ran 2.3 miles
Happy Mother’s Day!
Today ends week thirty-six of running against Obama. I ran 26.7 miles this week, averaging 3.81 miles per day.
Without delving too deeply into what is a sensitive and strained issue, it has always fascinated me, particularly over the last two and a half years, why so many other Americans would deliberately choose to vote for a democrat, to believe in liberal ideas, and be willing to fight for them. Immediately, by making that statement, my words might suggest that I am some sort of a closed-minded, selfish person who cares little for the opinions of others, but I assure you, that is not the case. I find great virtue in our two party system and if we were to leave one party or the other to their own devices for too long, no good would come from it. The two parties, the House and Senate, the Justices and the President all play watchdog to one another, and it is a brilliant system of maintaining order in an arena of such large amounts of power.
To restate what I was getting at earlier, I fully accept that I may think differently from others and that others are bound to think differently than me, but with this upcoming election having so much riding on it, right here and right now, I don’t get what supporters of Barack Obama are after; especially now that his mesmerizing campaign is over and America is now in the state it’s in two and a half years later.
I’ve always liked that quote, "If you are young and not liberal, then you have no heart; but if you are old and not conservative, then you have no brain.” It really is interesting to wonder who is the typical Republican voter and who is the typical Democratic voter? Aside from literal definitions and ideologies, if we could put a face on each of these two voters, what would they look like? What would they believe in? What would they do for a living? The questions are endless?
Do you ever find yourself behind another vehicle in traffic that has an Obama/Biden bumper sticker and then suddenly find you are switching lanes and speeding up just to catch a nonchalant glimpse of who this person is? It’s because you want to put a face to something you cannot understand. And it goes both ways. A McCain/Palin bumper sticker has an equal reaction for certain others.
When I look at what Barack Obama has done and the trail he is blazing through a country, which is looking less and less like America, this is how I define the collective Democrat and the collective Republican:
Democrat: “I would like less personal freedom and unrestrained growth of government.”
Republican: “I want to hear as little from the government’s mouth as possible and I want it to shrink back down to the size it was intended to be.”
Democrat: It’s not fair for me to have to work for the things I have and want. I’ll vote Democratic and the government will take care of me.
Republican: Please stop interfering, federal government, so much with the goals I have. I don’t need you nearly as much as you would like to believe and yet you force yourself upon me as a constant obstacle.
Democrat: Rich people don’t deserve the money they have. They are dishonest and Democrats will take that money from them with high taxes and spend it on me.
Republican: I applaud the wealthy and their successes. If I am rich one day it will be because I worked hard for it. If not, I will take pride in providing for myself without taking advantage of the government.
As an afterthought, it is interesting to point out that there are as many wealthy Democrats as there are Republicans, yet if they were taken out of the picture, I am by no means implying that they should be, the battle of ideas becomes one between people who work hard to earn what they have and people who work less as hard but feel entitled to other peoples’ money; people who want the federal government out of their lives versus people who welcome the idea of being under complete control of the government.
1,345.1 miles to go.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Today ends week thirty-six of running against Obama. I ran 26.7 miles this week, averaging 3.81 miles per day.
Without delving too deeply into what is a sensitive and strained issue, it has always fascinated me, particularly over the last two and a half years, why so many other Americans would deliberately choose to vote for a democrat, to believe in liberal ideas, and be willing to fight for them. Immediately, by making that statement, my words might suggest that I am some sort of a closed-minded, selfish person who cares little for the opinions of others, but I assure you, that is not the case. I find great virtue in our two party system and if we were to leave one party or the other to their own devices for too long, no good would come from it. The two parties, the House and Senate, the Justices and the President all play watchdog to one another, and it is a brilliant system of maintaining order in an arena of such large amounts of power.
To restate what I was getting at earlier, I fully accept that I may think differently from others and that others are bound to think differently than me, but with this upcoming election having so much riding on it, right here and right now, I don’t get what supporters of Barack Obama are after; especially now that his mesmerizing campaign is over and America is now in the state it’s in two and a half years later.
I’ve always liked that quote, "If you are young and not liberal, then you have no heart; but if you are old and not conservative, then you have no brain.” It really is interesting to wonder who is the typical Republican voter and who is the typical Democratic voter? Aside from literal definitions and ideologies, if we could put a face on each of these two voters, what would they look like? What would they believe in? What would they do for a living? The questions are endless?
Do you ever find yourself behind another vehicle in traffic that has an Obama/Biden bumper sticker and then suddenly find you are switching lanes and speeding up just to catch a nonchalant glimpse of who this person is? It’s because you want to put a face to something you cannot understand. And it goes both ways. A McCain/Palin bumper sticker has an equal reaction for certain others.
When I look at what Barack Obama has done and the trail he is blazing through a country, which is looking less and less like America, this is how I define the collective Democrat and the collective Republican:
Democrat: “I would like less personal freedom and unrestrained growth of government.”
Republican: “I want to hear as little from the government’s mouth as possible and I want it to shrink back down to the size it was intended to be.”
Democrat: It’s not fair for me to have to work for the things I have and want. I’ll vote Democratic and the government will take care of me.
Republican: Please stop interfering, federal government, so much with the goals I have. I don’t need you nearly as much as you would like to believe and yet you force yourself upon me as a constant obstacle.
Democrat: Rich people don’t deserve the money they have. They are dishonest and Democrats will take that money from them with high taxes and spend it on me.
Republican: I applaud the wealthy and their successes. If I am rich one day it will be because I worked hard for it. If not, I will take pride in providing for myself without taking advantage of the government.
As an afterthought, it is interesting to point out that there are as many wealthy Democrats as there are Republicans, yet if they were taken out of the picture, I am by no means implying that they should be, the battle of ideas becomes one between people who work hard to earn what they have and people who work less as hard but feel entitled to other peoples’ money; people who want the federal government out of their lives versus people who welcome the idea of being under complete control of the government.
1,345.1 miles to go.
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