Think outside the box

I was talking with a friend last night that categorizes himself as a Republican. Talking with him on Politics gives me new perspective on my own views. I don't think I am Republican. I would have considered myself a Republican when Reagan was president, yes, I do believe a lot of my views were in line with the Republicans in the 80's, but today… I am having a hard time associating with the party. Why?? Because I do not believe they are holding true to their values, but I believe they left me, not the other way around.

But in my conversation with my friend I realized that today’s Republicans actually have a hard time thinking "outside the box". My friend proceeded to tell me that Romney was going to be our ticket to a republican in office after Obama and we need to put our support behind him to get Obama out of office.

I was listening to Glenn Beck the other day and I heard him say something to the effect that for the last couple decades we have been voting for the lesser of two evils, that is more than true. I have never voted for a candidate for as long as I have been voting because I believed in him. I just believed that he was not as bad as the other guy. For so long we have been voting, I have been voting that way. I have heard the term, “lesser of the two evils” hundreds of times in the past elections and you know what, I am tired of it.

Why do we have to only pick the lesser of the two evils? Why can't we have a choice of 2 qualified candidates that actually believe the views and will vote the views of the country? Why can't we demand that our candidates be held responsible for their actions? Why can’t WE hold them accountable to what we want them to vote? The thing is we can, but we just expect other to do the dirty work. But how can we do it?

The first step is we need to squash the media that tears apart new candidates just because they are viewed as a threat to those in office. The Obama campaign was a great example as to why we need to stop watching these news stations, even if they are the only new stations left, we cannot let them have our money and lie to us at the same time. We need to start to do our own homework and be our own watchdogs for this country. We have to bury them or make them see we will no longer accept smear campaigns like those forged against Sarah Palin during the 2008 Presidential election.

We also need to take detailed notes on what is promised by candidates in the campaign and then hold them to it once they get into office. I have emailed my Senators and Representatives videos of them promising one thing and then doing another and telling them I will not vote for them or support them if they continue to lie to me and my fellow constituents. I then email as many people as I can find and post information to show they are not keeping their promises. It is hard to deny videos (although they can claim the are edited… right???)

Can you imagine if we all did that, what a difference it would make? Think about it. If you constantly catch a child doing something wrong and you call them on it every time; they begin to think you are watching every move they make. When in fact you can't watch every move, but they are always aware that you may catch them and the punishment isn't worth the risk. We must do that with our politicians; treat them as children, because quite frankly they act like children.

So that brings me back to Romney... I choose not to throw my support behind him because it looks like he could win; I choose to throw my support behind a candidate I believe in. When I told my friend that Romney was about as political and shady as Obama in my opinion. He would never give a straight answer in the debates or when questioned and he actual tried to say that his Mormon faith would have no bearing on any decision he would make as President. That statement alone pretty much ensures he would never receive my vote. Last time I checked I am a Christian before I am an American and if I were President, my faith would be involved in every decision that I make. When I had made that statement to my friend, he said, "Well of course his faith would play a role, he just says that to make the homosexual community and abortion community happy, but once he gets into office he will do what he wants, they all do."

I believe that statement is what is wrong with this country. How can we ever get back to the America that was founded when we allow politicians, right or left, act in this manner. They can lie to us to get in, but once they get in, I know they will do what they want.

Is it too much to ask that I demand a candidate that tells me what they are going to do and then do it when they are in office? Is it too much to ask of us to not criticize every little aspect of a candidate’s life, because as we all know we are not perfect, right? I just want honesty. I want a person who will own up to their mistakes. To me if someone has made a mistake, I do not judge them on the mistake, I tend to look at how they handle the mistake, what they learned from it and how they have moved on from it. To me that is a measure of a person's character, not the mistake it's self.

We need to come back to being human beings and we need to, as American Citizens, demand our leaders be those with integrity and with morals and with faith, otherwise this country we know, will be lost. It will not be lost because of what the Politicians have done to it, it will be lost because we did not hold them accountable and because we didn’t think outside the box they created. Think like our Founding Fathers; dream the dream of a better Nation. We need to draw from their strength, they were against all odds, but because they were a Nation Under God, they prevailed and as bleak as it may look, if we return to that thought, a Nation Under God, this country will be what it once was.