Progress?

You know I don't really consider myself to be politically active. I mean I vote and I try to keep up on current events but I'm not out there trying to change the hearts and minds of people. I wouldn't say that I was passionate about any certain issue or even that I really cared. I also consider myself to be fairly tolerant and respectful of other people's views. I would also say that I'm patient when it comes to politics, but things are rapidly changing for me.

I don't really no what the hell has happened, but it seems the Mid-West has become the New South. It would appear that fear politics and intolerance has become the marching sound of democracy. In my home state of Ohio there is a "grab your gun and bible" mentality that's driving me fucking crazy. I hear someone everyday refer to the United States as being under Socialist control and that our beloved Democracy is long gone. (this is partially true if you do your homework. *see: corporate oligarchy*)There's a lot of "you're either with us, or you're against us" mentality. Of course these could be the same people who said that I was anti-American to question the US involvement in Iraq or the methods used to gather intel from potential terrorist. So again I find myself labeled unpatriotic and my views criticized as being socialist or even worse...communist.

Seriously? What the fuck? Someone needs to do some goddamn research. Did you know that according to international standards, the Democratic Party and our President is considered centre-right or conservative? We are quite far from a Marxist state my friends. The very fact that you can go on television and radio and scream your fear based rhetoric is proof enough that we are still an open society that allows you the freedom of speech to blow your top in such a way.

So now the question I find myself asking is why the regressive politics? We are in the 21st century, right? Isn't time to put away the conservative, puritan based politics and progressively head toward the future, building a more tolerant and egalitarian system without faith based initiatives? Is it so wrong to want a a more educated and open minded society? Don't you think it's time to put away the siege engines and pick up the books? We should stop being afraid. We should embrace multiculturalism and a fair trade. We should be concerned not with the mis labeled global warming but with the ever growing unpredictability of climate change. We should advocate social, civil, equal, and human rights while ensuring that our civil liberties are not eroded away by fear-mongering. We should in other words, seek to progress our humanity. Let us not be varies tribes on this blue marble but one unifying voice saying we are human, we are together.

As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests. ~Gore Vidal