P
I originally put this up in the thread about a skier area protest BBQ, but decided it was too much of a hyjack, so I put it here.
Protesting against people that already don't see your point of view doesn't change minds. (ok, well maybe a select few, but not many to justify the efforts)
First we need to educate ourselves. This takes time. Time a lot of us feel we don't have, why? Because we are busy working, and raising our families, not collecting welfare, and scheming up reasons why we are entitled to free stuff. It's not easy. Often, it's boring, but we need to do it.
If we want to make a difference, we have to blend in, and get into a position where we make the policy. It's what they did. They shaved their beards, put on a suit, went to work in government jobs, stayed quiet and learned the system. Then they began to wiggle their way into places of influence, assistants, aides, etc., some even ran for smaller offices. Eventually, they get elected president, governor, senator, representative, mayor and council member.
The problem isn't that there aren't enough folks that have our opinion, or share our perspective, the problem is that they are too busy being productive to take the time to vote. And that is a terrible oversight.
A recent example: weather or not you like the result or the individual does not matter at this time, but when G.W. Bush was up for re-election, his political strategists found a way to make the election about values, and they stirred the "religious right" demographic into getting out, and voting. In that election, their message was heard loudly, and the electoral college voted him another term.
We need to vote! We need to take the time to educate ourselves, understand how our form of government works, and vote. Some are cut out to serve in public office, others are not.
And, here's another challenge; I pay attention to this, because it interests me: In my observation, the vast majority of people who like to dirt bike, sled, quad, jeep, sand rail, race or use motorized vehicles in the great outdoors, are what would traditionally be called 'blue collar'. This is not a put down! A huge problem is that the democratic party platform likes to tout that it works in favor of the blue collar worker. Organized labor has a large influence. I work in a closed shop, blue collar profession, and I HAVE to belong to my union, and they always try to tell me who to vote for. Their reasoning for this is higher wages, better benefits, more favors from the politician. What party champions all the "greeney" BS? The SAME party. Lots of us like to hunt and fish. What party likes to restrict firearm ownership and use? Same party.
And I mentioned education a couple paragraphs up; I am friends with several teachers, and I have heard some of the things they must deal with within their profession. The same political party platform that champions their interests as org. labor, is the same party that wants to restrict parents disciplining their children for fear of 'ruining the child's self-esteem'. So now the teachers have to deal with the nightmare of mal-behaving kids? How does that help the teachers?
Here's another issue: The salmon situation here in Washington state. The amount of money that changes hands from the salmon industry in WA is not that much, I believe it's in the tens of millions of dollars. Do you know how much money the state gets from the feds to 'try and solve the salmon problem' each year? Many, Many times that amount. Solving it does not create as many jobs as 'trying to fix it' does. The county confiscated land from my dad, when it 'became' wetlands because of this topic. I can go on for pages on this one... but I'll spare you.
The bottom line folks, is we need to educate ourselves, and educate our kids, about the issues that we face. Then, we need to decide where we want our money to go, and what efforts we want to gov't to pursue. Remember, the government was intended to work for US, not the other way around. 235 years ago, a lot of folks died to give us the opportunity to control our government, we need to make sure we don't loose that control.
wow, my soap box has been well-used lately.
Protesting against people that already don't see your point of view doesn't change minds. (ok, well maybe a select few, but not many to justify the efforts)
First we need to educate ourselves. This takes time. Time a lot of us feel we don't have, why? Because we are busy working, and raising our families, not collecting welfare, and scheming up reasons why we are entitled to free stuff. It's not easy. Often, it's boring, but we need to do it.
If we want to make a difference, we have to blend in, and get into a position where we make the policy. It's what they did. They shaved their beards, put on a suit, went to work in government jobs, stayed quiet and learned the system. Then they began to wiggle their way into places of influence, assistants, aides, etc., some even ran for smaller offices. Eventually, they get elected president, governor, senator, representative, mayor and council member.
The problem isn't that there aren't enough folks that have our opinion, or share our perspective, the problem is that they are too busy being productive to take the time to vote. And that is a terrible oversight.
A recent example: weather or not you like the result or the individual does not matter at this time, but when G.W. Bush was up for re-election, his political strategists found a way to make the election about values, and they stirred the "religious right" demographic into getting out, and voting. In that election, their message was heard loudly, and the electoral college voted him another term.
We need to vote! We need to take the time to educate ourselves, understand how our form of government works, and vote. Some are cut out to serve in public office, others are not.
And, here's another challenge; I pay attention to this, because it interests me: In my observation, the vast majority of people who like to dirt bike, sled, quad, jeep, sand rail, race or use motorized vehicles in the great outdoors, are what would traditionally be called 'blue collar'. This is not a put down! A huge problem is that the democratic party platform likes to tout that it works in favor of the blue collar worker. Organized labor has a large influence. I work in a closed shop, blue collar profession, and I HAVE to belong to my union, and they always try to tell me who to vote for. Their reasoning for this is higher wages, better benefits, more favors from the politician. What party champions all the "greeney" BS? The SAME party. Lots of us like to hunt and fish. What party likes to restrict firearm ownership and use? Same party.
And I mentioned education a couple paragraphs up; I am friends with several teachers, and I have heard some of the things they must deal with within their profession. The same political party platform that champions their interests as org. labor, is the same party that wants to restrict parents disciplining their children for fear of 'ruining the child's self-esteem'. So now the teachers have to deal with the nightmare of mal-behaving kids? How does that help the teachers?
Here's another issue: The salmon situation here in Washington state. The amount of money that changes hands from the salmon industry in WA is not that much, I believe it's in the tens of millions of dollars. Do you know how much money the state gets from the feds to 'try and solve the salmon problem' each year? Many, Many times that amount. Solving it does not create as many jobs as 'trying to fix it' does. The county confiscated land from my dad, when it 'became' wetlands because of this topic. I can go on for pages on this one... but I'll spare you.
The bottom line folks, is we need to educate ourselves, and educate our kids, about the issues that we face. Then, we need to decide where we want our money to go, and what efforts we want to gov't to pursue. Remember, the government was intended to work for US, not the other way around. 235 years ago, a lot of folks died to give us the opportunity to control our government, we need to make sure we don't loose that control.
wow, my soap box has been well-used lately.
