Waiting on the world to change

 Posted by Doc Opp  Issues, The Media  1 Response »
Oct 252006
 

John Mayer has a new song out “Waiting on the World to Change“. It’s got a catchy little tune and a catchy little hook, and has been running through my mind for the past few days. In addition to a condemnation of the current political administration, it’s also a rather depressing little message: We can’t do anything because the people in power won’t listen to us, and so we’re just waiting until our generation gets into power before we do anything.

Is that really the best we have available to us? Waiting for the world to change? Couldn’t we take a more proactive role? But it sure captures the sentiment of most of the people I know who are disillusioned with the way the country is going. We can’t do anything, so we’ll just sit idly by until we’re in a position where we can do something. And it is a darned catchy tune. I just can’t help but think that maybe we should be pushing for the world to change instead of waiting for it.

A dilemma

 Posted by Doc Opp  2006 Election, U.S. Politics  5 Responses »
Oct 242006
 

Here’s my dilemma. I like the Republican candidate from my district better than I like the Democrat. So on one hand, I should vote for the Republican.

But I hate what the Bush administration is doing, and I’m furious at the Republican party for letting him do it. Thus, I want to vote Democrat to send a message to the Republicans that I don’t support their current policies. So on the other hand, I should vote Democrat.

It feels unfair to punish a non-incumbent Republican for the actions of his party. After all, he wasn’t in Congress at the time to do anything. But on the other hand, I know how often votes occur down party lines, and I don’t want Bush to be able to pass any more of his agenda which is at best counterproductive and more likely actively destructive.

And with so much at stake this election, I would feel bad not voting at all, even though I’m terribly conflicted.

I feel this is a dilemma that many Republican-leaning voters face this term. And I wonder, what should I do?

A depressing discussion

 Posted by Doc Opp  Abortion, Religion  13 Responses »
Oct 232006
 

There’s a pro-life rally occurring on campus today. Lots of people with pictures of mangled fetuses and chanting about an American Holocaust. I had a free half hour, so I stopped down to chat with some of them. My position on abortion is that abortion is bad, but that there are better ways of reducing abortion than making it illegal. I was hoping that by talking to strong pro-life advocates I could come to a form of common ground and help reduce the gap between the positions. The basic notion being that right now a lot of time and money goes into fighting each other about whether abortion is legal. But maybe those resources could instead go into actually reducing abortion through less contentious mechanisms. Maybe we could actually reduce abortion rates, rather than fighting about the legality of it.

The first person I talked to was very reasonable. He had interesting points to make, and listened to my points as well. We were able to agree that it would be nice if people thinking of having an abortion were made aware of other potential options such as putting the child up for adoption. We agreed that it might be nice to try and develop ways to reduce unwanted pregnancies, although we were unable to agree on a particular mechanism for doing so. But we agreed that if we put our creativity into thinking of such ways instead of into fighting about legality, we might be able to find one. I left that conversation feeling uplifted – that discussion and debate can actually work. He still thought abortion should be illegal, and I still thought it shouldn’t be, but we agreed that there were things we could work together on as well.

Then I talked to the 2nd pro-life advocate.
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The worst side of political campaigns

 Posted by Doc Opp  2006 Election, Abuse of Power, Immigration, U.S. Politics  1 Response »
Oct 192006
 

Political campaigns tend to be obnoxious, annoying, dirty, and all around distasteful. The negative campaigning is enough to get me to flip channels at the slightest hint of a campaign ad. But now political campaigning has hit a new low. A republican campaign in California has been sending letters to (likely democratic) voters who are legal immigrants that they will be deported if they show up to the polls.

First, this is simply false. There’s no two ways around it – naturalized immigrants have the right to vote, and won’t be deported for doing so. In other words, this goes beyond hiding or framing information, and can only be described as downright fraudulent. Second, this isn’t about issues, its about scaring people away from the polls. Its about intimidation – not the “my opponent will do a bad job so you should vote for me or the terrorists will win” type intimidation, but “If you vote there will be negative ramifications for you, personally”.

This really pisses me off. I hope the people who perpetuated this are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Say What?

 Posted by Mike  2008 Election, U.S. Politics  2 Responses »
Oct 162006
 

My Top Five List of Meaningless Political Phrases:

1) “My Opponent is Soft on Crime!”
“Soft on Crime” can mean anything. On a broad level, it is often levelled along with evidence that the opponent in question does not take the problem of crime seriously enough, although sometimes it can mean that he favors a preventative approach to crime rather than a retributive one. (And since vigilante mobs are obviously the epitome of judicial process, any preventative approach to crime should necessarily bring into question either the sanity or moral fiber of the person in question.) More specifically, candidates who accuse their opponents of being “soft on crime” usually mean one (or more) of the following:
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