Day 56: And so we come at last to the day where Mitt Romney is formally nominated as the Republican Party's presidential candidate in the 2012 race.
I will not be voting for Mr. Romney, but I have friends who might be. I don't hate him, though. The vitriol of the political world is a little chilling these days.
* Note the GOP conventioneer who was ejected after throwing peanuts at an African-American camera woman from CNN, saying, "This is how we feed animals."
* There's the guy who is suggesting that women's bodies can distinguish between different kinds of rape, and can reject illegitimate rape babies.
* A group of American Army soldiers in Georgia were conspiring to amass weapons, detonate bombs, and assassinate the President; when one of them balked, they killed him (in December) and then killed his 17 year old girlfriend to keep the whole plot secret. The murder investigation led to a lot of arrests this week.
These are three distinct levels of insanity, but they're all tied together by the thread of being directed at other Americans. We've successfully, somehow, cultivated the "us versus them" mentality, rather than the "we're all in this together" mentality that drove our country to glory and success during the second World War. I recognize that we had a clear enemy then, and we do not currently. I recognize that it's much easier to demonize the left than to focus on the actual threats to this nation, because the threats are complicated and far away, and the left guys are just right over there in the corner, holding up signs that clearly identify who they are.
People on the left have derided the Republican party as insane (Michelle Bachman didn't help). The people on the right have decried the Democrats as useless.
But at the end of the day, all of us are just Americans, right? And I think we can find it in our hearts not to hate each other, even if we disagree.
Right?
....
Oh, I'm sorry, there was just this soapbox, you see, and it was just sitting there...
Anyway, today, I did strength training with R.
He's a lot stronger than I am.
Ow.
I will not be voting for Mr. Romney, but I have friends who might be. I don't hate him, though. The vitriol of the political world is a little chilling these days.
* Note the GOP conventioneer who was ejected after throwing peanuts at an African-American camera woman from CNN, saying, "This is how we feed animals."
* There's the guy who is suggesting that women's bodies can distinguish between different kinds of rape, and can reject illegitimate rape babies.
* A group of American Army soldiers in Georgia were conspiring to amass weapons, detonate bombs, and assassinate the President; when one of them balked, they killed him (in December) and then killed his 17 year old girlfriend to keep the whole plot secret. The murder investigation led to a lot of arrests this week.
These are three distinct levels of insanity, but they're all tied together by the thread of being directed at other Americans. We've successfully, somehow, cultivated the "us versus them" mentality, rather than the "we're all in this together" mentality that drove our country to glory and success during the second World War. I recognize that we had a clear enemy then, and we do not currently. I recognize that it's much easier to demonize the left than to focus on the actual threats to this nation, because the threats are complicated and far away, and the left guys are just right over there in the corner, holding up signs that clearly identify who they are.
People on the left have derided the Republican party as insane (Michelle Bachman didn't help). The people on the right have decried the Democrats as useless.
But at the end of the day, all of us are just Americans, right? And I think we can find it in our hearts not to hate each other, even if we disagree.
Right?
....
Oh, I'm sorry, there was just this soapbox, you see, and it was just sitting there...
Anyway, today, I did strength training with R.
He's a lot stronger than I am.
Ow.