Thursday, September 23, 2010

CHANGES

While I was cooking dinner the other night my husband and I were watching our 6:30 news of choice: World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer and she was reporting on Delaware's Republican candidate, Christine O'Donnell, and how she is being raked over the coals for things she said in her teen years. I began laughing and told my husband I'd better never run for national office then because in my teen years, as a member of our local high school newspaper staff, I wrote an article supporting the SDS! Ah, we were so young and militant, wanted to change the world! We wanted an end to the horrors of the VietNam War and we wanted to end dress codes in schools. I remember walking to school on that first Earth Day in 1970. My parents thought I was crazy.

As I write about it it brings to mind the song THOSE WERE THE DAYS, "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day. We'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never lose, those were the days, oh yes, those were the days."
Well, those days did end, and I grew up. Suprisingly enough, my views on the world grew up as well. I might note here that I re-read that article (yes, I still have a copy) a while back and I wondered what I was thinking as I penned it and I could read the wide-eyed innocence in my words. So pie-in-the-sky. I think any politician should receive complete immunity on their own pie-in-the-sky stupidity in high school.

Now, I'm extremely conservative. Politically, I've done a complete 180 over the last since I first voted. Let's face it, we don't see the world as it really is when we're young. It takes time, experience, years of wisdom, and some grace to see the truth of politics. I think that's why the Tea Party and similar grass roots campaigns are picking up so much support of late, and why candidates like Christine O'Donnell, who are advocates of no more "business as usual" in Washington D.C. are doing so well. The American people are tired of the government digging into our pockets so deeply they've ripped off our pockets completely.

I still say if the government had given the bail-out money to the registered voters instead of the banks, car makers, Wall Street, etc., the economy would be completely stable by now. We would have bought new homes, cars, goods, and services. Instead, some CEO has a new $4000 shower curtain in his bathroom and his wife's dog has a matching fur coat. There's simply something wrong with this picture. Well, maybe I haven't changed so much after all.

1 comment:

Kathi said...

Well said, "mama"! Although I never did anything like that in high school, I have taken a huge turn in how I view politics and government. I never really cared before, never paid much attention, kinda went w/the flow. Now my eyes are wide open. And although I don't think of myself as an activist or anything even like one, I do feel in standing up for what I feel is right for our country. Give us back our liberties, our freedoms. Stop trying to change our country. We need less government, fewer taxes, more individual freedoms and choices. We need to refer back to the constitution of our United States. We answer to God. God is who our country was founded under. Our constitution was written to be upheld by the ordained, not someone on a selfish power trip. I agree with you on the the right choices they could've made to "save" our country from where I fear it's headed. I fear they knew what they were doing all along. And other than standing up for what I believe in, I pray God will help our country. And I pray for those in office, that the right thing will be done. I guess you can say I'm a conservative too. If they feel our policies are failing, why won't they pause to reflect on everything that's gone wrong and realize it was the government itself that created such a mess. We need the right people in office to make the right changes, not the current people in office who want to make the wrong choices and destroy everything that America stands for.

I'm sorry for speaking my mind like this on your blog. I would absolutely understand if you would want to delete my comment. I've just been feeling the desire lately to speak up. It sounds like we might be on the same page at least, lol. Love you!!