hate breeds hate (long & ranty)

i am so irritated w/ all the political mudslinging.  i have friends who are staunchly republican and friends who are staunchly democrat.  they each think that they are completely right on many things, and that their respective party is working for them, their families, their jobs, their country.  i, however, feel like both parties lie, steal, cheat, do whatever they have to in order to get votes.  as i said in my FB status tonight, there is no RIGHT party or WRONG party.  as both parties do the above mentioned bad things, both parties also help a lot of ppl in their own way.  however, there are some things i just don't understand ppl thinking their party is doing for the right... 

explain to me how campaigning for the termination of a large portion of our population before they're born is the right thing?

because whatever you believe about a woman's "right to choose" - and i believe in everyone's right to make choices, that is a Biblical concept!  we were created with free will - how can you argue with science?  political parties will use science to say homosexuals are "born that way" and yet deny children the right to be born at all.  i know there are many reasons for a woman to choose pregnancy termination, and i refuse to judge anyone for the choices they make in that regard.  i just would like every woman or girl who has that decision to make to be better informed.  politicizing the issue into one of "choice" is ridiculous.  those who are against abortion are not trying to take away anyone's "choice."  they just see the choice in a different light than those who are for abortion.  idk when pro-abortion became pro-choice and anti-abortion became pro-life, but i do know that the pro-life moniker at least is more accurate.  being pro-life is about wanting women to CHOOSE life.  

explain to me how allowing the rich to get richer and pay less taxes while the middle class slide into the working poor is the right thing?

because whatever you believe about the economy, i think we can acknowledge that right now it's in the tanker.  how many ppl are searching for jobs & can't find them?  how many ppl HAVE a job & can't afford to live on what they're paid, so they have to work another (and sometimes another) in order survive?  how many ppl have lost their homes due to disaster, and been unable to financially recover?  there is government assistance, and many use it as it was intended, as a hand up.  but many more try to use it as a hand up and are beat down by the red tape of it all.  they need daycare help, but make $10 over the max amount for assistance.  the difference btwn how much over the "limit" they are and the amount of daycare is $100.  what are their choices?  stop working and go on even more assistance or take their child out of daycare (and who watches them?) or get another job which would then put them over the limit for any other assistance they have needed to survive.  not to mention, then when are they getting to spend time w/ their kids?  my aunt is fond of telling me the story of a friend of hers who worked 5 jobs to support her children as a single mom.  when i asked, "when does she have time to spend with her kids??" she replied that it doesn't matter if she gets to spend time with them, she is supporting them.  huh?  i just don't understand that concept.  why would you have children for other ppl to raise?  


then we have the other side - those who have so much money, they are willing to pay $250,000 for a bottle of water.  celebrities who buy multiple homes worth millions of dollars and donate millions of dollars all over the world - except their own country.  brad pitt & angelina jolie may do a lot of things i don't agree with, but they are an example of celebrities who give back to the US.  


also, why does our society pay teachers a pittance and "entertainers" like charlie sheen $1.2 million dollars PER EPISODE of a television show?  why does our society allow social workers to be so abused for so little pay while the NFL shuts down football while they negotiate how much players/coaches/whoever will make TO PLAY A GAME?!  


why are the oil companies allowed to inflate prices of their product to the point where 90% of the population has to make hard choices (family vacation or round of mini golf at home?) this summer.  (that family vacation vs. mini golf was mostly in jest.  you know the choices ppl are really having to make w/ these gas prices!)  and it's not even that $40 a tank is so bad (*gag*)... it's that "they" are predicting it will go higher.  and what is to stop it?  how much is too much?  and who decides that?  we have oil reserves, why aren't we tapping into those?  there is oil in our own country we could be utilizing, but aren't because of POLITICS.  i mean, environmentalists - what are you protecting with your protest of alaskan oil?  because i certainly don't want to destroy our home planet any more than we already have, but i think the notion that drilling in alaska would do that is a bunch of hooey.  


and this is just the short version of what is in my head on this particular subject!!!

explain to me how making concessions for ppl choosing to be here illegally w/o even trying to go through the process to gain citizenship, while penalizing those born in this country for everything from getting married to passing away (!) is the right thing?

because whatever you believe about immigration, i think we can all agree that whatever we're doing now isn't working?  i see a lot of paperwork for ppl who want to be here legally, who are working legally.  it's a complicated thing, working out where they pay taxes & who actually pays them while they are here in this country, but they go thru the hoops, they file the paperwork, they - and in some cases their families - do what ever is necessary to be here legally!  

having special breaks for those here illegally is just ridiculous.  AS IS making it so difficult for ppl to be legal.  it's a broken system.  and the solutions i've heard seem equally broken!!  we have "detention centers" for illegal aliens.  why?  to me, there is a simple solution.  

is the person here illegally because of their own doing (i.e., they actually actively crossed a border as an adult person and immediately went into hiding)?  ask them if they want to become a legal citizen, and are willing to do what is necessary, take the citizenship tests and whatnot.  if they say yes, give them the test & nationalize them.  if they say no, send them back to their home country.  

has the person committed any crimes (other than the fact that they are here illegally) while here?  were they running from the law in their own country & thought to "hide" here?  if yes, send them back to their home country!!  they don't need a trial here.  they don't need to be housed and fed and clothed on the american tax payer's dime!   if no, see above!  

was the person brought here as a child, or did they come here to escape persecution?  have they been making an effort to be a useful member of society?  ask them if they want to become a legal citizen, and are willing to do what is necessary, take the citizenship tests and whatnot.  if they say yes, give them the test & nationalize them. 

*sigh*  why does it have to be so difficult?  does someone have a fake SSN to pay taxes or to get government benefits?  if the former - nationalize them!  they obviously don't have a problem paying taxes!  if the latter, deport them!  they are stealing from ME with every month of food stamps they receive!  


and on the other side of that - legal citizens being overtaxed - i don't even know what to say about it!  have you ever actually paid attention to how much the government takes from you in taxes?  you work hard for your money - and then the government says, hey we need this for our $1000 hammers!  we buy in bulk, too!  what about when you win money at the casino?  or are given a bonus at work?  and, i keep hearing that the current administration would like to take even MORE taxes from the middle class in the form of our FSA & HSA.  keep in mind, please, that the current administration is the one touted as being "for the ppl" and not for the rich ppl.  ummm... ??  


yeah. 

sooo... there you go.  three issues that the democratic party and the republican party are on vastly different sides of.  i think members of a new party, the Logic party, could come up w/ some good solutions if given a chance.  instead, politicians will continue to lie, cheat, steal, and do whatever it takes to keep their positions of power, until we as a country stand up for Logic (and for what is truly RIGHT).  as long as the media allows politicians to skew the "news" they focus on, as long as politicians muddy the waters and point fingers, as long as every day citizens discount things because they're supported by the "wrong" party... as long as these things continue, so will all that is wrong in america.  

all we can do, those of us who think logically, is try not to go crazy as it all goes down, and continue to act as we know is right, and for logical christians, as we know the Lord commands.  when asked what was the most important commandment, Jesus had this to say: 

Mark 12:29-31:

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^[e] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^[f] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”

Love.  not argue.  not bully those who think differently from you.  LOVE.  that is all. 

ttfn (w/ a much lighter post about today!)