I once had great ambitions for and wholly unabated belief in my government much like James Stewart character in the great Frank Capra film Mr. Smith goes to Washington. I LOVED the thought of democracy and how every citizen counts. I remember the first time I voted in a presidential race. I was pretty naive about the candidates and choose who I remembered my parents talking about in our house. I voted for George Bush Sr. when my kindergarten class had an election at my grade school. If I remember correctly, he won overwhelmingly in our school when the results where announced on the intercom. I also have a couple random memories of President Clinton, his impeachment proceedings, and the infamous Al Gore's lock box analogy.My first constant exposure with politics started when I was in middle school. I was on the academic team which meant I happily participated in spending some weekends on trips with my team to other schools to take hour long subject specific test, have them scored, and then award metals to the top three performances in each subject and grade. Yes, I was a nerdy child. I choose math as my subject and kind of liked being one of the few girls in the room taking the math test. I decided during my 2nd year on the team that I should participate in another subject, so I choose current events and started watching CNN all of the time.
I remember the first politician that caught my attention and it was Orin Hatch, a representative from Utah. He was vying for the Republican nomination for presidency in 2000. I don't remember exactly what I liked about him so much, but I do remember him talking about increasing teach pay, so maybe that's why I liked him. I was annoyed when George H W Bush gained the nomination. I also liked a man no one remembers now that ran for a Senate Seat in New York. I once again backed the wrong horse and saw the infamous Hilliary Clinton start her first term in the Senate. With my track record in politics it should be no surprise the one time I bet on a horse in a 12 horse run......you guessed it, my horse was the literal last horse to cross the line.
In high school I tried to be very up-to-date on all of the foriegn issues of our country. I completed for two years in speech and did an event called Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking which required a lot of knowledge of the current foreign events.
One of the first times I had a really mixed feeling about politics was when it was stated from the pulpit. Religion and Politics are scary thing sometimes. In some ways I think they are like oil and water, not mixing at all. The controversy of politics is how any issue really comes down to the fundamental beliefs and perceptions of the individual. If we say we love all of God's people and then preach against a "homosexual agenda" are we really showing love towards people? If we attend a church mainly composed of one ethnic group and have a preacher passing on ignorance and bitterness of another ethnic group are we uniting fellow believers of Christ?
While I don't think politics and religion can or should mix in this way, one can not deny a person's religious beliefs will influence their politics. What I have come to grow very weary of is a politician using their religion as a means to prove their morality or their worthiness. And then the media even claims a new faith for a candidate that has been a member of a different church for 20 years (I'm pretty sure on the number, but not 100%).
I am really anxious about this up and coming election. Our country faces some serious issues and I hate to see party push for its candidate by using some of George W Bush's antics of seemingly using his faith as a tool. Politics is a cut-throat, grueling activity. As it says in one of my favorite movies, "politics is perception". This is a pretty scary thought. I have a candidate this time that I am completely rooting for. If truth be told, I have cried twice listening to their speeches, being so moved. I see in them the things I want to believe and desperately hope for, but as the quote above suggest I yearn that this isn't just a perception I'm supporting. While I will be devastated if my candidate does not win, the funny thing about politics is after voting you just have to go along with the new president's decisions and hope in four years, you can vote for a person you do like and pray they win.
Sure, you all might say how pessimistic I'm being and how I can always write to my representatives, but after taking the time to write to two house members about a bill VERY directly effecting me, I saw them both not only voting against the way I wanted, but never receiving any type of response back ; not even a general automatic response of thanks for writing that is VERY easy to set up in an email account! I once greatly believed in the power of an individual's voice in our government and even had ambitions of running for office myself. That belief is almost all but diminished. I have one candidate I hope for. They wrote about the audacity of hope once and I want to believe them. I guess that is all I'm asking for. HOPE.
-Kristy
