Blogging For Kicks

I guess that sounds naive in this day and age, but it just bugs me that the only way some people can think of to express their feelings about one candidate or the other is to slime them. Hillary’s had more of that than anyone in this race, of course, but the others haven’t been immune to it, either. Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer comparing the candidate’s stances on the issues I care about than on what kind of supposed smut can be dug up about them.

Take Obama, for instance. I just saw an ad on my Google AdSense box, something about “The Real Obama Uncovered”, and it really bugs me. Number one, it’s on MY page, but number two, it simply reeks of the same bilge and cow dung that permeated the “Real Truth About Bill Clinton” tape that Jerry Falwell was spreading around in 1996. It’s probably still making the rounds, too, which is mind-blowing in itself. However, we’re talking about Obama now, so we’ll just move on from that one.

Any one who’s read this website the last couple of months knows I am not an Obama fan. Not that I don’t like the guy, really, I just don’t think he is ready for the Oval Office and I really don’t like his attitude, etc. Be that as it may, I don’t think he’s a bad guy, and if it comes down to it in November, I would be voting for him over John McCain without a second thought. No, I’m not a fan, but I certainly don’t think he deserves what some are doing to him, either.

There’s the whole Muslim thing, for one. I have to admit, I had a slight twinge the other day when I heard his minister was very good friends with the head of the Black Muslims, Louis Farakhan, but that’s a long way from swearing Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim. He is a Baptist, at least as far as I know, and it’s wrong to try to scare people into not voting for him by painting him as something he’s not. I have nothing against Muslims, either, as I realize they are simply worshipping their God as they believe they are supposed to. Yes, some are weirdos, ie: Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban, but for the most part, they are decent people who don’t believe killing Christians is a command from God.

There are those, however, who feel scaring the American people into doing what they want is the way to get their way in all things, and it just makes me sick. They conjure up boogeymen made of 9/11, Taliban, Bin Laden, Al Quaeda, bombs, attacks, terrorists waiting to get us…..anything that will make people afraid and keep them that way. It’s the Red Scare all over again. I keep waiting for the next Joe McCarthy to step up and start screaming “terrorist!” at everyone who seems different somehow…..oh wait…..we already have Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, don’t we? Never mind…..

The point of all this is, if we are ever to become a nation of thinkers, the people who can get a hold on our problems and figure a way out of them, we have to stop jumping at every shadow they cast for us. Grow up, get a grip, and ignore their idotic rantings. We have to start looking at what each candidate thinks about the problems that need fixing, what their ideas are for fixing them, and how closely that matches our own thoughts and feelings on the subject. We have to stop letting these peabrained hate mongers turn us here and there, looking for spooks under the bed or in the closet, and turn the light of truth on so they can be seen for what they are. We need to vote with our head, not our yellow backbone. And we need to grow into the nation we were destined to become, the one our forefathers dreamed we’d become, the one so many have given their lives to insure we become. If we don’t, we won’t last a whole lot longer. Fear does nothing but eat away at our common sense and send us in directions that cause more pain and disruption. It’s time we grow a pair and act like adults. Way past time.