Analysis for Critical Thinkers

It happens quite often to me. I am talking to someone about a current political issue but rather than discussing the actual issue at hand, the person will start badmouthing the “team” which he thinks I must be rooting for.

I am a registered voter that votes. I am not registered in any particular party though. I listen, consider, analyze and decide based on the facts and on my personal ideas about how government should be. I have voted for Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, and Conservatives during the course of my voting life. To me, it is the issue that matters – not the “team” that you are on. I do not care about “reaching across the aisle” or “bipartisanship”. I enjoy a healthy discussion about an issue and like to hear a good argument why an opposing point of view might be better than my own. Maybe I will be convinced. I am not convinced or impressed by anger, rage, name calling or talking points.

As a Critical Thinker, I am disappointed by discussions that devolve into rooting for a particluar party. For example, when I express my disappointment with President Obama regarding his reversal on his position on political earmarks, I am disappointed when I hear a response that begins with, “well Bush…”.

When I point out that this new President promising “change” and promising to “end all earmarks” winds up reversing his campaign speeches by supporting legislation that includes 9000 earmarks only two months into his term, I am more interested in hearing some sort of explanation or possible justification, not that “Republicans like earmarks too.” Don’t go into statistics about which Republican in history voted for which earmark – we are talking about President Obama and his earmarks right now. Don’t bring up how stupid I am or how evil conservatives are because 1) i do not care and 2) we weren’t talking about that.

When I ask if President Obama lied during his campaign when he vowed that he would not allow any more earmarks but now he says that earmarks that he supports are actually okay, I do not care about the assertion that “Republicans lie too”.

I am not offended if you make generaliziations about parties that you may think that I root for. I do not look at politics as sport. I am not interested in being offended. I am not the type that believes that my party is always right and your party is always wrong because I do not root for a particular team. I only support those whose policies and philosophy I agree with. I always welcome honest intellectual analysis and discussion but I am disappointed and unfulfilled by name calling, generalizations and shallow slogans.

In the end, I believe that in reality, most people do not really care one bit about earmarks and may not even know what an earmark is. Most did not care when Candidate Obama made his earmark promise during the campaign even though at the time, they may have rooted “Yeah! He will end all earmarks!” As long as the prospect of something for nothing was there, many people were going to vote for him regardless of this “earmark” thing. But now that this candidate for “change” has been elected and has already reversed course, I hope for at least a stimulating discussion about how he came to this reversal.

Forget about Republicans and Democrats. I am interested in the United States, the Constitution and honest discussion and analysis.

 C.R.

We have already discussed how people often say “the government” when they really simply mean “somebody else”. Often these same types will just come right out and say the “somebody else” directly. The idea, I suppose, is to make any problem or inconvenience “somebody else’s” fault.

“Somebody else should make less money so that I can get affordable gasoline.”
“Doctors should make less so that I can get cheaper medical care.”
“They should seize the assets of Big Businesses and let us have cheaper stuff.”
“Somebody else should invent an alternative energy source and not be allowed to profit from it so I can get it for free.”
“CEO’s should make less money so that I can buy their products for less.”
“That company is so rich. Why do they still charge me for stuff?”

People often rally and cheer in agreement when they hear somebody say the statements above. It’s always better when “sombody else” pays unless YOU are the “somebody else”.