It all started out last Wednesday when my self-proclaimed liberal philosophy teacher, who also informed us that she was on several painkillers and loves cats, put a picture of George Bush eating a puppy on a powerpoint about Plato's The Republic.
And that's just the beginning.
The same day of my Philosophy teacher's powerpoint, I watched the State of the Union and received tweets from @BarackObama on my phone updating me with soundbites from the speech. I continued to receive tweets from the President throughout the week informing me of the online conversation that would be taking place through Organizing for America and persuading me to join the fight for the middle class by signing a letter to Congress.
On Friday on my way back from class, I walked through CFSU and was handed a flyer that blamed capitalism for all of America's current problems and urged me to join the fight for an economy that shared the wealth among the people. Yes, I was being asked to join the Loyola Socialist Club.
On Tuesday, I attended a lecture called "Demonizing Barack" which discussed how Barack Obama has been demonized by the right and how it is affecting his presidency and policy-making. The keynote speaker largely blamed the Republican Party for, well, everything that is wrong with America today, and proclaimed that everything they did that inhibited the President's policy-making ability was because of their inherent racism and prejudice against African-Americans. One of the panelists pointed out that when looking at the voting patterns of the South in the Obama/McCain race, these states voted as though "they were still in reconstruction".
On Wednesday I attended the premiere of Rush Limbaugh! The Musical. As you can imagine, Limbaugh was portrayed as a an idiotic conservative zealot bent on exterminating the Jews, Blacks and hippies from America, thanks to a little help from his friends Ann Coulter and Reverand Right-Wing. Also note that when the narrator hypothetically mentioned that Barack Obama would win the Presidency in 2012, the entire audience broke out in applause.
After this high point of liberal celebration, I went to an open mic benefiting Haiti at Heartland Cafe in Roger's Park. The music was great, the poetry was great and the subject matter was significantly left wing. If the fact that it was a benefit open mic didn't immediately swing the political pendulum to the left, the crowd of college students, young adults, and loyal attendees from the neighborhood cheered at mentions of the end of George Bush's presidency and the many proclamations of the need for change and peace, and the entire event was hosted by a Rastafarian.
Just thinking about this week makes me want to head to the nearest Megachurch for just a slight breath of another opinion.
Now I'm a liberal, both socially and fiscally, but to be honest, I even felt like this week was a little much. I believe liberals have the best ideas when it comes to political issues and are a force for positive political change (as well as the way our nation is headed, at least socially), however I am not okay with getting caught up in groupthink mentality. I always appreciated the fact that an urban environment tends to be more open minded, however anything in excess can lead to tunnel vision. One of the most frustrating aspect of politics today are the the fundamentalist right wing and left wing politicians who refuse to even listen to one another to make something of the tangled mess the government has been handed. Even though I am aware that my ideologies are generally purely liberal, I still like to hear the conservative opinion before I decide on an issue.
In Minnesota this was easy. Minnesota, and especially the Twin Cities, has voted consistently blue since 1976, a longer streak than any other state in America but my high school was home to just as many conservatives. Granted some weren't the most articulate in their views, but their point of view was represented nonetheless, and I could always find someone who was informed enough to have a conversation about any issue.
In Chicago, this is slightly harder. I find that the political movements tend to be caricatured and extreme on both sides. Either I have a repeat of this ludicrously liberal week or I talk to the people outside Dunkin' Donuts holding the signs portraying Obama with a Hitler mustache. These people, both wings included, represent the polarized views that are sucking America in two directions: either you are a communist hippie who supports legalizing marijuana, abortion rights, gay marriage, and big government spending or you are an uptight white man only focused on family values, abstinence, the right to carry a gun, and pure capitalism. Where is the wiggle room? As Obama said in his State of the Union, we need bipartisanship if we're going to get anywhere. Liberals, conservatives, democrats, republicans, hippies, and white men can all agree on a few key issues. No one wants to get cancer only to find out their insurance doesn't cover the medical bills. No one wants their son or daughter to die overseas. No one wants a depression or to be unemployed. However, compromise is necessary if any of these things are going to get done.
And as for the Loyola Socialist Club? Maybe next year...
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Well Karis, it seems as though you have brought up my biggest problem with American government and politics, the two party system.
ReplyDeleteNothing pisses me off more than the constant Republican vs. Democrat battle in our government. It prevents anything getting done, simply because a memeber of one party will not cross over into enemy territory and vote for their bill. But perhaps the most ludicrous thing about this system is that we have lumped all social and economic views into two catergories. With this "melting pot" of cultures and ideologies we have in the U.S. I do not understad how this grouping is possible. It is one of the most backward systems in this country. I personally cannot even fully place myself into one of these denominations. I understand that everyone is different, has different opinions, and is entitled to them, but sorting politicians and people into only two distinct groups limits the freedom of their opinions and this limit is a main cause of the dysfunction in our government.
So at this point a logical question to ask is, why do we continue with this system? Well, in short, tradition and money are the foundations the parties are built on, and are items that new parties cannot get their hands on. Going back to the governments roots shortly after the revolution, we see the two party system arise, with the federalist and anti-federalist parties. Perhaps a two party system made much more sense back in those much simpler times, but now it doesn't. Our government has not changed much if at all since its birth, so it makes sense for the Republican and Democratic parties to persist as well. These parties also hold traditions in individuals. "Which way did you vote?" "Republican/Democrat". "Why?" "Because I'm a Rebuplcian/Democrat." "Why?" Because I am a Republican/Democrat." I feel this argument is pretty commonplace in our political world today, and continues to fuel the two party system.
The other fuel for the Republican and Democratic machines is money. These parties are well established, and also have well established sources of income. The money the parties recieve is mainly used to reach the masses with advertising. Without funding it is insanely hard to get publicity and support, and without publicity and support it is hard to get funding, which is why we don't see new parties forming and gaining influence in congress.
Money also brings me to my next biggest problem with our government, the influence of lobbyists. But that is for another night.