Bill O’Reilly

I really like politics. I really do. And in a different world had I managed to go to college I’d probably have tried my hand at, at least running for city council.

Because I love politics I watch a lot of politically themed TV. I’m a liberal with some conservative leanings but I really do enjoy Bill O’Reilly’s Talking Points Memos. I also like him when he’s feeling reasonable. But I cannot stand to watch him interview someone with a differing opinion. He ends up talking over them and not allowing them to get their point across.

For a while Glenn Beck fascinated me but as the months wore on he seemed to get more hateful, more off the wall paranoid, more dangerous so I stopped watching him entirely. He scares me. I do think he and Sarah Palin are going to end up with blood on their hands if they do not change their ways.

To the same token but on the other side of the coin is Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. I love this guy. He’s erudite, poetic and thoughtful but also condescending, smarmy and smug.

Bill Maher is smart and funny as long as you’re not a Christian with conservative political views. It galls me that he feels the need to belittle people who hold different beliefs than him.

Even John Stewart, who has been hailed as the voice of reason uses a kind of wry observational humor to point out the idiots and the idiocy of it all.

The world would be such a better place if we’d all sit down and talk it out. I really truly believe that vice presidents should not be chosen until after the election and then they have to choose someone from the other party. I don’t think it’s good for one party to have all the power. I know that’s Congress is for but I think the two top guys should have differing opinions.

I think the world would be a far better place if REASONABLE people with differing opinions sat down and started trying to solve the world’s problems one by one.

Historically the republicans have spent more on defense and the democrats are more inclined to spend less. Okay fine. That’s great. Let’s sit the two brightest minds (in regards to defense) of the democratic and republican parties and let them hash it out. Maybe there is a way to spend less and do more. Families do it every day. Perhaps there is outdated technology that can be upgraded and perhaps tanks and other military vehicles can be made with I don’t know, better gas mileage. You get my point.

What if we sat down brilliant people from both parties and made a concerted effort to fix the education system? What if instead of haggling over what the unions want we sit down and decide what is best for our children? No political agendas, no No Child Left Behind nonsense a real and honest overhaul of a failing system.

Imagine if the greatest minds of our generation sat down without prejudice or party lines and really worked on solving the world’s problems. What if we start electing representatives who want to go to D.C. to actually do the work of the people and not the clowns who go there now to get powerful, rich and infamous?

Imagine if we sat down nightly to watch and to listen to intelligent discussions on the matters of the day. Imagine if we all went to bed at night after having listened to and perhaps participated in intelligent discussion. We’d all go to bed filled with hope and our heads full of ideas rather than the nagging inkling that we’re all going to hell in a hand basket.

That bright shining city on a hill can be achieved yet. We can bring about a better tomorrow. We can learn to believe in one another. All it takes is patience and understanding.

Love All, Serve All

Love,

~ Carol Anne