It's Not About Winning

Upon hearing the defection of Sen. Spector to the Democratic Party, a friend contacted me to gloat. Cheers and catcalls of “you’re going down!” “you guys suck.” “chalk another victory up for the blue!” reigned in. Sure it was in friendly banter, but I felt like I was back in school. And that is the point, this isn’t a game, this is about life, it is about how we live. My frustration wasn’t about a blow to a party, it was about how off base we are.

Red vs. blue, donkey’s vs elephants, right vs left. We talk about the dumbing down of America, but I guess that also includes stunting the growth of maturity. We’ve reduced life’s decision to a game of votes. And somehow, we’ve allowed ourselves to be distracted by that instead of focusing on how we live. And from the information floating in the media and in blogs throughout the ‘net, most of those are more interested in sides than solutions, on “who” said what, instead of “what” was said, on “positions” rather than on “principles.”

In following the President’s press conference the other night, I heard a lot of great answers, but not details. I heard about success, I heard about overcoming, I heard about winning. But I didn’t’ hear HOW. Those already enamored by the President, didn’t care about the details, just happily appeased with the proposed end result. They didn’t’ care about the direction, just the euphoric vision of how he interprets that vision to be. It seems discernment among the public is seriously lacking.

Am I saying this because “my side” is losing? I don’t care which mascot gets the prize. I care about having a fulfilling life. I care about the opportunities for me and my family. I care about the safety and well being of those close to me. I care about making the world a better place when I leave then when I came. As I sit back and watch the current administration take public money to buy power, I have to ask if my concerns above are threatened.

I tend to ask questions based not on what I hear, but on what I don’t. Maybe you can answer it for me?

• How will be pay off the debt we’re incurring to pay for all these programs? And who will do that?

• How will the government, which hasn’t run a successful program (both profit or non-profit), run the auto industry? And if you want to “get out as soon as possible” when and how?

• Why is it good to raise so much money that we don’t really have, to make drastic changes to a healthcare program which is currently already covers over 90% of the population?

• How will “being nice” and appeasing keep us safe against enemies that are ideologically opposed to “who we are?”

• When dealing with enemies caught on the battlefield, those who risk death to kill as many Americans as possible, are caught. Why is it EVIL to get life saving information through techniques that: don’t leave any marks, don’t leave any scars, create NO permanent damage physically or psychologically, and never put the subject into life-threatening situations? And what other ways do you propose to get that information from those people that are trained and willing to die anyway for their cause?

• How is capping the success of one person, to give to another who isn’t, empowering and better for society rather than enabling and creating an even bigger burden?

...because the only win I'm interested in, is life.