I'm trying to stay out of the political election fray. There is too much volatility associated with political conversations. Everyone thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong. I seldom find individuals, when speaking about politics or religion, that are open to others disagreeing with them. But.......(Yes, there is a 'but' here.) I heard some words come out of a well-known politician's mouth last weekend that I cannot ignore.
In the interest of maintaining civility, I will not name a name, but if anyone wants to know who said what I am about to discuss, please contact me and I'll give you a name as well as where and when the statement was made. This was a live interview so no third party was 'interpreting' and his remarks incensed me to the point that I grabbed a piece of paper, immediately after he had uttered this statement, so I could accurately capture what was said. To paraphrase, "Elections are not the time to educate people on the issues. Public education should take place after the elections." Excuse me?
JUST WHEN DO 'YOU' THINK 'I' SHOULD BE EDUCATED? Do YOU really believe that I should be denied the facts on issues until AFTER an election?
This utterance, from a nationally known and highly ranked politician serves as proof for why I do not like, nor trust, politicians. Transparency, truth, and facts are not the by-words of most politicians. Rather, their mantra is: Deception, obfuscation, and prevarication. I'll stand by my next statement: "Most politicians care less about educating the public than they do about simply getting re-elected. They care more about their salaries and five-star health insurance coverage than they do about the American public understanding the choices between candidates." I do not believe either major party can be exempted from this accusation.
I believe this political leader should be ashamed and embarrassed to have admitted this during a coast-to-coast broadcast on National Public Radio. Face it, fellow Americans - if we want to become educated on positions, facts, issues, and agendas, the very last place we should be looking to for guidance is any politician. We need to arm ourselves with the facts because no one else is going to.
Information is power.
Sorry. Tomorrow I'll blog about sunshine and babies.
Ancora imparo
