Publications & Sites 
Little to admire, plenty to despise in current political scene
Randy Blaser
Updated: September 5, 2012 2:39PM
My old college friend Curt yesterday posted on his Facebook page that he despises politics.
Rather than give it a “Like,” I just let it go. As much as I agree with Curt, I don’t like it.
I despise the political rhetoric, I despise the political commentary and I despise the little snippets of partisanship people feel compelled to post on their social media pages. What can one possibly say that has any credence or intelligence in the minute amount of space social media allows? It is designed to be clever, not wise.
Let me give you an example.
A few weeks ago, a friend posted a picture of Mitt Romney frolicking with his family on his speedboat. Along with the picture was this friend’s commentary: “Tell me that this guy cares about people.”
What in the world does that mean? If you have a boat, then you don’t care about people? I have a boat. Granted, my boat is smaller than Romney’s and uses wind power to get around. Does that mean even though I still don’t care about people, I care a little more than Romney?
How about the late Ted Kennedy? I saw plenty of pictures of him sailing on a gigantic yacht with his family. His boat was way bigger than Romney’s. By the logic of my Facebook friend of a friend, he must have really despised people.
See what I mean?
But wait. What the politicians say about each other is much worse than what regular people post on social media.
None of my Facebook friends have said that somebody’s wife died of cancer because of Romney. Not one has asserted Romney hasn’t paid taxes for 10 years.
No one has claimed Obama is a secret communist or secret Muslim or some other nonsense. Only a sitting Congressman claimed political correctness caused the shooting at Ft. Hood.
We are so desperate for real leadership on issues that matter, and all we hear are baseless charges, hearsay and innuendo. So we end up despising politics.
Everyone has friends who have lost jobs over the last four years. Some have yet to find new jobs.
People have lost their homes at record numbers. Others manage to keep their homes, but can’t sell because they owe more than the home is worth.
Students work two or three jobs while trying to go to school. Some can’t afford school and choose the military as a way to pay for school.
We send our military into harm’s way in far-off places like Afghanistan. Why are we still there when our allies turn on us and attack our soldiers?
Meantime, politics is just one long rant, with no solution, no debate, no discussion.
When and where did we get the idea that if the other guy doesn’t agree with me, he’s an idiot?
News flash: It’s not working.
