Statement of Purpose

Politics are really hard to understand.
I wish schools taught more of the basics of how government actually worked.
Life shouldn't have to be this difficult.
Political advertisements are too condescending but political blogs go over my head.
I spent years learning a skill, getting a job, starting a family and building a life, now I want to get involved but don't know where to start.

If you nodded your head about any of these statements, this is a blog for you. Participating in American democracy shouldn't be like emigrating to a new country where you are immersed in a foreign language and culture. Too many politicos assume they are talking to an audience that is as obsessed as they are, or deliberately want to exclude as many people from their little club as they can. It doesn't have to be this way.

To begin, nothing is truly objective, we all have biases but if we admit them and try not to deceive others of our point of view there can be a genuine discussion instead of a yelling match. I will come right out and say that I am a Liberal and a Democrat, this blog is more for open-minded people who think for themselves than for committed partisans. I know a lot more about the radical right than the radical left, if anyone knows people on the left who really act like conservative TV and radio hosts I'd like to meet them. That said, I will try to leave heavy opinion to my other blog and try to be even-handed when dealing with political topics. Since ideology is manmade, it is always a matter of opinion, you cannot scientifically study then.

This blog is primarily about intellectual honesty, I may disagree with conservatives and find many of their tactics repugnant but I do not want to demonize them. Nor is it productive to assume the other side is automatically good and deserving of praise. The opposite is also true for conservatives and Republicans. You don't try to pop wheelies and take jumps when the training wheels are still on, but even after they come off, ad hominem demogaugery is stressful and usually poisonous. My goal is just to have people who don't understand what the fuss is all about come to realize why calling Barack Obama a fascist and a socialist is laughable and unproductive, but also calling George W. Bush names isn't either.

The ugly truth is that American politics has always been this juvenile, the name-calling started during George Washington's administration and rarely subsides enough to have an honest debate. I don't know why this is so, it is almost tradition to have a bully and a victim in electoral contests (and yes, the Democratic Party was the bully for quite a long time), please join me on this journey and maybe we can figure it out.

Tallyho!