"I love humanity, it's people I can't stand." Linus van Pelt, Peanuts (Charles Schultz)
Tomorrow we will celebrate once again our wonderful freedom to choose democratically our leadership and government. The voice of the people will be heard. Your voice matters. Your vote matters.
For the last few years (or ten years in my case), the Internet has provided an amazing soapbox for each of us to state our ideas and advocate our positions. The free blog software and webspace provided by Blogger (and it's parent Google) and other providers is a great gift and a wonderful tool. And millions of us world wide take advantage of this great gift of democracy and freedom.
Certainly over the last few months opinions have flown from left to right, from one extreme (and I do mean extreme) to the other. I've read things I've found appalling, even abhorrent. Hate speech appears all too often. People feel so strongly about their positions they resort to extremes of hyperbole. Name calling is not uncommon. And lies and exaggeration fill the atmosphere.
Tomorrow the election is over. And, I must be honest, I don't expect the name calling or hyperbole to end. But most folks will dial it back a notch. And many will simply turn their attention to other issues and other interests.
If I had one hope for the post election period it is that all people would place principles above partisanship. Make decisions and state positions based on what is morally or ethically right, not what suits your party or candidate.
Let me provide one little example. If you, like Representative John Conyers, are appalled at the possible misuse of governmental power in the release of information about Barack Obama's illegal alien aunt, please also be equally concerned about the now proven horrific abuse of those same governmental powers in the release of information about Joe the Plumber.
Right is right. Wrong is wrong. To steal the blog tag line from one of my favorite bloggers (and often my ideological nemesis) Mary at Freedom Eden:
"Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong."
Abraham Lincoln
11 comments:
Hi Wizard, nice posting. I am not sure where my blog falls in your extreme swing.
However, you point out that blogging is in its infancy and I see this as an evolving medium.
The better of the blogs I read, tend to have a single source, or pull from multiple sources with links. The comments are responded too in an even manner, professional if you will.
The worst ones I have read have a multiple of authors and no by lines. Comments that fall outside the chior are condemmed and the commenter is attacked far beyond the scope of the comment.
Lee, Your blog is excellent. Logical and reasoned with no "hate speech" and no mistreatment of visitors (at least none I've ever seen...... but you may keep a the torture chamber hidden below the ground).
I'm very worried about this massive Democrat victory. I'm afraid free speech is on the endangered species list. Chuck Schumer is already eyeing a return to the so-called fairness docturn.
The Fairness doctrine is all about payback to Rush Limbaugh.
All it can do is destroy AM radio.
Obama's aunt, who you don't even bother to name, is now an issue, Wizard? You were the one who was urging bloggers not to become obsessed with people at the expense of ideas. That was not so long ago. You have reverted to your (much) earlier level of triviality.
Principles? Hah!
Vigilante, I'm quite certain you didn't bother to actually read my blog entry.
I certainly DID NOT make President-elect Barack Obama's Aunt any kind of issue what-so-ever. My entire issue was entirely post-electoral and non-partisan! The title of this essay says it all - Principles versus Partisanship.
My point, which deserves to be made again, is that we need to look entirely past personalities and political parties and instead look exclusively at principles. And principles MUST stand above these types of stories.
The point I was making was about the ABUSE of power by governmental officials in revealing and then exploiting PRIVATE And CONFIDENTIAL information for political purposes. In other words I was actually defending Obama's Aunt, not attacking her in any way.
Wizard, if you want to look at someone with principles, check Congressman DiFazio.
Wizard, if you want to look at someone with principles, check Congressman DiFazio.
Hi Wizard and Lee. Hope you are well. You mentioned looking at those people with principles: I recommend Congressman Henry Waxman, Senator Barbara Boxer, and California Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Yes, Governor Moonbeam. You know what he says about that? "I worked hard for that nickname." He's accomplished innovative and positive changes in California's environment since he was governor the first time.
I love that Lincoln quote.
I agree that praise and criticism should be applied consistently.
Which is why I stand back and feel pride that America has elected an African American president, and dismay that it is this one: one who will prove not centrist, but the beneficiary of a surprisingly liberal legacy.
My frustration with inconsistency also boils over to the mainstream media's treatment of Obama - who, as Hillary pointed out, had a thin resume - and Palin, who had brokered a large deal with Canada. But the leftist illuminati also practice a different kind of inconsistency: geographical.
The flyover zone is harvested for votes every four years, and that is all. Someone from a small town or rural area is assumed unfit to lead.
Someone from a small town or rural area is assumed unfit to lead. Not at all, reagan. You make an excellent point. There are many great leaders that would do much for this nation.
Sarah Palin, however, is unfit to lead.
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