When my son was 6 years old, I would let him choose the shirt he wanted to wear to school. In order to make sure he didn’t pick his pajama top or favorite stained sweatshirt, I would pick out two shirts I approved of and let him decide which of those two he wanted to wear.
This seemed like a good way to teach him the responsibility of making choices for himself and the benefit of it. I don’t think I was wrong in this lesson but just the other day I realized that, although it may have been a good idea, it was still very restrictive without him knowing it. I also just realized that I, along with all other voting Americans, are sitting in this same restrictive box.
It may be a good idea not to allow your 6 year old to pick whatever the heck he wants to wear when going to school but is it really a good idea for us, grown men and woman, to allow ourselves to be treated like children each and every time we vote?
Indeed, there are other political choices besides Republican and Democrat but when was the last time a real candidate from a third party actually had a chance? And when was the last time you really felt that the R and the D running were different from one another. That is, until this last election cycle when it was obvious the R behind Trump’s name didn’t stand for Republican, so much as Rebel.
The 2016 election of Donald Trump exposed so much of what so many already suspected. The Dems and the Reps are just one political party. Some say the Dems are socialists and the Reps are Democrats, which seems accurate with each new revelation coming from their own mouths. Whether this is true or not, they are not two separately independent parties; they are one political party simply called politicians.
Much like a scene in a Broadway play, they enact their part to show they are on the side of the voters. What about behind closed doors? Not on the floor of Congress or the Senate… behind real doors. Back stage, if you will. Every time they show their face where the public can see them, they are on stage. There may be those who truly want to make a difference but how many have you seen fall upon the sword of political suicide to protect their true beliefs?
We vote to fill a place holder to avoid the opposition doing the same. Are we stalling until we find someone who perfectly fits the round or square peg we attribute to real leadership? Like Cinderella, all the other girls somehow can’t manage a good fit to her glass slipper. People vote for one side or the other just to prevent someone from being elected. Like choosing to eat a mold covered apple vs. one covered in maggots.
This changed when Donald Trump ran for the presidency. He was not a politician, which was refreshing, if not a little scary. The fear of putting someone into power who is not a politician is a learned fear, a part of the political brainwashing that seems to start from the moment children enter school.
We have been programed to believe only certain types of people can run our country effectively. The more a person sees, however, the less they believe all the crap fed to them day after day in the news, in entertainment, in schools, and even in the policies of their employers.
A choice between a shirt with short sleeves and a shirt with long sleeves only provides part of the picture. If you’re cold, you pick the long sleeves and if your hot, you pick the short. Question though, is there perhaps another option or combination of options? Perhaps behind the closet door are several shirts with several distinctive functions or fashions, all completely acceptable.
A choice between a politician and another politician isn’t really a choice at all. It’s a fallacy, a lie, an illusion of truth. Our governmental system may be far better than other countries, but we’ve fallen into a stupid rut of accepting two candidates of which most of us have never heard of until they magically became candidates.
Dare we agree that Trump has jarred us from the trance we’ve been in for the last century? Swaying back and forth between parties, hoping ‘our guy’ will be the one to introduce lasting change and lasting foundations that ‘their guy’ doesn’t somehow completely mess up?
Dare we cross our fingers that generations into the future, voters will be allowed to make up their own minds rather than be manipulated into thinking the choice between ‘two’ is a real choice?
Dare we continue to question the media, entertainers, politicians, and those who pull their strings, making them answer for their attacks on our freedoms?
Without the courage to stand against those who threaten us, we will cease to exist.
Dare we assume that is what they want? You and I shall stand against them… together! Remember, we rule them, not the other way around.
This post was originally seen on Alexandria (aleksandreia.com).
