A little bit of politics from a conservative Liberal

The divide between people in terms of politics just keeps growing. I'm never one to talk about it much: To each his own. Though lately, many things have made me a little sad. I like people...I love people. Everyone. There are some people who make me feel a little uncomfortable, there are some who could appreciate silence more (but that is just a personal taste), I've only ever hated one person, and it was for approximately 4 minutes. I hated the way it felt to feel that way more than I didn't like what that person had done. I appreciate diversity - of opinion, culture, religion, ideologies, language, etc. It keeps things interesting and reminds me that there is always something more for me to learn.

In terms of politics, I have called myself a conservative Liberal since I was in high school. I'm more fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I aligned myself with the Republican party, voted for George W. Bush, liked that he wasn't perfect, but then again, I never expected him to be.
There has always been this turmoil between opposing sides and who is in power. I think the part that makes me so unsettled about what is going on today is the wealth of information that is available. With this amount of information, there is also a great deal of misinformation. And a controvery always seems to spread farther and die harder than it should. When Barack Obama was running for president, before he was ever officially the Democratic candidate, I heard from so many people just randomly dropping that he was Muslim (like that should matter). I got an email about that 'fact' as well as many other half-truths. It turned my stomach, mostly because Mitt Romney was still in the race. I knew that his faith would be a big issue, and I didn't want falsehoods to circulate around about him, so I confronted it. I didn't want anyone to feel bad for sending it because I'm sure they felt like they needed to spread the word...I guess this is where I should make my point....I know that most people who read this are educated and try to be informed, but information that isn't based on facts creates a realm of ignorance - one of the most dangerous things. Nobody wants to be out of the loop of truth. I still feel bad for the elderly woman at the McCain rally who stood up and declared that Obama was Muslim. I listened to an interview with her after the rally when she kept defending her position and kept saying she could provide letters she'd received at meetings at her local library. There are groups out there preying on people, leading them to believe lies because they're vulnerable. I also felt bad as I was respectfully watching McCain concede that the election had gone to Obama. He couldn't get a sentence out without the crowd booing. Those were his supporters, not letting him speak and gracefully honor his opponent who'd won the race in which they both worked so hard. They weren't listening.

I feel like people aren't listening still, they're ignoring the facts. From death panels in health care, the threat of children learning about all kinds of families in schools, being taxed for cash for clunkers, the list goes on and on. Like I said, it just makes me sad. I found two quotes by Thomas Jefferson last week that I felt summed up my feelings. "He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." And "If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed." May I add factually informed or informed with truths and not deceits. I feel like this collective country is building walls rather than bridges, and these walls are being bulit on false accusations. Meanwhile, 64 year old grandmothers (who retire a few months before medicare because they think they're safe) are dying of brain tumors because of a lack of coverage for screening and care.

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