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| It's a Political Party! |
Dear Members of My Peer Age Group:
Now that we're all grown up, it's time that you start caring about the things that air on the nightly news before the sports scores! National events MATTER. The economy MATTERS. World events MATTER. The environment MATTERS. And, like it or not, political events MATTER! And not only do these things all matter, they should matter to you.
Some of you post sports updates online several times a day on several days a week! But those of you who devote all this time to tracking your favorite teams are the same ones who are so quick to complain when I post something about current political or world events. All of these international events impact your life too! They determine who's making the laws you have to live by, how much you pay in taxes, how your children's schools are funded, how safe you are, and how the world around you impacts your health. These matters play an important role in your day-to-day life.....every day.
I understand that news of politics and other world events can be dry sometimes and repetitive. I suppose that news of sports and fashion and music and people named "Snooki" might be more exciting to those interested in such things, but none of those things are likely to have a life-changing impact on you. Fantasy football isn't going to pay your bills; laws aren't written or enforced by clothing designers; pop culture isn't likely to ensure that your child gets a quality education.
When you were a kid, it was normal for you to not care about politics and other world events. That was your parent's problem. They were the ones who needed to know the laws. They were the ones who watched the news. They were the ones who followed political campaigns and voted each November. They were the ones who worried about the Middle East and Big Oil, the Stock Market and the Cold War, uprisings in the Gaza Strip and protests in Tiananmen Square. Those events were all things that didn't interest you, and you just couldn't understand why your parents cared. Why did it matter to Americans if the Chinese tanks ran down the protesters? Why did it matter to Americans if the people in the Middle East were fighting one another? What did any of it matter, if it was happening half way around the world? And, more locally, why was everyone so worried about the U.S. economy? You still had Lucky Charms for breakfast and a party for your birthday every year.....so everything was fine, right? And then Operation Desert Storm ended, the Cold War ended, the Berlin Wall came down, and the economy improved. So, what good did it do for your parents to do all that worrying?
What you all seem not to realize is that it's not the amount of worrying that matters. What matters is being informed, knowing what's going on in your city, county, state, country, and around the world. It all matters. We're grown-ups now. We're the voters the politicians are vying for. We're the ones with school-aged children. We're a growing percentage of the nation's labor force. We're the ones whose former classmates and current friends make up the majority of the country's military. We're the ones who will have the opportunities to fix an economy that has been brought to its knees again. We're the ones who will be responsible for making huge strides toward environmental responsibility. We're the ones who are can be a voice for the underprivileged and a vital force in improving the lives of people all over the globe. We're the ones who will soon be running this country, and if we don't start to take an interest now, how can we expect to know what to do to ensure the best future for ourselves and our fellow Americans and the next generation of American citizens?
The simple answer is this: If people of our generation don't start taking a more active interest in world events, we don't stand a chance at being good administrators of The United States.
So, you don't think it matters if some man in South Florida, who is the pastor of a church with 30ish members, burns a pile of Qurans on September 11th? It will matter if the global reaction to this act leads to the deaths of American military members. You think it doesn't matter if some Muslims in NYC aren't allowed to build their cultural center? It matters. You think it doesn't matter who wins votes in primary elections? It matters. It all matters.
It matters because all of these events have an impact on the American way of life. If one group of Americans is stripped of their Constitutional rights today, who's going to stop someone from stripping your rights away tomorrow? If you decide it's not important to vote, then what right have you to complain when you don't approve of those elected to public office? If you don't use your influence to help improve conditions for the less fortunate, what use are you to society? If you don't work toward improving educational opportunities for the nation's children, how will you feel 15 years from now when your son or daughter has graduated high school but can't find China on a map?
Our country isn't perfect, and we experience our share of problems....but if we ever expect to solve those problems, we have to be informed!
But, you're still bored by politics.....
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| Political "flair." |
What you all seem not to realize is that it's not the amount of worrying that matters. What matters is being informed, knowing what's going on in your city, county, state, country, and around the world. It all matters. We're grown-ups now. We're the voters the politicians are vying for. We're the ones with school-aged children. We're a growing percentage of the nation's labor force. We're the ones whose former classmates and current friends make up the majority of the country's military. We're the ones who will have the opportunities to fix an economy that has been brought to its knees again. We're the ones who will be responsible for making huge strides toward environmental responsibility. We're the ones who are can be a voice for the underprivileged and a vital force in improving the lives of people all over the globe. We're the ones who will soon be running this country, and if we don't start to take an interest now, how can we expect to know what to do to ensure the best future for ourselves and our fellow Americans and the next generation of American citizens?
The simple answer is this: If people of our generation don't start taking a more active interest in world events, we don't stand a chance at being good administrators of The United States.
So, you don't think it matters if some man in South Florida, who is the pastor of a church with 30ish members, burns a pile of Qurans on September 11th? It will matter if the global reaction to this act leads to the deaths of American military members. You think it doesn't matter if some Muslims in NYC aren't allowed to build their cultural center? It matters. You think it doesn't matter who wins votes in primary elections? It matters. It all matters.
It matters because all of these events have an impact on the American way of life. If one group of Americans is stripped of their Constitutional rights today, who's going to stop someone from stripping your rights away tomorrow? If you decide it's not important to vote, then what right have you to complain when you don't approve of those elected to public office? If you don't use your influence to help improve conditions for the less fortunate, what use are you to society? If you don't work toward improving educational opportunities for the nation's children, how will you feel 15 years from now when your son or daughter has graduated high school but can't find China on a map?
Our country isn't perfect, and we experience our share of problems....but if we ever expect to solve those problems, we have to be informed!
But, you're still bored by politics.....
So, let me spice it up for those of you who are sports fanatics:
- Start by picking a team to support. There are many to choose from....Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, and others. They all have their good and bad qualities, so you just have to pick the one you think does the most good.
- Each team must be made up of different levels of players. First string might be the politicians in the Federal arena; second string might be the state governments; and third string could be the city and county governments.
- Throughout the political year, games happen in the form of legislation....sometimes the Democrat team wins and their bill passes, sometimes the Republicans win, sometimes someone else.
- Each November we hold the biggest event of the year: an election. The election is the equivalent of the Super Bowl and the draft picks all happening simultaneously. We vote on proposed bills to be passed into law. We "elect" the next year's players. Every 4 years, we elect a new MVP.
- Instead of ESPN, political events have their own channels: C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 with replays and highlights shown later on CNN, Fox News, HLN, CNBC, and MSNBC.
- Sports have World Cup Soccer, World Series Baseball, and the Olympics. Politics has the United Nations, The European Union, and NATO.
- Sports has scrimmage matches. We have military skirmishes: U.S. vs. militant extremists around the globe.
- Sports fanatics can readily rattle off their favorite player's stats, but do you know how your Senators and Congressmen have voted on recent bills, or how many of their own sponsored bills they've gotten passed into law?
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