The Toxicity Caused by Today's Politics

I stay away from these issues on my blog, but the climate has become toxic and something needs to be change.

I recently visited relatives in another state. This was days after the midterm elections were over and done with, but many campaign signs still remained visible.  

The first one to catch my eye was for county sheriff.  The incumbent won; Many people I spoke to voted for him. Their decision was solely based on his position on gun control; Not whether crime went down, or he cleaned-up the streets. His effect on crime rate apparently had no bearing on the opinion of many voters.

Another one that piqued my interest was one for a congressional hopeful.  It seemed that the only thing many knew said candidate was their opinion on abortion. Not much more about their platform; not that they could tell me.

These topics have been hot-button issues for quite some time and were usually deciding factors, discriminators so to speak, but as of now it seems that these are the only issues that matter and the candidate’s platform as a whole does not even matter.  I do not mean to devalue these, but they are not the only important issues.

There are issues that directly affect more, truly affordable healthcare and earning a living wage come to mind, but in the era of taking everything to extremes, these are not polarizing enough so they do not get the press coverage they deserve.

Blindly going to extremes without taking facts into account is not a new phenomenon, but it has gotten worse over the last decade or so. Take the political arena; In 2014 you could not say anything negative about President Obama for fear of being labeled a racist.  The veracity of the statement was completely irrelevant.

The same happened during the 2016 elections.  Spoke out against Trump and you were called a “libetard”; made a negative statement regarding Hillary and you were labeled a misogynist.  Once again the truth did not matter, it became completely irrelevant.

This way of thinking has made its way onto other facets of our daily lives. Take television, where actors and comedians have been fired or have had their shows cancelled.  Some deserved it as lines have been crossed, others for simply voicing their opinions. For some, careers have been destroyed.

We have now entered unchartered waters with the government shutdown with both sides blaming each other.  Worst of all, there is no end in sight. The finger pointing has to end. Neither side seems willing to compromise or even have a sit-down to negotiate.  They are clearly both responsible. Meanwhile more than 800,000 workers have not been paid and will not get paid until the shutdown ends. Many have to continue working or lose their jobs.

It is high time we stop looking at the world around us with this narrow lens and blindly believe what we are told without questioning and start looking for the truth regardless who proclaims it.  You should not dismiss someone else’s opinion just because it does not align with your own.