never realized how much of me I found in there until I started reading that notebook again. The strongest memory I have, besides the election journal, is how she encouraged me to enter this essay contest that I ended up winning. Another part of me she helped me discover.

Who ever said school was useless definitely wasn't in Mrs. White's seventh grade Social Studies and Science class.

(Ha, this is the most boring blog entry ever. I apologize, but not enough to delete it. =] )