A New Approach to Politics
I have a very respectable liberal-arts education, where I learned about gathering evidence, especially empirical evidence, before making decisions.
This is the opposite of coming up with an ideal and then trying to force it to work.
At the moment, politicians on both the Democratic and Republican sides of the isle are trying to force ideals onto people that do not match the
situations at hand (although not all of them) - this easily explains why DHS has to arm itself, and why the drones have be flying and armed - because
a political system that doesn't work is going to cause unhappy citizens. It's also going to collapse eventually.
There are two things that need to be considered in order to help create a healthy political environment, for the benefit of both the politicians and
the citizens.
For one, people in general have this crazy idea that the culture they experience is the exact same one that is present everywhere. That isn't the case
- and there is no need to have a unified culture, that is just going to cause strife and unnecessary conflict.
I can give two examples of how understanding the fact that there are different cultures in different areas, and allowing their coexistence, could help
solve issues.
Understanding Different Cultural Perpsectives
Gun Control
Okay, you hand a liberal in a liberal state who has no experience with firearms, no firearm training, no friends with firearms, etc. an assault rifle
and they are going to go ape # on defenseless people at the mall, or their favorite target location.
You hand a conservative in a conservative state an assault rifle, and they have probably seen them already in their friends' gun collections, and had
gun safety courses, and live in a culture where it is unacceptable to so much as point an unloaded weapon at someone. To use that assault rifle in a
massacre would both be a social faux pax and result in being shot before much damage could be done.
Conservatives like to collect assault rifles, and they like to go shooting with them, and there is little threat. The gun culture is just that way.
They might go hunting with them, but I'm sure they would prefer to hunt with weapons more suited to the cause.
And why not let conservatives in conservative states have assault rifles? What if the United States becomes totalitarian? Why not have a few states
here and there that are able to resist? It seems prudent to me.
What I'm trying to say is, the situation in every state is not going to be the same. Trying to force a law that applies to the situation in one state
onto another state that has a completely different situation is silly and ineffective.
Gay Marriage
All right, now let's talk about gay marriage. First of all, Civil Unions should be already getting the same benefits as Marriages. Secondly, gay
marriage should be legal in all states, and left to the individual churches to decide on whether or not they support it. I know the Episcopalian
church does.
I don't think it is necessarily a good use of resources for a gay couple to try and force the Catholic Church to marry them, when they won't...
although the gays could potentially make a case to the Vatican, this is no place for U.S. interference -
However, the U.S. should not be interfering with the ability for willing churches to marry gay couples, either.
Trying to make everyone think the same is just not going to work. Notice that this is an example of where I think the nation should do this as a
whole, because the individual cultures are those of the churches, which the country should not be interfering with anyway. (Although this could be an
issue for further discussion).
Gathering Information
What is it like out there in America? Shouldn't that be a concern? I mean, if Democrats can't seem to comprehend where Conservatives are coming from
on gun control, shouldn't they investigate by visiting conservative states and talking to people there in order to better understand the situation?
If Republicans don't understand why the poor need assistance, or why Democrats want to have gun control in their states, shouldn't they be out there
finding out why?
If Democrats want to have taxable income from a good economy to help with social programs, shouldn't they be out there exploring and supporting a
growing private sector, preferably of small businesses?
If corporations are going to be causing problems down the line, shouldn't they be investigated and held accountable in order to prevent catastrophe?
And why should a corporation who's policies fail be bailed out?
Are genetically modified foods and crops going to cause problems in the future, what, exactly is going on with the drones and the large ammunition
purchases?
All of this information has to be collected in order for the senators on both sides of the isle to make laws that are actually effective and informed.
I am of the understanding that Presidential administrations lately (including Obama's) have not been giving the information out that needs to be given
out to senators, and the only reason they would do that is if they were not proud of what they were doing.
After Information Gathering and Understanding Different Cultural Perspectives
At this point, I would say it would be a great idea to write a law based on the data collected and the understanding that different cultures exist,
and that a blanket law affecting the whole nation is going to cause problems in some cases. Therefore, there is a lot of benefit to leaving most of
the legislation to the states.
Not only does each state have a better idea of the kind of laws it needs, but having a diverse set of 50 different laws in 50 different states is like
diversifying your crops or investments. If a certain infection takes out a specific plant, or a certain business goes bankrupt, it is much less likely
to affect the system as a whole.
Some legislation might still want to be nation-wide in order to provide consistency, especially ones that are focused on maintaining freedom instead
of against it, and states should still be held responsible for their choices.
That's all.
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