Remembrance Day

Today’s Remembrance Day, or Veteran’s Day and I’m always taken back to the solemn way the British mark its arrival. The wearing of poppies, the moment of silence. As an American I am so thankful for what we have, and the freedoms of our country from tyrannical rule. Those who serve are the real heroes. I’m amazed at all those that gave the ultimate for us, and to honor them I’m unveiling a new painting today. “Poppy Fields”.

I’m not a (insert party here)!

It’s true. I don’t identify with either party and I’m about to tell you why. I’m only a political person for about one week every four years. A few days before the election and a few days after. Forgive me as this post is being published during that time. There are an infinite number of nit-picky political things I can get all up in arms about, but they all pale in comparison to these two (which really could just be the golden rule, which says the same thing as Luke 6:31, “do unto others as you would have them do to you”)

Love Everyone: regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, political views, personal choices, driving abilities, or any other inane or important thing. Even if I vehemently disagree with everything they believe in I can still love them as a person. Everyone needs love: a smile and hello, a friendship, a prayer.

&

Care for the needy: orphans, widows, sick, poor, victims of genocide (be it by race, ethnicity, national or unwanted reasons). Caring takes many forms: loving them, sharing food or clothes, giving money or other necessities, teaching someone how to do something themselves so they can be independent, or loving a child through foster care or adoption.

Going into this election I didn’t think either Obama or Romney could say they tried to live their lives this way.  I do try, but fail. I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and in my humanity don’t succeed in being a loving and caring human being everyday, but this is my world view-it covers my political views, my religious views,  how I aim to live my day-to-day life.

In a transition to something a hair more political, if that’s possible. I’m sick of all the money that is spent campaigning. The CT Senate race was unbelievable, over 42 million dollars spent by one candidate who lost!! I’m also sick of the time that is spent campaigning. This uncontrolled amount of money and time spent should be in check. Those who are actually in office should not spend such a long time running for their next term while they still have years left. I don’t have a solution but during my time in England I learned that the campaigns follow a limited timetable, and are under a limited budget. I see this as a possibility for some of this excessive use of time and money. Who out there was not beyond relieved to have the elections over so the phone calls and tv advertisements and all the media blitzing would be over with?

And one last thing. I’m not a huge fan of the electoral college. Having always lived in a state that definitively swung to one side my minority vote was not important. (If you have proof that my minority vote is important in some way please share it, because I’ve looked at both liberal and conservative articles and not found evidence of such). I am interested in the idea of a popular vote and think the electoral college is outdated.

The electoral college was originally founded because people were uninformed and uneducated and they wanted the states voting population to be reflected in the electoral college (ie California would have a bigger say because of a bigger population than North Dakota). Today we are educated. Probably because of all the time and money spent on campaigning we are overly informed of the candidates platforms. The idea that the presidential candidates will only campaign to big cities, get everyone to vote for them (in the cities)  and then will win with a liberal landslide is unfounded. New York for example always goes liberal, but a lot of the western population of the state is republican and their vote is pointless. Same with Texas, a wildly Republican state, their big cities are filled with people whose vote is just as pointless. Neither Obama nor Romney campaigned in my area and I still knew who I was voting for. We as people know that the candidates ‘stand’ for certain things that will either make us vote for them or not. Give me some proof that my vote does count and maybe I would reconsider. My ideas are not set in stone, but I haven’t seen anything that has made me feel otherwise as of yet.

To wrap this all up I challenge you to love your political opponent. The President is in office because he won. Pray for our political leaders because they have a hard road ahead of them. A government and people divided as we are will need to work together to have anything accomplished in the next four years. I wouldn’t want that job, and now that the election is over I can go back to my usual self by trying to love and care. That’s the way we are going to see real change.