I’m done playing political games – and maybe you should be too.

rant.pngI let myself get sucked into a political discussion on Facebook this evening.  (Yes, I know.)  I’d link to it, but I don’t know how public the thread is, and I’m not writing this to “out” anyone.  But it doesn’t matter – the content isn’t that important. 1;

It was all started by a political “football” article.  One of those “my team is better than your team” types that partisans like to drool over.  (Read this for more examples.)  And I kept trying to say, “Hey, guys, you’re blowing this out of proportion.  And that’s what the article meant to do.”

I realized I was wasting my time when people started referring to Obama as “Dear Leader”.

But I posted what follows at the end of the thread.  Because I realized what was making me feel ill inside was not the content of the thread2, but the venom.  The lack of thought.  The knee-jerk hatred not because of what was actually going on, but because of what political “team” someone else was on.

And I’m done with that bullshit.

You want sheeple?  My friends, all of those partisan articles think of you as sheeple.  Right wing, left wing, fascist, socialist, Christian, Atheist, every last one of them.  They don’t give a damn about what is good or best for this country or anyone in it.  They only care about their own team winning.

And I’m done with it.  I’m done with being made to feel hatred.

I’m done with being used.

Below is my personal manifesto.  Take it as your own.  Or don’t.

But I ask that you think about it.

Screw all the teams.  I give a damn about the COUNTRY, and partisan bickering about “gaffes” and acting like some webmaster putting a “Did you know?” section in a website somehow has relevance to my mortgage, health care, civil rights, or anything of import is HURTING OUR COUNTRY.  Stop playing the game. 

If you see me at a convention, I’ll gladly talk issues with any of y’all, regardless of what side of the fence you’re on.  And maybe we’ll disagree.  And maybe we won’t.  And that’s a serious offer, and I mean it.

I’ve been leaning this way for a while, but I’m going to state it publicly here (and in a blog post later):  I’m done playing such partisan football games.    And if I fall back into it, PLEASE call me on it.   (And yes, I mean that too.)

Because I’m serious.  This isn’t helping our country solve it’s problems.  It’s just making them worse.

1 If you’re really interested, it was about the addition of “Do you know?” sections on the White House website bios of past presidents that linked past achievements with the current administration. I didn’t even realize those bios existed. Seriously. My kid did a report on George Washington recently, and we never even thought of looking there for info.
2 Because yeah, it’s a tacky and kludgy gimmick, and it looks bad, and nobody looks at those pages anyway so why bother