Winter driving in Oregon
Sometimes I want to apologize.
Sometimes I want to cringe.
Sometimes I just don’t know what to say or do.
That’s how politics leaves me feeling today. Whether it’s at the local level, statewide, and especially federal, it just makes me sick.
A lot of it is the politics of it.
Most of it, however, is just the reaction to it as well as the dialogue surrounding it.
For instance, there’s this big hoopla over the past few days when it comes to refugees.
I don’t know what the big deal is.
It doesn’t affect me a whole lot.
Although I know we’ve had 46 refugees arrive in Missoula over the past few months, it really doesn’t have an impact on me.
How those refugees will take care of themselves short-term, and then develop the skills to survive here long-term, I’m not sure.
Maybe that’s why Trump is thinking about kicking the refugees out that are living on government assistance alone and have no plans to provide for themselves.
Again, this doesn’t affect me much.
Call me heartless, call me un-Christian, call me xenophobic or hateful or anything else you want.
Refugees in America or anywhere else still won’t have much of an effect on my life.
Because of that, it’s not an issue I get all worked-up about.
Does that make me a bad person, or at the very least semi-bad?
I don’t think so.
I think it makes me regular, normal, just another red-blooded American that’s going about his business and trying to provide for his family.
Sometimes I want to cringe.
Sometimes I just don’t know what to say or do.
That’s how politics leaves me feeling today. Whether it’s at the local level, statewide, and especially federal, it just makes me sick.
A lot of it is the politics of it.
Most of it, however, is just the reaction to it as well as the dialogue surrounding it.
For instance, there’s this big hoopla over the past few days when it comes to refugees.
I don’t know what the big deal is.
It doesn’t affect me a whole lot.
Although I know we’ve had 46 refugees arrive in Missoula over the past few months, it really doesn’t have an impact on me.
How those refugees will take care of themselves short-term, and then develop the skills to survive here long-term, I’m not sure.
Maybe that’s why Trump is thinking about kicking the refugees out that are living on government assistance alone and have no plans to provide for themselves.
Again, this doesn’t affect me much.
Call me heartless, call me un-Christian, call me xenophobic or hateful or anything else you want.
Refugees in America or anywhere else still won’t have much of an effect on my life.
Because of that, it’s not an issue I get all worked-up about.
- I don’t feel the need to march, like 500 people in Missoula did over the weekend, or thousands across the nation did.
- I didn’t feel that way about the women’s march a week ago either.
Does that make me a bad person, or at the very least semi-bad?
I don’t think so.
I think it makes me regular, normal, just another red-blooded American that’s going about his business and trying to provide for his family.
Most of the country is just like me.
Back in Nixon’s day we’d be called the Silent Majority.
I never thought I’d group myself into that ideological group, but the truth is, I don’t feel the need to get all worked-up about what Trump’s doing.
I agree with a lot of what he’s doing.
- I feel we need to have better vetting on refugees, and restrictions as well. I think we should take it further and take a hard look at Saudi Arabia, as well as other countries that Trump might have business ties in.
- I think we need to kick TPP to the curb, and similar trade deals that benefit foreign banks and big multi-nationals, not American workers.
- I like the idea of strengthening our border, and even building a wall. Paying for it is another thing.
So you’re not going to hear a lot of complaining out of me.
What good does it do?
That’s one of the things I wanted to apologize about – the main Democratic blogs in the state.
It seems the fashionable thing to do now is go after Arntzen as well as Daines.
Have we forgotten that they’re not up for election again until 2020?
Until then, they’re not really beholden to anyone.
And a recall election? I’m sure that’ll go about as far as my idea to recall Mayor Engen did a couple years ago.
I just don’t think the issues that our two main Dems sites are pushing are issues that most Montana voters care about.
Sure, the Dem base might care, and even a few Independents.
I don’t think most people care.
Look at the election results – overwhelmingly Republican.
I'd hoped that Democrats would find new ideas to push following the election. Sadly, it seems they’ve just gone back to the same tired ol’ playbook.
Refugees…abortion rights…OPI…LGBT issues…,sadly those issues don’t really do much to help Democrats.
If those are the main issues Democrats are supposed to care about then I can see why many don’t want to be Democrats.
But let’s not forget that Republicans push a lot of stupid shit, especially in this state.
There’s Fred Thomas’ spite bill…silly stuff about phones and driving…always raw milk (as if everyone’s clamoring to drink the stuff),…the list goes on and on!
The Republicans’ crusade to make sure anyone can carry a gun wherever they want, whenever they want also grows tiring.
Our overpaid and underworked and often-still-drunk-from-the-night-before legislators are some of the last ones I want packing heat in the workplace.
Trust me – most are underworked. They sit on their asses in committee meetings in the morning and then sit on their asses for chamber voting in the afternoon.
Perhaps 10-15% actually do most of the work.
But there I go again, getting all negative about government.
I think we often confuse ‘negativity’ with seeing it and calling it like it is.
We don’t like to look at stuff that’s outside our narrow bubble, however, whether that’s the people we march with or those that tell us stuff on Facebook.
Many times these days we just block out or ignore the voices and viewpoints we don’t agree with, which automatically equates 'don’t like' in too many cases.
If people aren’t agreeing with us, they’re now the enemy.
I’m not happy with our political dialogue at the moment, but I guess we should have expected this.
There was going to be a loser and that’s loser’s followers were going to be mad, perhaps for a very long time.
It just as easily could have been Trump that lost.
But it wasn’t.
We could have gotten rid of executive orders, we could have gotten rid of the Electoral College over the past 8 years.
But we didn’t.
Now we have to live with that. It’s called taking responsibility, it’s called being a grown-up.
I’m glad people are speaking out and marching, I just don’t think it’s going to do a lot of good.
The time to take action was in November. It’ll be that time again here in Montana this spring, and in the nation in 2018.
We’ll see if this frustration carries into 2020 as well.
That’s a long time from now, a very long time.
To those that are angry right now, it’s an eternity.
They can't wait so we’ll continue to see the frustration and the marching and the acting out, as well as all the diatribes and rants on the internet.
Sometimes I just want to apologize for it, or just cringe at it.
Maybe the best thing is to just ignore it all, shrug it off, and get on with your own life and what’s best for you and your family.
Most Americans are doing just that.
